Whenever something big happens in our history, people ask where you were. Where were you when JFK was shot? Where were you on Pearl Harbor? Where were you on 9/11?
I was in ninth grade when the twin towers were hit. We had been reading To Kill A Mockingbird in class. We all had to do little presentations on the novel, and I had gotten my friends to be in a skit for mine. We were practicing before school in Mrs J's room. I'm not sure who turned on the tv or why -- probably Mrs J heard the news first. And we watched the footage of the planes hitting the towers.
I didn't really understand what was happening. I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. I was so innocent for a 14-year-old. And I didn't understand the political ramifications of this at all.
Everyone started talking about war. I was worried there would be a draft. I had read lots of books on wars - Revolutionary, Civil, World - and had a misconception about the way war is waged today. I thought my dad would go to war, Mom would have to go back to work. My friends would finish high school and leave, maybe leave early. I knew people used to lie about their ages. I thought I'd never get married. Or if I did, my husband would be gone for the war, maybe die.
I was a little paranoid. And thought it was the early 1900s. But I worried. All I have to say is that I'm glad things didn't go as I imagined. But that is where I was.
Where were you?
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