I was in college, in my dorm. My roommate and I were watching the Today show getting ready for a class that started around 9:30am that day. I’ll never forget exactly what I was wearing- gray cropped pants and a white tanktop. They were breaking a news story about an explosion in the WTC. I’ll never forget- Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. A few minutes later we saw a plane hit the second tower. In that instant we knew this wasn’t an accident. My roommate who is from NYC collapsed into tears. I froze and did not know what to say to her. I’ll never forget that feeling.

The day was bright, sunny, perfect weather. I’ll never forget how the sky was a pure shade of blue without a cloud in sight. I remember the stark contrast between the weather and what was happening. Everybody looked frozen, scared, nobody knew what to say. I didn’t know how to feel. We spent the day in our pajamas, our eyes glued to the news. It was an experience that bonded us. I saw a freshman girl that I had mentored just a couple of weeks earlier, helping her adjust to being at college. We bumped into eachother outside, on the grass, nobody else was around. She looked so scared. I’ll never forget that face. In that moment she looked even younger.

I remember feeling strangely numb that day. I didn’t know what to think or say, or even exactly how to feel. In fact, its really now, years later that I’m beginning to process what happened. I can’t help but think about all of the victims and how scared they must have been. And how brave everybody was on that day.