On that morning of September 11, 2001, I was 3 years old. Yes, I was young, and too little to feel any emotion toward it, but I vaguely remember the events of that day. It was a normal day in Northern Michigan, my mother was supposed to take my younger baby brother and I to have a mom-kids play date at a friends house. Before we did, we stopped to pick up some pictures at a place we had gotten them taken a few weeks before. I remember going to the place to pick them up. We were going to play at the playground down the street, but it was closed for construction. At this time my mom still didn’t know of the attacks. We then decided, with a little more time, to go visit my dad at the Coast Guard Station, but they would not let us in, because of the attack. This was when my mother first learned of it. She told me that my dad said “This is what we trained for”, probably not knowing the extent and horror of it. At that point, we still went over to the friends’ house. I only remember playing in my friends room with my brother and friends. My mom and the other mom watched the news on TV as we played. I was innocent, yes, but I have a tremendous respect for those who were heroes and now I feel for the people at that time. I’m glad that I was alive at that time, and still have a vague memory of it. I feel that being young in the early 2000s and growing up after 9/11 in that very patriotic time afterwards really helped me gain my own patriotism. I express my condolences to anyone who had loved ones who lost their lives that day, you are so brave. Thank you for reading.