12 Years Ago I Sent My Baby to School and Then The World Changed

Sep 11 2013

Twelve years ago, Nathan was 5 and had just started Kindergarten. He had been in school for a week and I wasn’t ready to have a child in school. I’ll never forget that fear as I put him on the bus for the first time.

nathan-kindergarten-1

For the last 5 years I had been with him almost 24/7. Now, I was entrusting him to a bus driver, teacher and a host of others who I knew nothing about. I had spent 5 years telling him to buckle up, don’t talk to strangers and stay with mommy. Then at age 5, I had to send him off with strangers with no seat belts and no mommy.

One week later, my worst fears that I couldn’t ever imagine came true.

Remembering 9/11

I remember sitting in my living room with Sami who was 2 at the time and just staring at the TV. I wanted to go pick up Nathan from school, but they wouldn’t let us.

Twelve years later, Nathan is a Senior in high school. It’s hard to believe that 12 years have gone by since 9/11. Every year I think it’s going to be another day and every year it isn’t. Nathan does have some vague memories of 9/11, but my other 3 kids don’t remember it at all (two of them weren’t even born yet.)

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this post. I’ve just spent my morning thinking about how much has changed in 12 years and wondering how I got to be the mother of a 17-year-old.

9/11 in Words

It’s hard to put 9/11 in to words, but I think the Alan Jackson song, Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning), puts my thoughts and feelings into words best. I love this video that Bob Marshall put together this video with the words and pictures from 9/11. I can’t watch this without crying.