On 9-11, I was visiting a friend of mine in Chicago, and his family. I was there with a friend of mine from Minnesota who had driven us there.

We had celbrated my birthday the night before, having a party that ended just after midnight, when my actual birthday was. Happy and exhausted, I fell asleep on their couch.

I half-remember their children leaving for school, and my friend going to work. Later I heard the TV on. My friend’s wife was having coffee and watching.

As I woke, she told me that a plane had collided with a World Trade center building. I thought that was odd, and immediately imagined a runaway single-engine plane that had a terrible mishap. As I rubbed my eyes and looked at the smoking tower, I was confused. I was still half-asleep.
Then, as the commentators were speaking about the crash, I saw the second plane hit the second tower. I was now fully awake, and fully in shock.

Then the Pentagon got hit, and we started to surmise about a plane going for the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Now, my birthday is coming up again in a few days, and what I feel is so powerful, those memories all coming back. It’s like no time has passed at all. . .I can feel myself still locked in that day, those moments.

I appreciate my birthday now more than ever. I was born, I am alive, and I am an American. 9-11 is now a day of memorial for the nation, and I am not alone in my thoughts, I know. Peace to you all. Unite, and stand.