10 Years Ago

I was 22 years old and working as a reporter for KTSM in El Paso, Texas.

It was a Tuesday and it was my day off.  My roommate left early in the morning and I was still in bed.   The TV in the living room was on and I could hear what sounded like very intense delivery from Matt Lauer.

I got up and saw the images on television.   My heart raced and I instantly knew right then and there at that very moment everything about our country was going to be different.  I feared the change.

That day I ended up doing live shots at blood donation centers around town.  The lines of people donating blood was phenomenal.   Strangers spoke among themselves  and were quite cordial to eachother.  They shared their disbelief, their fear and their anger.  Everyone was patriotic.   U.S. Flags suddenly appeared on cars, home windows and on the front doors of businesses around town……everywhere they appeared.

I remember riding around in the news unit with a photographer and listening to the radio reports come in from New York.   The photographer turned to me and said, “You will remember this day for the rest of your life.  Always.”