I was doing laundry at my house 7 months pregnant with my third daughter. I had a large pink laundry basket full of wet clothes, and since it was such a nice September day I was going outside to hang them on the clothes line.
The phone rang, and it was my husband calling from work telling me to turn on the TV something was going on in NYC.
I was a little annoyed that he was interfering with my laundry-hanging but I set the basket down by the front door and popped on the TV…I was watching Matt Lauer and Katie Coric who was busy jabbering about a plane that hit the WTC…I decided to sit down on my couch and watch for a few minutes.
Just as I settled in I saw Katie Couric turn around to look outside (their studio had a live look at the towers) and the second plane hit. I sat there in shock. Did I just see that? Really?
I had originally thought that maybe the first plane was just a pilot error. You have to remember back then, we were “invincible” so it must have been a mistake. However, the when the second plane hit, I no longer thought it was a mistake. I knew that this nation,that I was proud to call home, was under attack.
I sat there all day. I watched coverage from the Pentagon, I watched as the towers come down. I watched into the night, and for weeks after. I watched while the body count rised, I watched while the searches continued, and I watched while hope of finding loved ones diminished.
That pink laundry basket with the wet laundry sat by the front door. I never did hang it out that day.
Today marks the 8th anniversary of 9/11. I find myself over the shock of what happened that day,but I am left with a heavy heart on this day every year. I imagine that the sadness I feel will never fade, nor will the memory of the pink laundry basket by the front door that sat there that day. I will never forget.