I will never forget.

I will always remember where I was and what was happening on this day, 9 years ago.

I was living in central NJ at the time.  I lived right in the neighborhood of McGuire air force base, and Fort Dix.  At the time, Ft Dix was a little used army base.  There were next to no military personnel on base, and it was open.  You could drive right on in, and through.  The military hospital was also located on Ft Dix.

I was working at a video store at the time, just a few minutes away from home.  I didn't have a car at the time (mine had died a few weeks before) so my manager, and friend, came to get me that morning, so that I could use her van.  She worked morning, and I worked the later shift.

When she came to get me, she had been listening to the radio, and she had told me that a plane had flown into one of the Trade Center towers.  I couldn't believe it.  I believe my words were, "You're kidding."  I got in the var, and we listened to the radio the entire way to the store.  That was sometime around 8 am, I believe.  I really didn't pay much attention to times that day.  I mostly moved around in a daze.

By the time we got to the store, the second plane had been flown into the second tower.  One of the other girls we worked with was there, and she had had her husband bring out their portable TV, and I remember watching much of the news from the store, the 3 of us in silent shock.

After the second tower had been hit, I remember my manager saying that her son had forgotten his lunch, and asked me to take it to him at school, since she obviously had to work.  I said sure, and started to make my way to his school.  His school just happened to be located on one of the roads leading to Ft Dix.  I watched as they brought out the cement barricades, and started blocking the roads, so that no one, except for those with military I.Ds could pass through.  Thankfully, I was married to an airman at the time (separated though), so I was able to get through.  When I made it to the school, the son told me that they were watching the coverage on TV.  The kids were understandably upset.  Eventually, later in the day, the school released the kids early, and I had to go back and pick up my friend's 2 children and take them home.

I also remember that they closed the bridges leading into and out of New Jersey.  I worried that Dave wouldn't make it home that night, as he worked across the bridge in Pennsylvania.  I remember standing in the video store, and started to get upset when they made that announcement on the news.  But I needn't have worried, because Dave's work let him off early, because they knew he lived in Jersey.

Things were hectic that day, yet there was a quiet hush overlaid everything that day.  The video store was fairly quiet, and those customer that did come in, their minds were on the tragedy that had happened, and that was still happening.  I honestly don't remember what I was doing when the towers fell, but it was probably around the time I was delivering lunch, and Ft Dix was shutting down.

It was a bit scary for me, because I lived so close to those military bases, and I got to see them shut down, and go into readiness mode.

Even though some of the events of that day are hazy, I still remember where I was, and what happened that day.  And I will never forget it.

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