My Story...

Last Sunday one of the ladies stood up to bear her testimony...it wasn't really a testimony, but in a way it kinda was...of everything that was said, I think it was the one thing that everyone might just remember.

She was born and raised in Hawaii. She must be about 70 years old I suppose...that would make sense with her story. She was a little girl, was at Church with her family one Sunday morning. They didn't realize anything was wrong until they got out of Church and people were running around. The Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor.

She was actually there...she was even shot by one of the planes flying overhead. Hit her shoulder I believe. That was a first for me...I've known plenty of people who served in the War, and my own grandfather was in Hell's Angels and was in a German Camp for 23 months...the same one that the Great Escape occurred at (if you haven't seen that movie, put it on your Netflix immediately)...but never had I met someone who had been at the event that caused America to officially become a part of WW2.

I am not sure why she shared that experience with us...perhaps she was thinking about the significance of today's date.

I was driving to school between Chandler and Tempe. It's funny, I had had my radio off for a long time...I would go through phases of listening and not listening to the radio...and even then, I would listen to just one station for a period...country, pop, classic rock, oldies, and classical, the last being what I turned to that day. It was early, just after 6am...I had to get a parking spot at the institute, and if you wanted one, you had to get there before 6:30am OR wait in line for forever...

NPR came on, and one of the pieces of news was that one of the buildings in New York had been hit by a plane. They moved on to the next item, so I didn't think much of it beyond thinking it was some little plane that had somehow lost control...

I walk into the institute and they had the TV on. They NEVER have the TV on. Instead of doing my usual of going directly into the gym, I went to the foyer where the TV was to see what was up. The institute director was watching it, along with a bunch of the staff. They are NEVER out of their offices all at the same time in the same place unless it's a meeting of some sorts.

I look at the TV...and just after I start watching it, the second tower was hit. I watched it...on LIVE television...I don't think I breathed for a very long time...

I immediately called my two friends in NY and of course got their voicemails and asked (begged) for them to call me back and let me know they didn't on a whim decide to go visit the financial district of NY for the heck of it...(they are fine, btw).

I tried to get those in the gym...which really was the eating/gathering/playing/talking area of the institute...to come watch the TV...but they were all 'studying' and gave me an annoyed look. I looked at them in shock...I remember thinking, but not sure if I said aloud, that this was going to be the 'Pearl Harbor Day' of our generation...

I watched it all...the towers falling...the reports of seven flights being hijacked, went up to 12 I think, down to 2 others, the Pentagon being hit, White House and Capitol being evacuated, the plane in the Pennsylvania field, President Bush...

Classes were cancelled for the entire day. One teacher decided to hold class (my music therapy class) so that we could talk if we needed to. One of the girls in the class...she lost someone in one of the towers that day.

And it was eerily silent. ASU is usually buzzing with activity, even during the summer, but especially on a Tuesday during the fall semester. And with ASU being so close in proximity to Sky Harbor...it was just weird to not constantly hear the Southwest, Delta, American, FedEx United Airlines flights coming and going and coming and going and see them line up to land...

A day to remember. Many heroes and cowards were brought to light that day.