Cheryl-Burke-Teen4

I remember leaving my house for school as any ordinary day around 8:00am & looking up at the extremely clear blue sky. When the first plane hit I was in math and as the second hit we just changed classes as any other ordinary Tuesday to music. By time Spanish class came, which was third period, my friend Caitlin’s mom picked her up from school early, which we all thought was for a doctor’s appointment. Students continuously left school early and by time lunch came, which was a class period away, my homeroom of 30 diminished to 12 students. When we returned from recess our principal came to each junior high class and explained “bombs” in New York City exploded and due to the severity of what was going on in Manhattan they closed school the next day. I remember going through my last three classes of the day wondering what exactly was going on. My Mom picked up my 4 brothers and me at dismissal and explained to us what happened at the World Trade Center and that our uncle was Okay, but was stuck in Manhattan. I remember leaving school that afternoon & looking up at the bare crisp blue sky wondering what was going on? What’s going to happen? How quiet the sky was without any planes. Tuesday evening I was glued to the television watching the planes hit the World Trade Center in replay & people running from the cloud of dust & debris. Friday September 14 we had a memorial mass for all the victims of the tragedy, particularly honoring the students at school who lost parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends, and family. For about a month after September 11th, every time I saw a plane in the sky I thought it was going to crash into a building.