I was working at the Rainforest Cafe in Kansas City. It wasn't that busy in the morning and suddenly everyone was leaving, headed to the break room. I went back to see what was going on. The television was on and there was news of a plane hitting a building in New York. I stood there, watching it all unfold on the tv. Then they reported a plane hitting the Pentagon- about a mile from my husband, who was working that day as a Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. I couldn't get through to him for several hours. I think I left work at that point and headed back to my parent's house where Ashley (then 8 months) were staying- it wasn't like masses of people would be out shopping at the mall that day anyway. The price of gas was going through the roof at several gas stations that morning as I headed home. They went back down later that same day. I remember just kind of standing around in shock at home with my mom. I kept trying to call Jeff. It was killing me, being 1100 miles from him during this tragedy that was right there next to him. It was the next days and weeks that were really difficult. I may not have been there, I may not have lost a loved one, but it affected our family in a very intimate way. Jeff, as were pretty much all the troops at Fort Meyer, was assigned to clean up at the Pentagon. Some people may say that being in the armed forces these boys- because most of them were still boys- are trained to deal with that kind of thing, but it doesn't matter what line of work you are in, what training you are given, it still affects you. I am grateful for all of the people who had to do that devastating work. I fear that they are forgotten when we remember that day. I pray that they can all be healed from the things they saw in the days following.
I will always remember the victims, the ones who lost their lives or their loved ones and the ones who's lives were forever changed by what they experienced.
