h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

i'm not really sure how to start... i can't believe that it's already been a year since this disaster.

i was in a dead sleep when my husband burst into our bedroom and ripped me out of bed. "we're under attack," he said in a tone that i wasn't used to hearing come out of him. you see, jon is the calmest most laid back man i've ever met.

with my head in a fog i followed him into the living room. the first plane had already hit the building.

just three months before i had been at the top of the towers, first on the observation deck, then at windows on the world. i had a fascination with these buildings... if you've never seen the wtc in person, you've missed out on a truly spectacular sight... they were so huge that you could see them from anywhere it seemed like. so tall they looked like they touched heaven.

all i could say was "no no no. this is NOT happening" before i knew it, there was another plane. another explosion. I felt all of hair on my body stand on edge. i had a nasty case of goosebumps. I was sobbing hysterically. my husband, finally with his bearings tried his best to console me and my crying 18 month old. i think my son just wanted to know why mommy was crying and why sessame street wasn't on.

i called my mom and cried on the phone to her. she was working in the tallest building downtown. they were talking about evacuating. she sounded scared. i was petrified.

we live within ten miles of a nuclear power plant. we live twenty miles from two more nuclear plants. my mind was racing.

Then the first tower fell. i screamed... all i could think about were the thousands of people that had just died.

then the second tower fell. i actually had to lay down and talk myself out of becoming completely insane. i'm sure my husband was thinking i was going to have to be sedated.

the rest of that day was spent standing in line at the Red Cross (and i still wasn't able to get in that day, they ended up turning us away). I wanted a flag to hang, but no one had any. The flags had sold out in one afternoon. I opted to buy some window paint to write something on the back of my car. I wrote "USA: The Land of the Free, The home of the brave."

in the days that followed, my best friend and her husband were both deployed (they are currently in Ft. Bragg serving with the US Army). i've watched every special on 9/11. i've devoured any information i can get on the victims. i've cried... i've cried... i've cried... but i've also learned that i need to squeeze my little boy (now 2 1/2) a little extra tight. because, as the cliche goes... life is too short.

on september 10th, i'll be boarding a plane with my family for the first time since the attacks. i'd be lying if i said i wasn't a little... petrified. but i have to have faith in the american people. we can take care of eachother. i know it.