Remembering 9-11 Through An Immigrant's Eyes

Where were you? Were you on the road, were you at work, were you at home? Where were you on 9-11-01 when the unthinkable happened?

Do you remember George W. Bush sitting, talking to school children when a person came to tell him we had been attacked? Yes, that's right, The President was talking to school children!

Do you remember that it was Tuesday morning early and it was the most beautiful day you could ask for . . . the sun was shining and the sky was clear . . . clear except for those hideous images on every channel - even the music channels - on television sets everywhere.

Hubby and I were finishing packing for a drive up to Terre Haute, Indiana for his College Reunion at Rose-Hulman. We saw the planes as they purposely crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. We saw them crash into the Pentagon and we saw them crash into a field in Pennsylvania.

They missed their target when they went down into that field . . . why? Because passengers overtook the attackers! There was a man who called on his cell phone to alert us and asked the operator to tell his wife how much he loved her. Others called from their offices to also say, "Good-bye".

Was that when we realized it might be a good idea to always have cell phones with us? Even if it is just to say, "Good-bye . . . I love you"?

I was not yet an American Citizen and I felt quite panicky. We were about to get into our car and drive on public highways to go north.

Please understand something about a Canadian who grew up in Toronto. My Father always said that if we were attacked, we would drive north. Well, when you live in Toronto, that makes good sense! If you have enough gas and you just keep on going, you will be in sparsely populated places where nobody thinks about attacking because there are not enough people there . . . and there are no tall buildings. There are lakes and trees and grass and weeds and wildlife . . . nothing anyone would think about attacking.

(For those of you who might not know, about 80% of Canada's population lives within 200 miles of the border with United States of America. So, you don't really have to drive very far to be in a safe place.)

So, having grown up with this mentality, I was having to re-think about what a person would do when they thought they might be attacked. And, make no mistake, Hubby was thinking about Houston and the ship channel and the oil and that we are pretty close to that. Hubby was very anxious to get on the road.

We had a passenger car, not a truck bed with an extra can of gas. We did put lots of water in the trunk and then, I said,

"Oh, oh . . . I better have my papers - my "Green Card" - because I am not even a citizen!"

So, we put together some documents and a few things like you would have in a box for a storm warning and we drove off up the road.

Along the road, we would stop for gas and wait in long lines each time. As the day wore on, the stations were running out of gas to pump!

I called my neighbor and I guess she was watching TV because she told me she was praying for us and gave me this fine piece of advice:

"You watch everything around you! You make sure you know who is beside you and who is behind you!"

Then her daughter, who works at the TV station called and asked about the gas situation.

We called to Rose-Hulman to ask if they were still having the reunion. The answer was, "Yes".

So, we were very careful to stop to get gas more often than we normally would and when we stopped, we turned on the TV in the hotel room immediately.

We called back home and found that our grandson, David who was living in New York was fine and had just left one of the buildings before it was struck. We knew where everyone was.

My fellow Canadian, Peter Jennings - also not yet an American himself - stayed on the air all day and took calls from his children who reassured him they were safe. He wept just as everyone else was doing. It was a day never to be forgotten. A day when someone who hates us so bad did the unthinkable.

Back then, I did not have all the Americana I have now and I recall us stopping in one town and going to a Hancock's fabric store where they were fashioning red, while and blue ribbons and affixing safety pins to them. I bought some ribbon and some pins and made some.

The next day, we made it to Robinson, Illinois. That is Hubby's hometown. We stopped in to visit cousins Bette and Shorty Clements just before heading down the road Keith used to take to get to college when he was a student. When we told him there were no American flags to be found, Shorty (a decorated Veteran) came out with a small flag as we were leaving. He opened the back door of the car and set it on the back deck so you could see it through the window.

You don't forget gestures like that . . .

When we got to Terre Haute (High Ground), we found that almost everyone had made it to the Reunion. Some had to rent cars as planes were grounded.

On the Friday, there were special services across the county and church doors were unlocked. We went inside a church Keith had attended when he was in College and we read Psalm 91.

In October, 2003, I was approved for American Citizenship, having passed the examination with 100% as I had challenged myself to do. We had an amazing party at our church with 150 people coming and going. The Community Band played patriotic music and it was the most amazing celebration ever! I was actually sworn in early the next year in a private ceremony in Houston.

So, I do not take today lightly and I do not forget all the work I did to become an American Citizen. (By the way, I am able to have dual citizenship so I am also a Canadian Citizen as well.

There is a song sung by The Men Of The Deeps called My Father's Immigrant Eyes. I guess that is how you are reading my account of my experiences on 9-11: through an Immigrant's Eyes.

God Bless you and God Bless America!

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow the flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plaque that destroys at midday. ~ Psalm 91: 5, 6 NIV