Five Years Ago

I awoke to the sound of the phone, on a morning that I had decided I wasn't going to get up early and look for a job. I'd been laid of for three months because of the economy.

Justin, my boyfriend at the time, told me about the first plane. I had a hard time seeing the image on TV because we had just been to New York for my birthday. Then the second plane hit.

At the time brother Mav and I were roommates. To this day it still surprises me that his friend had to call him to wake him up... and that I didn't do it. We watched in absolute shock. And as we watched, Jim Micklaczewski from NBC was doing a live report from the Pentagon when that plane hit, and we heard his first reaction and impressions. Mav and I looked at each other, and I will never forget the look on his face.

Part of me wishes I hadn't watched the buildings go down, but I knew it was coming. Part of me wishes I didn't have to see any of it. To this day, something is still very different in me. It's bad, it's good, it still doesn't fully understand.

On September 11, I received the call for an interview for the job I now hold.