I will never forget...

I will never forget where I was on this morning 7 years ago. I had started student teaching that semester, but this particular day we went to our schools late because we had class in the morning. We started the class, with "BJB" Big Joe Barnes as we called him, at 8am. Just around 9:00 we were given a short break from the class, so we all started to scurry to grab some coffee from the student commons area. Everyone in front of me was frozen just outside the door with the look of horror on their face. I was really craving my cup of coffee and wondered what was going on, until I saw the tv screen. Both of the towers had been hit, and no one knew what had happened at this point.

I immediately ran for my cell phone and tried to call my brother, who was a sophomore at NYU at the time. Of course I couldn't get through to him, so I called my parents. Both of my parents were still home, and we all agreed that Kyle was far enough away from there that he was ok, and honestly he was probably still sleeping, clueless about what was going on. We joked that he wouldn't be dumb enough to hear what had happened and start heading in that direction.

BJB canceled the rest of class, this tragedy hit him hard because he had several friends who worked at the World Trade Center. He also told us that we could call our schools and tell them that we were not coming in, if we wanted. I knew that I wouldn't be able to think straight until I knew for sure that Kyle was ok, so I called my school and went back to my apartment. One of my roommates was also in the class with me, so we walked back to the apartment where we were glued to the tv screen. Several people called me to see if I had heard from Kyle, and with each call I became more and more worried. I kept telling them that his dorm and classes were far enough away that he is fine. Someone actually thought it was wise to remind me that he was looking for an internship for the summer, and what if he was there for an interview. I immediately got off the phone with her...seriously, who does that?!

Classes all over the campus were canceled, or people would go to class where the professor would lead everyone in prayer for the nation and then they would be dismissed. I remember sitting in my apartment all day surrounded with all my friends constantly praying for my brother and other people who were affected by this horrible tragedy.

I finally got a call from my parents around 6:00 that evening telling me that they had talked to Kyle and he was safe. PRAISE GOD!!! Friends had woken him up to tell him what was going on...and we were wrong. He immediately started running towards the Twin Towers, but quickly turned around when he saw everyone running the opposite direction. I guess we were wrong...