Ten Years

This was taken Labor Dady Weekend 2001... our first visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island... days before the attack. This was taken on the ferry between the two by my dad.

I know a lot of people have written many things about 9/11 already. I even wrote about what I experienced on 9/11 on this day last year. But I have something different to share this year too.

In my acting school, on September 12, 2001, when we came back to school, our teacher had us write a note to ourselves in the future. He promised us to mail them to us ten years from now. After experiencing the tragedies of the last twenty four hours the mere idea of comprehending ten years into the future seemed impossible. I remember sitting on the studio floor, struggling with what to write.

A few weeks ago I remembered that we wrote these letters. I wrote to my teacher Joe on Facebook asking if he still had them, and he did. On Thursday the letter arrived to my address here in Virginia. This morning I opened it and took my time to read it as I watched memorial coverage in the background. I was fourteen when I wrote this letter and had just experienced one of the biggest horrors imaginable. My handwriting is different, it is when I did the circles over my eyes and curled the bottoms of my gs and js. Joe included his own letter to us.... not to judge ourselves or what we wrote. We are to use this as a vehicle to recall the person who sat on the floor of the dance studio and tried to figure out what was happening.

I debated sharing it here, but I will. I think it is important to remember, and I know having such a direct link in my hands is something most people do not have. So, no judging, here it goes.

Hi,

I am sitting here in Joe and Shelias class for drama writing you a letter. Do you remember yesterday? Yesterday was the attack on America. I don't understand why this happened. Why did thousands of poeple have to die? Why were those planes hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon and World Trade Centers? Do you remember sitting in Mrs. Pacilios Spanish 2 class and hearing Dan K**** tell you what you and Jay heard on the radio was true?

On the bus from Vo-tech Jay, Meghan C and I heard a plane crashed into the twin towers, or one of them. Do you remember thinking the pilot just couldn't fly? Hijacking never entered our minds. Then in Spanish, actually hearing the principal come on the loud speaker and telling you this, and to feel free to call relatives from the guidance office.

Do you remember missing part of Algebra to call Mom and Dad to see if Greg, Rob, Ken, Uncle Bob, Joni, and eventually remembering George... were ok? They were. George ended up being off, and you call him before lunch with no answer and lecture him for forgetting your birthday but to be ok.

I'll never understand why this was done. Ever. Or how it was fully done. These sick people may cause a World War III, but they haven't broken us. They made us stronger. Don't ever forget that.

And don't forget the discussion we just had in Vo-tech. You, Jay, Melissa, Megan... everyone. Speak your mind.

Love always,

Allison O Age 14 -> You!


Wow.

I forgot I called George... my biological father. He worked in the Lincoln Tunnel. This was the first birthday of many of mine he had forgotten but I didn't care, I wanted to make sure he was ok. He didn't go into work that day. I don't remember that. Or the convesation I wrote about at the end.

This event caused my husband, then a 13 year old 8th grader, to want to join the Marine Corps. He decided on THAT day then and there.... this altered our futures and made our lives into what they are today. I will remember all those who were lost in Washington DC, New York City, Shanksville PA, Iraq and Afghanistan. We will never forget.