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It’s amazing how normal, day-to-day occurrences are magnified when such tragic, and historic events unfold. I was a freshman at Belle Plaine High School on September 11, 2001. Most of what I remember of that day happened before the news of the attacks spread that morning.
But really, my 9/11 story starts back when I was much younger. My grandma Ingram always used to tell us kids that if we seen a penny on the ground, we could only grab it if it was facing heads-up. A heads-up penny meant good luck, she’d say. So I’d picked up my share of pennies from the ground (heads-up of course) throughout the years. My grandma passed away when I was in middle school, but every time I’d see a penny on the ground, at the parking lot of a grocery store, or where ever; I would think of her.
Now, on that day 10 years ago, my mom dropped me off in the high school parking lot, but it wasn’t the normal spot. For whatever reason, we couldn’t pull up to the usual drop-off point.
So I step out of the vehicle , look down and what do I see? Ol’ honest Abe’s face imprinted onto a shiny, copper circle.
“Oh, it’s going to be a good day!” I probably thought to myself. Showed my mom what I found, waved good-bye, and put the penny in my pocket.
I was in Mrs. Lori Moshier’s typing class, facing the north wall, two seats from the west wall. I don’t remember what I was typing but the news I heard while sitting in that seat has sure influenced a lot of typing and everything else since then.
I didn’t know what the World Trade Center was, but education came quickly. So did tears, anger, and confusion. I just remember standing with a crowd of people in the high school commons area. We watched the second plane hit. We watched world change.
Tears are still shed about that day. I get emotional when I think about the the plane that crash landed in that Pennsylvania field. And I can’t imagine what it was like at the Pentagon. It’s hard to fathom what the city of New York has endured.
We’ve turned Ground Zero into a light, a beacon that says “we got back up.” This light, I believe isn’t powered by electricity. It shines because of the American spirit. A spirit that emanates from that field in Pennsylvania, from Washington D.C., from every inch of this country, “from sea to shining sea.”
As for that penny I picked up 10 years ago, I don’t know what happened to it. Didn’t think about it, till I saw another penny, facing heads-up in the days that followed. Out of honor, and respect for America and all who’ve fallen as result of 9/11- I didn’t pick up that penny, and I haven’t picked up one since.
God bless America.
It’s amazing how normal, day-to-day occurrences are magnified when such tragic, and historic events unfold. I was a freshman at Belle Plaine High School on September 11, 2001. Most of what I remember of that day happened before the news of the attacks spread that morning.
But really, my 9/11 story starts back when I was much younger. My grandma Ingram always used to tell us kids that if we seen a penny on the ground, we could only grab it if it was facing heads-up. A heads-up penny meant good luck, she’d say. So I’d picked up my share of pennies from the ground (heads-up of course) throughout the years. My grandma passed away when I was in middle school, but every time I’d see a penny on the ground, at the parking lot of a grocery store, or where ever; I would think of her.
Now, on that day 10 years ago, my mom dropped me off in the high school parking lot, but it wasn’t the normal spot. For whatever reason, we couldn’t pull up to the usual drop-off point.
So I step out of the vehicle , look down and what do I see? Ol’ honest Abe’s face imprinted onto a shiny, copper circle.
“Oh, it’s going to be a good day!” I probably thought to myself. Showed my mom what I found, waved good-bye, and put the penny in my pocket.
I was in Mrs. Lori Moshier’s typing class, facing the north wall, two seats from the west wall. I don’t remember what I was typing but the news I heard while sitting in that seat has sure influenced a lot of typing and everything else since then.
I didn’t know what the World Trade Center was, but education came quickly. So did tears, anger, and confusion. I just remember standing with a crowd of people in the high school commons area. We watched the second plane hit. We watched world change.
Tears are still shed about that day. I get emotional when I think about the the plane that crash landed in that Pennsylvania field. And I can’t imagine what it was like at the Pentagon. It’s hard to fathom what the city of New York has endured.
We’ve turned Ground Zero into a light, a beacon that says “we got back up.” This light, I believe isn’t powered by electricity. It shines because of the American spirit. A spirit that emanates from that field in Pennsylvania, from Washington D.C., from every inch of this country, “from sea to shining sea.”
As for that penny I picked up 10 years ago, I don’t know what happened to it. Didn’t think about it, till I saw another penny, facing heads-up in the days that followed. Out of honor, and respect for America and all who’ve fallen as result of 9/11- I didn’t pick up that penny, and I haven’t picked up one since.
God bless America.
