Mrs. Jodoin

I was teaching the Writing Class at Memorial Middle School and the librarian, Mrs. Froggatt, came in from across the hall and said one of the towers of the World Trade Center was hit by a plane. I asked her how she knew, and Mrs. Froggatt said the students were coming in from Mr Quinn's computer class, and they saw the information on the internet. We had no idea it was a terrorist act at this point. All I thought was, "How awful. What a terrible plane crash! I hope there aren't too many injuries." Then, the principal, Mrs. Jenko, came to the door and asked me to step out in the hallway. I couldn't understand what she was saying. Mrs. Jenko was truly upset and talking so fast that I had to ask her to keep repeating what she was saying. I finally heard, "A second plane has hit the other tower and this is terrorist activity. We could be under attack. Don't tell the students because they will be too upset and we don't want them to panic!" I returned to my class, trying to remain calm, and did my best to finish the writing class. When the class ended, I raced across the hall and asked Mrs. Froggatt what was happening. She had hooked up a TV and we watched in disbelief, those horrible images of the twin towers. When I heard on the TV it was a United flight heading for California that hit the second tower, I really started to panic. My friend Sherill, a flight attendant for United, just told me the night before she had a California trip and would call me when she got back. I could barely dial the phone to call her husband to see if Sherill was on the flight. When I finally reached her husband, Drew, he said she was up sick all night, and didn't go to work. She called in sick. I will never forget that feeling of relief. My friend Sherill was safe, but so many other lives were destroyed on that horrible, horrible day.... 9/11.  I will always remember.