The morning of September 11th, was a beautiful morning in Georgia. I had decided to skip my freshman economics class and was driving into Atlanta to visit a park I love. I remember wondering why the traffic going out of the city was so heavy. Nowadays, I’m older and wiser and would pay much closer attention to an ominous sign like that. I got to the park and spent the morning there.

When I got home, or maybe on the drive home (did we all have cell phones back then? I forget.) I realized my mom had been trying to call me. I arrived at her house to see the footage of the planes hitting, over and over.

My other very clear memory was of the next day, maybe a couple days later, and the country was going to have a moment of silence for the victims. Again, I was driving and heard the dj announce it on the radio. After the silence, she put on the song “America” by Simon and Garfunkel, and to this day that is one of the most poignant moments of my life. I thought that song was such a perfect choice to salute our beautiful, flawed country and the collective pain and loss we were all feeling.