Always Remember...

I don't really know what I can say about this day. I've been thinking a lot about it over the last few days. August is a difficult month for me personally, and I suppose the first half of September will be that way for me for some time as well.

So, where was I on that day? We had arrived in Heidelberg, Germany just three weeks before. We had managed to move into housing, but had not gotten our household goods or my van yet. We had bought a little "hoopty" and were using that to get around. That week I was going through the week-long "Families Learning About Germany (FLAG)" course offered to family members of soldiers who had just moved there. It was a pretty good orientation. It introduced us to the culture and also taught us a little bit of the language. That particular day, they invited the soldiers to attend with us, and I can't remember why now. But P. was with me in FLAG that day. After the class was over, we went to the daycare center to pick up the kids and then went over to the Thrift Shop to see if there was anything we needed. I don't remember now what time it was when we got home, but it was just after the first plane hit and before the second one did.

We walked into the stairwell building and up the steps to our apartment. I picked up the Stars and Stripes off my doorstep and we walked in and I turned on the TV. I turned it to AFN Atlantic. Like most Americans in Germany apparently (at least those whose blogs have mentioned this day), I enjoyed watching the Today Show in the afternoons. When I flipped to that channel, though, Katie was in the middle of the report. I remember yelling at P. to come into the living room. Then the second plane hit. We just sat there glued to the TV. I can't describe how scared I was. I was living in this country I knew nothing about yet, didn't have any of my personal belongings (comfort items, you know - we were in a cracker-jack box of an apartment with Government furniture), and was an ocean away from my Mom and Dad. Looking back, it's really no wonder I was in such a depression that first year. P. got notification from his office that "Essential Personnel Only" were to come in, which at the time didn't include him. I was thankful. With the heightened security at all the gates, it would have been a nightmare for him to get to work. Yes, we lived on post, but in Heidelberg everything is so spread out, so he worked on a different Kaserne (post) than the one we lived on. Going to the PX after 9/11, which was on yet another Kaserne, was just a nightmare. We didn't venture out much the first week or so. Fortunately, we were on the same Kaserne as the Commissary.

After 9/11, while we still lived in Heidelberg, there was a bomb threat at one of the Shoppettes in one of the housing areas. Some woman who worked there was putting together this plot with her boyfriend. Fortunately, they were caught in time. That certainly didn't do anything to ease my fears.

I eventually overcame my fear and started getting out of the house and off the Kaserne, Little America as the locals liked to call it. We started traveling and enjoying Europe. I will never, forget, however, the lives that were lost that terrible day, or the sacrifices that have been made since. I can't believe it's been five years...