The day these attacks occured I was watching the morning news. I clearly remember Katie Couric stating that it appeared a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. They cut to live coverage and shorty afterward I watched as the second plane hit the second tower. It was horrible. When the Pentagon was hit I remember thinking "what's next?"
What I didn't realize was that my two older children were watching all of the same live coverage on the TV in both of their classrooms. I was dismayed to find this out. I would have preferred to talk with my children about this in our own way. Instead they watched too as the buildings crumbled and so many people died.
That night as we sat at the dinner table all together I was struck by the thought that there were so many families who were suddenly missing a family member. They had a chair at their table that was now empty. Where once a Mother, Father, Brother or Sister may have sat, there was now only an empty space. A space that would never again be filled by that vital family member.
It struck my daughter as well that there were still so many real people in those buildings. Every person in those buildings and on those planes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania was someone's child. Many of them were spouses, parents, children, siblings and beloved family members and friends. They were each a real person who didn't deserve what happened to them.
As the saddness congealed in our home as we gave thanks for the meal we were about to eat. We, as a family, explained to the younger children in our household what had happened in a way that they could understand without giving details that they didn't need to hear.
In the following days my children found comfort in a least likely place. The computer. The computer offered them a connection to family and friends. They communicated by emails. I think somewhere in their little heads was the fear that those family members may just disappear like so many family members in the attacks.
Go To Page: 1 2
