Five years ago today...

I woke up at 8:30, had a 10 o'clock class to get ready for. But I was a little sluggish, so i stayed in bed till about 8:45. (first plane hit 8:46) Got up said my morning prayer, and hopped in the shower. Took a pretty long shower. (second plane hit 9:03) I got out ironed got dressed and realized I was running late. I usually turned on the tv to watch the news but for some reason that morning I didn't. I walked out and got in the car and instead of listening to the radio I popped in Jill Scott's live cd and sped off to campus. Campus was unusually quiet, I mean I was late but there was no life on campus. I parked and ran into the building. Dr. Farley was standing there with a weird look in her face and people were crying in class, i thought maybe we had all failed her class, she was known for doing that. I looked at one of my friends like "what happened?". She looked at me and said " You dont know do you?" "Know what" "Two planes hit the Twin Towers a few minutes ago" "Get the f^%k out of here" Cell phones started going off, more tears. People started to get up and leave. Dr. Farley said " This is no way to react, you have to remain calm. You have to hope for the best and not automatically think the worst. If you need to call family members do so, but you may not get through so just wait it out." The classroom emptied out quickly. Although we were in Virginia, more than 90 % of my class was from New York. We had family to call. most people ended up in the cafeteria or in Foster Hall watching the news replay the events over and over. I watched the hardest guys on camous be brought to tears. All the National Guardsmen/women, Reservists, and regular service men and women huddle up. And one by one their phones begin to ring, "Yes sir" was the answer, and more tears flowed. Fort Lee is about 10 minutes away and they were all called there. I waited and made my phone calls, my family was ok. I left campus around 1. went to my room and prayed for what seemed like forever. Still refusing to turn on the tv. I returned to campus around 3. Sat with Ms. Jones and watched the coverage in the lobby of Byrd Hall. Didn't really go anywhere, didn't really say anything for the rest of the day.

Five years ago today....