When 9/11 happened, I was 12 years old. I remember getting ready for school when my dad called my mom and said, “a plane hit the trade centre.”

Being from Canada and being a kid, I had no idea what that meant. And then my mom plunked me in front of the TV to watch the news while she braided my hair for me. This was the first time I witnessed something so horrific. So real.

School was a quiet, tepid kind of feel that day. I remember watching the news for days after. I had never cared to watch the news but this tragedy shook me, even as a 12 year old. I’ll never forget that day. As a Canadian, I know it didn’t affect us as much as America. But I will never shake that day or the days (and years) that followed.