Smiling Mom

I will never for­get that day.

Hubby, who was pre­viously Boy­friend, called my apart­ment early in the morning.

Hubby: SM, wake up.

SM: What’s going on?

Hubby: We’ve been attac­ked. I have to go into work early today. Our city is on high alert.

SM: What do you mean??!!

Hubby: Go turn on your TV.

And on it went.

I woke up my room­mate and we sat in front of our tele­vi­sion, jaw touching the ground. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! After sit­ting, paraly­zed, for far too long, both my room­mate and I rea­li­zed that we nee­ded to get to work. The stu­dents would be waiting.

So off we hea­ded, me in my Ford Ran­ger, lis­te­ning to Peter Jenning’s play by play account of what was hap­pe­ning. When the second plane flew into the tower, he pau­sed, visibly upset.

I cried.

I lis­te­ned as the second tower fell down. I par­ked my car in the lot and ran into our staff room and sat down in front of the TV with many other teachers.

We all cried.

How were we to teach our chil­dren? What were we to say? We had to be strong and assure them they we are safe. That school was safe.

When school star­ted I lear­ned that my student’s dad was in Pennsyl­va­nia and unreacha­ble. My stu­dent was a wreck.

We tal­ked, I told them this was a scary day and one that they would remem­ber for the rest of their lives. I told them that they were safe. They asked ques­tions, a lot of ques­tions. I couldn’t ans­wer most of them.

Days pas­sed and my class was unsett­led. They wan­ted to do something. Anything to help.

We brains­tor­med ideas, and one child said that he wan­ted to raise money to give to the Red Cross. So we orga­ni­zed fliers and put together many dona­tion bins.

Kids from our school went door to door asking for help and orga­ni­zed car washes. When all was said and done we collec­ted thou­sands of dollars and were fea­tu­red on our local news station.

It was a great experience!

My stu­dents nee­ded to help, and they did.

It tur­ned out that the dad of my stu­dent was safe, and wai­ting in Pennsyl­va­nia for the ear­liest flight back to California.

For months I proudly dis­pla­yed an Ame­ri­can flag on my back win­dow, cried when I heard accounts of the day, and felt pride in my heart for all those heroes who hel­ped sort through the wreckage.

To this day, I well up with tears every sin­gle time I think of the damage cau­sed and fear felt by this terri­ble tragedy.

I will never for­get and will always be proud to live in this country.

The men and women who serve our country are and fore­ver my heroes.

To those of you in law enfor­ce­ment. I am so proud to know you and be part of your family.

To fire­figh­ters who risk your lives every day, thank you.

And our mili­tary men and women. You have the har­dest job around.

I will never for­get what you do for me every sin­gle day.