Sunday, September 11, 2011

10 years ago...

10 years ago today...I will never forget. I was at drill team practice in the early early morning, and our director stopped practice to tell us what had happened. I had no idea what the 'world trade center' in NYC was... I didn't even know we had one in Dallas. We left the indoor practice field and sprinted back to the high school building. A bunch of high school girls so scared - we were watching the sky as if something was about to happen.

All day our teachers had the TVs on...showing the images of the buildings on fire and replays of the second plane hitting the towers. It looked like a movie...like it wasn't even real. I just felt numb, and couldn't fully grasp what was going on. My dad is a pilot for Southwest Airlines and he was flying that day. I was scared out of my mind for him. Were there more hijackers out there? Could his flight be affected? What would he do in that situation? 

Went to lunch later that day - and the alarms went off. I was in line for pizza, still totally shaken up by everything when the sirens go off. I begin to cry. I start running to exit the building - I remember saying out loud, "What is happening?!" Someone had made a bomb threat on our campus and everyone, I mean everyone scrambled to get out of the building. Bomb threats at high schools are taken very seriously, but especially with the events that had happened that morning...they were taking no chances. Over 3,000 high schoolers were crammed into the Indoor Field House and some were put in the football stadium. Parents started pulling up to the school to pick up their kids that couldn't drive yet, and others just left and went home. The principals tried to keep all of us on campus - trying to figure out who made the bomb threat, but no such luck. I actually stayed in the Field House with my friends til the end of the school day. We were just talking and trying to process everything that happened. 

Later that night we had a football game against Jesuit. The Halftime Show was always a big hit at our school with our award winning band and drill team performances. In honor of that day we had a long, very somber moment of silence. All of us in tears. Afraid, sad, scared, shaken...thinking of those that lost their lives and their children. Coppell's band and Jesuit's band decided to perform together. It was a very emotional. Our director that morning decided to change our kick routine music to "This Land Is Your Land"... we were all kicking and performing the best we could, and crying at the same time. What an experience.


This past Friday - Coppell played Jesuit... and the bands performed together again.

It's a wonderful life!


PS - My dad is a blogger for Southwest Airlines...he wrote about his memories of September 11th and his feelings about it as a pilot. 
We Will Never Forget.
Nuts About Southwest Blog

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