That day began as it always did, picking up stragglers on my street on the way up to BYU campus. I think that there was only 1 in the car with me that day rather than the usual 4-5. We were listening to the radio and heard the report. For some reason, I thought that the planes were only the small 2-seater ones rather than the large ones that they actually were. I wasn't too worried until I got to work. We turned the TV on to watch. The TV was right by my desk and I remember not being able to look away for hours. We finally turned it off so everyone would get some work done. We kept updated via news sites. Then the first tower collapsed. The TV went back on. We couldn't believe it. I have never been to NYC, so I'm not familiar with how tall these buildings actually were. Seeing the destruction on TV probably didn't give me a true sense of how devastating everything really was.
When I got home from work, my roommates and I pulled out my old and huge TV to watch. We had people stop in because not many people had TVs on our street. Everyone was in shock. Our EQP (elder's quorum pres) was going around the ward to make sure everyone was okay and to see if any family/friends were involved. Surprisingly, there weren't.
Later that evening I took Leticia with me to fill up my car with gas. No one knew who was behind the attacks and we were worried about not being able to get gas in the future. There was a huge line at the gas station. I ended up walking to work for a few days because I was worried. Didn't need to worry too much (except about the prices).
I think what I remember most about everything was the unity of the nation that came to the forefront. It's amazing to see the turn about in just 10 years. Before it was, "Do anything to protect this country and our freedom...including war." Now it's, "Avoid anything that would include our troops on foreign soil." It's a bit sad to me. I am SO grateful for those who fight for our freedoms as well as those who help support other countries so they can have similar freedoms.
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