Tuesday, September 11, 2001...

At 9:30am on this day seven years ago, I woke up and experienced something that immediately changed my life forever. Sometimes things happen to you in your life and all you can do is drop to the ground and disbelief and this was one of them. I remember it like it was yesterday. I don't know if this is the right place for it, but I feel like sharing my 9/11 story...

I slept in that morning because my Engineering Economics professor had canceled class for that Tuesday. I was sleeping so peacefully, when all of a sudden my phone rang. I answered the call and it was Cara on the line. I thought that was strange because she was supposed to be on a flight to West Texas for a soccer game. She told me that her flight had been canceled because planes had flown into the World Trade Center. It didn't really register to me what she said because I was basically still asleep. So I got off the phone and laid back down for a few minutes before the light bulb went off in my head about what she had just told me. I hopped out of bed and turned on the television only to see a plane crashing into the second building. I screamed out loud not knowing I was watching a replay of what had happened hours earlier.

I ran across my dorm suite and beat on Dre's (roommate) door. He opened the door and told me he had tried to wake me up earlier and tell me what happened and then explained what was going on in the situation. As he told me, my heart sunk down into my stomach and I felt so sick. When he finished I went into my room and just cried for what seemed like forever.

The rest of that day I was on and off the phone talking to people about it as we learned more and more about what had happened. I remember finding out that the attack was planned to be much bigger with targets across the country using flights leaving from all the major airports across the country, including DFW. This is what hit me the hardest. Cara and her team were scheduled to fly out of DFW that morning and she easily could have been on a flight that was destined for doom if the FAA had not grounded all flights. I've never spoken of this, but it scared me so much to think that in an instant Cara and many of the friends I was beginning to make on her team could have all been gone. The "what could have been" thoughts angered me and saddened me at the same time.

So each year since that day in 2001, I look at today as a day to give thanks. Any one of us could have been one of the people on those unfortunate flights, just like any one of us could be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Be thankful for the people in your life and cherish them because they may not always be there. Also, be thankful for those who have sacrificed for our freedoms, not just right now, but over the many years of time in our world. I know I would not be doing many of the things I do or have many of the things in my life if it weren't for them.

I also personally want to thank all the people in my life for being there. Life has punched me in the stomach many times, but you've always been there to help me get back up and stand on my feet even when you didn't even know you were doing it.