I Will Never Forget...

North Georgia College & State University students, faculty and staff and members of the Dahlonega community
 held a candlelight vigil on the university's drill field on Sept. 11, 2001.  Taken from http://www.northgeorgia.edu/North_Georgia_News/Articles/Headlines/

This picture was taken September 11th, 2001 at the Candlelight Service held that night on the Drill Field at NGCSU.  I am near the right hand corner.  That confused look is the look I had the entire day. 


I remember when I first heard about the attack.  I had just walked my 4 flights of stairs in Lewis Hall after my Music Appreciation Class and Tracey (one of my roommates and still a dear friend) stopped me in the hallway on the way to my room and pulled me in her room to see it.  Honestly, at first I was numb, like it was a movie or something.  I never thought of my country being attacked and could not grasp that it was actually happening right now.  It took me a few minutes to let it all digest and to think of what it really meant.  


Classes were cancelled or spent watching the television and talking.  It finally started to sink in that our lives as Americans would NEVER be the same.  I remember walking around talking to my friends that were in the military and feeling their fear as they thought of what their future might hold within the next days and months.  All of the sudden the images that I couldn't grasp on television were affecting my life and lives of my friends.  For the next few weeks I saw the military men at North Georgia College and State University act as heroes.  Some of them left quickly, while others made plans to go and fight for the country that they loved more than I could ever comprehend.  Here these guys are my age and willing to give their lives for this country...unbelievable.  I will never forget a conversation that Brandy and I had with one of our friends at NGCSU that we grew up with.  He was talking passionately about fighting for our rights, freedom, and the country that we love...did that ever hit home.  My thoughts were he was too young to do that, he needed to talk with his parents first, didn't he need a permission slip or something for that?  But the truth was he was an adult making a brave and selfless decision...we were adults...WOW.  A smack of reality hit me that day.  That night ended with the Cadets doing a Midnight run to the bagpipes playing Amazing Grace.  Life was NEVER the same for me, but in the lives of my friends and classmates, some of which have since died for my freedom, life was radically changed.

Thank you could never be enough.