12 Years

Today marks the 12th anniversary since the terrorist attacks on 9/11 back in 2001.  In some ways it seems like it hasn't been all that long & in other ways, it seems like it's been much longer than that.

September 11th, 2001.  I was living in Florida at the time.  On that particular day, I had gotten up early to go shopping with two my aunts.  We had stopped by Walmart first, & then headed to the mall.  While at the mall, we heard that planes had hit the Twin Towers.  It seemed unreal.  When I got home, I watched the reports on tv.  It was all over every station and even on the radio.  It didn't seem real.  When they showed the planes hitting the towers & the towers collapsing, the clouds of smoke/debris that barreled down the streets... it seemed more like movie footage, from a disaster film.

In March of 2004, I spent my spring break in New York City.  On my last day there, I walked to the southern end of Manhattan to Battery Park.  It was a sunny but windy day.  The water was rather choppy.  I didn't have time to take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty.  I did use the coin-operated binoculars to look across the water though.  On my way back to the hotel to pick up my bags before heading to the bus station, I came across this...

Curious, I walked closer & quickly realized where I was.  I had unintentionally come across the World Trade Center.  I walked around to the main entrance.

I spent quite a bit of time there, just looking around.  At the time, there wasn't a whole lot to see.  It had been 2.5 years since the towers were hit & subsequently fell.  All that was there were holes & construction.

Today I got to thinking about all that has changed, for me personally, in the past 12 years.

A month after 9/11, I finally bothered to get my driver's license.  The day after that, I boarded a bus to move back to Michigan (I already had plans to do so for a while, but nothing set in stone until about a week or so before I left).  I stayed at my grandma's before moving to Mt. Pleasant the following summer to live with friends from high school.

In the fall of 2003, I finally started college, after taking 3 years off after high school.

November 2005, Richie was born.  13.5 months later, I graduated (2006) with my Associate of Arts degree in psychology from MMCC.

We moved to the west side of the state at the end of the summer in 2007 & I transferred to GVSU.  2 years later, in the spring of 2009, I graduated from GVSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.

And while those are only a few major events, there were plenty of other major & minor events mixed in there as well.  All of Richie's milestones... first tooth, first step, first word, starting various levels of school, etc.  Events with friends & family.  Meeting new people, having new experiences, learning new things.  Losing special people.  Life in general.

I'm very blessed that I have been able to experience all of these things.  Because of this day 12 years ago, a lot of people can't/won't.  I'm very blessed that I was able to go to college & move around.  I am so very blessed that I have a smart , beautiful & most importantly, healthy, son.  I have a wonderful family & awesome friends.  And I live in a great country (despite its flaws).