Fifteen Years Later

Fifteen years ago today, on September 11, 2001, our world suddenly changed. Two plane struck the Twin Towers in New York City. I visited New York a couple of years or so before the Towers were destroyed. I remember looking up at them, from wherever I was in New York City. I remember thinking I'd never seen anything so tall.  I didn't go to visit them while I was there, which I regretted later. 

September 11, 2001, I didn't hear about what happened until I arrived at work. At that time we, Mom and I, lived in the house on Bracken Avenue. Mom worked at the Old Showboat on Boulder Highway and I worked at the Henderson Campus of the Community College. I had gotten up late, so I wasn't able to watch the morning news before I left for work. After I got to work, I called Mom to turn on the news so she could hear what happened.  

Every  year, on September 11, I remember that day. Every year I write something about it in one of my blogs. The first year, I wrote a poem. On the one year anniversary I wrote another poem. I haven't written a poem about it since. I contemplate writing a poem, but I can't seem to find anything new to say about it. Perhaps I should try writing a personal essay about it. 

Writing about Dawn on September 11

It is Thursday, September 11, 2008; I woke up between 3:00 and 3:00 AM this morning. Not as early as I usually wake up, but early enough to be awake when dawn arrives. The arrival of dawn to Las Vegas always brings memories with it. Sometimes those memories are of my childhood and my grandparents. Sometimes those memories are of religious services or other events.

This morning I am remembering dawn on another September 11. Then I worked at a college computer lab in Henderson, Nevada; not a difficult commute from Las Vegas. I remember the alarm clock sounded at 4:00 AM. I got up, turned the alarm off, made coffee, run a bath and contemplated turning on the morning news. Instead, I opted to say morning prayers. I had to be at work about 7:30 or 8:00 AM that morning, so I decided it would be the evening news I watched that day.

I did not find out about the twin towers until I arrived at work. There was no T.V. in the computer room, but that did not matter because we had Internet access. If you have Internet, access a T.V. is not necessary. We kept one of the computers on a news website all day, I am not sure of the website because I was more interested in the news itself that day.

This morning I remember another September 11 dawn. I remember driving to work and hearing the shocking news when I arrived at my job site. I remember receiving the news over the Internet. I remember writing a poem, which was published in a chapbook of 9/11 poems. I remember dawn on September 11.