Ms. Kehoe

On the morning of 9/11 I was teaching 8th grade students in Vermont. It was my first year back to work after being home with my children. News spread about the first plane hitting the Twin Towers, and we thought it was just an accident. Then, we heard about the second plane and that it was thought to be a terrorist attack. The teachers watched the news on a TV in the teachers' room. The principal decided not to tell the students and finish our day as we normally would. He made a general announcement and allowed students to go home with parents if parents picked them up. My own children were very young, only 3 and 5, so I did not let them watch any of the footage on TV, as was probably the case for Briscoe students today. My parents both worked in Boston and were sent home from work. They were in traffic for hours trying to get home. Even in rural Vermont, it was frightening to wonder for a long time what was going to happen next. I took a trip and flew a plane the following January, and that was pretty scary as well. Luckily, nobody in my family was injured. The positive thing that came out of the 9/11 tragedy was that our country came together, and people helped each other. There was a sense of comradery as Americans. There was a lot of patriotism as well. American flags were flying everywhere, and people had a new appreciation for the peaceful lifestyle we have here in the United States.