remembering 9/11

ten years ago, i was a junior at Billings Senior High and like every morning, i was getting ready for my first period conditioning class when i strolled into the coaches office to put my wallet into a safe-keeping box. the TV was on and the coaches were sitting in their chairs, not saying a word.

i glanced at the television and saw that a couple of planes had crashed into the Twin Towers. i turned around and went off to the weight room, baffled as to why someone would want to attack Minnesota. of course, as the day went on, i realized that the Twin Towers were not located in the Twin Cities and i slowly began to understand the severity of what would happen.

the rest of the day was a drawn-out question mark.

we wondered if more planes were going to crash and we wondered about loved ones who were flying that day - my uncle is a pilot but he was off on Sept. 11.

my sister's birthday is on the 12th so i wondered about that.

at football practice, we became convinced that all of our coaches were going to be drafted into the army overnight and we also were concerned about the fate of one of our linebackers, who had been in Denver the night before for a Broncos game and ended up being stuck at that airport for days.

we wondered about gas prices. Sept. 11, 2001 was probably the only time in high school that my parents ever gave me money. i came home and my mother gave me $20 and told me to fill up my car. the gas station was a zoo when i got there.

in the end, no more plans crashed and my uncle eventually flew again. my sister celebrated her 14th birthday. our coaches all showed up for work the next day, our linebacker eventually made it home, gas prices remained steady and my parents went back to being cheap.

i try not to overplay the importance on 9/11 in my life. 9/11 also didn't drive me into an army recruiter's office and the wars that it spawned haven't taken a life from anyone i'm close to. to be honest, the biggest inconvenience that 9/11 has caused me was a temporary shattering of my psyche (although i'd argue that Columbine was worse) and longer waits at the airport.

but 9/11 is something that i'll always remember. a year after the terrorist attacks, i said on some local TV special that 9/11 was our generation's JFK shooting (in other words, we'll always remember exactly what we were doing when it happened) and nine years later, that's the story that i'm sticking to.

Lee Greenwood, play us out.