September 11, 2001: Twenty-Five Years Later

On September 11, 2001, I was working as a Domestic Violence Advocate on the graveyard shift at a confidential emergency shelter for battered women and children.

At about 6:00 that morning, the crisis line rang.

The caller turned out to be one of my colleagues from the shelter who was vacationing in New York.

She said, “Susan, I’m okay.”

I remember thinking, Great…how’s New York?

There was no television or other media device in the office, so I had no idea what had happened. Then she told me.

I was shocked. I struggled to understand what she was saying and to grasp the magnitude of what had taken place.

Then my son called. He was on duty at one of the hospitals, and Seattle had been identified as a possible high-alert target. We made a safety plan and chose a place where we would meet if necessary.

The girls arrived home from school safely.

I lay on the bed with my eyes glued to the television. I had never felt so scared and helpless.

It has now been twenty-five years.

So much time has passed, yet I can still feel the memories of that day—the confusion, the fear and the uncertainty that swept across our country.

September 11, 2001, is not simply something I remember from history.

I remember where I was.

I remember the voices on the telephone.

I remember making sure my children were safe.

And twenty-five years later, it is still unsettling.

Today, I pause to remember every life lost, every family forever changed, every first responder who ran toward danger and every ordinary person who helped someone else through an unimaginable day.

Some moments pass with time.

Others become part of us.

This is one of them.

With Flava, Lady Flava 🇺🇸

From Flava in Her Tower 🌻