Twenty years since 9-11

It was a beautiful, clear Tuesday morning. I was sitting on the sofa getting E ready for preschool when Andy called from work and told me to turn on the news. The first plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought it was an accident; Andy was confident we were being attacked. It was 7:46 a.m. here. Shortly after 8 a plane struck the second tower.

I drove E to preschool and she was telling everyone she met how a plane crashed into a building. The teachers first heard it from her as they were busy prepping their rooms for a day and not watching TV. One teacher tells me she still recalls hearing the news from E.

I drove to work and got in the office to find everyone huddled in the bureau chief's office watching TV. We stood in shock as we heard the Pentagon was struck and watched the towers crumble.

Everything we were scheduled to do that day changed. Some reporters were sent to the local train stations to talk to commuters as they returned home after being told to evacuate Chicago. Others were talking to their sources to see what local response there would be. One minister I talked to organized a mission trip of sorts to New York City to help in anyway they could. I learned the village clerk's cousin perished in the attack so I had to interview her. Airplanes nationwide were grounded.

Andy first heard the news through an alert on his phone. He went into his coworker's office and watched everything unfold on TV. He was part of the Chicago evacuation ordered by Chicago,police and was safely home by noon. In 2013 I visited the site on a New York tour with Mom and Cindy. The museum wasn't yet finished so it would be nice to go back someday and see that.