Remembering 9/11

I remember the morning of September 11, 2001 ...

At the time, I had a dream job: the MP I worked for had no problem with my working from home when he wasn't in Ottawa (which I tried to arrange as frequently as possible!) and we closed the office for the summer months.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was going into Ottawa to ready the office for Parliament's return after the summer break. My usual 45-minute commute was taking much longer because I was driving in later in the morning than I would normally have been.

This was not going to be a routine day at the office -- I was just going in on my own clock and would leave whenever it suited me. Parliament wasn't actually "opening" for another week so my MP was still in the riding and we would touch base by telephone the way we did every day.

That morning, my car radio was on CBC so I could catch the news and ... well, you know what I heard. And like everyone who heard the horror that morning -- my ears heard it, but my head didn't want to believe it.

I immediately phoned John (yes, even then I had hands-free cell phone in my car) to ask if he heard the news and to see if had the television on. He was able to fill me in on what little extra information he could glean from the television broadcast so we stayed on the phone while I drove the rest of the way into Ottawa.

Once I arrived at the office, I quickly took care of what needed my attention while my eyes were glued to the television and the telephone was glued to my ear (talk about multi-tasking).

John wanted me to get out of the Parliamentary precinct NOW. He felt that if there were terror attacks being levied against governments (and remember, at that point, nobody knew for sure what was happening or how far reaching its threat) he didn't want his wife sitting in an office at the centre of Canada's government.

I remember thinking, "I need to hug my daughter and grandson." My beautiful boy was not quite three months old at the time so my little chickadee was at home with him. I of course telephoned and told my daughter that I would be there as soon as I could.

Once I contacted my MP, his first words were, "Get the *&*^ out of there, you crazy fool! We'll talk later." He shared John's concerns about the unknown aspects of terror threats. We actually talked as I drove to my daughter's place and we agreed to leave the office closed for a few extra days until we learned more about the situation.

I spent an hour or so with my daughter and grandson before driving home to a very anxious husband. I remember calling my step-daughter that evening and telling her that I just felt the need to hug my family and since I couldn't actually visit her, would she please consider the call a hug?

On this, the 8th anniversary of such a horrid disaster, we remember the thousands of people who died when New York's Twin Towers were destroyed. We also remember those who perished hours later in a similar attack on the Pentagon, and in the attempted attack which went down in Pennsylvania when the passengers overpowered the hijackers. RIP all of you.

Hug those you love when you have the chance ...