September 11, 2001

Where were you on September 11th? It’s worth remembering.

My day started out like any other. It was a Tuesday so I had a full day of classes. I was up at the crack of dawn to shower and drive the hour to Charleston for my 8 am class. I had managed to schedule all of my classes that semester on Tuesday and Thursday so I only had to drive two days a week. My classes were from 8am to 4:45pm with no breaks.

My first class was a social studies methods class. We were none the wiser and had a normal class that day. But it was on my way to my second class that others conversations were starting to catch my attention. I went to my second class, and we carried on as usual. The professor must not have known what was going on. As I walked back to Coleman Hall from my Geography class there was an obvious buzz. Something was happening, but I couldn’t pinpoint what.

My professor didn’t show up for my Health Economics class that day, so I headed next door to Taylor Hall, a dorm where I had lived during the previous two years. In the lobby, gathered around the big screen TV were more students than I had ever seen in such a small area. Despite a few whispers, everyone was quiet. My first glimpse of the TV showed a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. I remember thinking, “a plane crashed, huh?” After a few more minutes of watching, I suddenly understood. No wonder everyone was all abuzz.

My next two classes were with Mike. We were just friends at the time. We had previous classes together and had been casual acquaintances for about a year. I headed to the hallway to wait for him to show up. He found me sitting on the floor eating a Snickers bar. A typical lunch during that period of my life. We sat in the hall and chatted while we waited for our next class.

Mike and I sat next to each other in both of these classes. It all started on the first day when he sat in the back in the first class, a freshman level history class that we both just managed to find time in our schedules to take as seniors. That fateful day I beckoned him to the front of the room with the words, “Seniors stick together.” From that moment on, we sat next to each other, in the front row, in our last two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

We went to our first class together, but the professor never showed up. We turned on the TV in the classroom to watch the news coverage and sat and talked through the entire class. We went next door for our last class of the day and continued our conversation. When we realized the professor wasn’t going to show up for this class either, we decided to head home. An hour in opposite directions. Before we left, I asked for Mike’s email address. He wrote it on a blue post-it note that is downstairs in a box with other dating memorabilia.

It was because of September 11. Because our professors were too shocked to teach class. Because it gave us time to talk for more than a few minutes in the hallway that I finally had the courage to ask for his email. Not his phone number mind you, his email. I wouldn’t be brave enough to ask for the phone number until Halloween! And ugh, what a disaster that was!

The very next day, various forwards started to circulate regarding September 11. I forwarded one to Mike with a note saying I thought he might find it interesting. And so began our emailing, which quickly morphed us from “just friends” to the most complicated relationship I have ever had.

I did not know anyone who died on September 11th. However, I do understand the historical impact and the significance of the event. And while September 11 was one of the worst days our country has seen, it was one of the best days of my life. Seven years ago today, I started down this path. The path that has led to marriage, to a son, and to so many things that I could never have imagined.