September 11th - A Day to Remember

September 11th is always a somber day in our house, and the same story is told every year.

During the week before September 11, 2001, in Nevada City, my wife's mother was visiting from Kentucky. While I slept early that morning, Kim took her mother to the airport for a 6:00am return flight from Sacramento to Cincinnati. Kim dropped her mother at the airport at 5:00am and on her return to Nevada City listened to the radio as tragic events in New York unfolded. When Kim arrived at the house, she woke me up to tell me that planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. I mistakenly thought that she was talking about single-engine planes and stayed in bed. I heard Kim listening to the radio and understood that the planes about which she spoke were commercial airliners, and I immediately got out of bed. As the events unfolded throughout the morning and when we realized that the USA was being attacked by terrorists hijacking commercial airliners, we both looked at each other and thought..."oh no." As we spoke, Kim's mother was on a transcontinental flight.

I immediately called American Airlines, as Kim was too upset. A wonderful and amazing woman answered the telephone. I told her that my mother-in-law was on a flight from Sacramento, and we were very concerned as to what was happening with her flight. By the tone of her voice, I could tell that the employee was completely overwhelmed. The airline employee told me that they were crazy busy and that she was going to put me on hold. She informed me that I would be on hold for a long time, but she promised me that she would find out the status of the flight. While Kim cried, I was on hold for well over 20 minutes when the employee came back online to inform me that Kim's mom's flight was being redirected back to Sacramento and that everything was okay. While I do not remember the name of the American Airlines employee, she is famous in our house for bringing relief to Kim that morning on such an understandably crazy day at American Airlines.

Kim's mom's flight was the last flight to leave Sacramento on September 11th, and it was also the last flight to arrive that morning. Upon her arrival back in Sacramento, Kim's mom called us to tell us that she was okay. She stated that during her return, she felt very safe, as her flight was escorted by a military fighter on each side of the plane...

Scary.

While we all remember where we were on that day, it also important the significance of that day and how that day forever changed the USA. Please say a prayer for those we lost and for those who today are defending us.