I remember...

Five years ago: We had just bought the house. We'd only been in it about 10 days. The only thing working was the TV.

I was in a temporary classroom, because mine had suffered some damage from a recent storm. My students came into second block saying that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Centers in New York. I turned on the TV in my room and we watched the footage over and over, wondering what was going on. After about 30 minutes, the principal had the cable shut off. She didn't want the students to freak out. Our school is minutes from a major military base. They do a lot of basic training. We had a lot of military families nearby. This could be affecting some of the students, we just didn't know.

When I had a break, I called hubs. He was working for a data access company at the time. He drove around the state doing checks on properties and such. I didn't know where he would be. I didn't know if those people, who were capable of such horror, would decide that South Carolina looked like a prime target as well. I wanted to know that he was safe.

I was coaching cheerleading at the time, and we still held practice that afternoon. One of the girls didn't come, her parents wanted her at home where they knew it was safe. I wanted thought things should be as "normal" as possible for the girls. We didn't do much cheering that day. Or in the days that followed. There was no game that Friday. It was called off, in honor of those who had lost their lives.

When I went home that night, I spent the evening in front of the TV, trying to get the whole story. I couldn't believe my eyes. People jumped out of those buildings, anything to escape the horror within. Another plane had hit the Pentagon. My uncle lives in DC. Was he okay? Then the news about the brave souls on board Flight 93. Fight the terrorists? Wow.

The whole day, and the days that followed, were surreal. It just didn't seem possible that such things could happen here. In the US. That Sunday, our church was filled to capacity. I've never since seen that many folks at a Sunday service. But it seemed like everyone was there, looking for answers that no one had. Not even Pastor Barrett, who always seemed to know everything. Today, five years later, we still don't have the answers. We may never know why. But we remember the lives that were lost that day, and we honor their memory.

God bless America.