September 11, a day most everybody will never forget and now titled as Patriot Day in the USA. This day holds a lot of remembrance for me as well as hundreds and thousands of others around this great nation and around the world. I will never forget this day for two events in my life:
The first is the day we all know and remember as 09/11--the day that terrorist attacked the United Sates of America when airplane hijackings flew into the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York City, the destruction of the western portion of The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a passenger airliner which crashed in a wooded area in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The total number killed in these attacks is 2,819 (official figure as of 9/5/02). You can visit this website for more 09/11 statistics. I was a senior at Jersey Village High School and I first heard of the news in 2nd period Physics class and not really understanding what was happening, then walking through the hall ways hearing lots of commotion and in third period photography class being able to finally watch a little bit of news coverage of it. These are sights I will never forget seeing on television. When I got home that day, my eyes were glued on the TV for the rest of the evening and the days to follow. I will also never forget the great feeling of patriotism that I felt during the months after the attack. Never Forget.
The second is the day my house (the house I grew up in for the first 20 years of my life) flooded for the first time by Tropical Storm Francis on September 11, 1999. I was a freshman in high school that year and it was a school day when this happened. It was a complete shock to us as we just watched the water in the streets rise higher and higher at the same time realizing that we were not going to go to school or work that day. The water eventually started to seep through the doors and lower windows. I will never forget my mom putting down towels by the door hoping to keep the water out, looking back now, kind of funny, but it was just a natural reaction. We ended up getting a little over two feet of water in our home that day which the water outside our homes was much higher, more like 4 feet street level. I remember helicopters flying over our area, boats going down my street and kids playing in the all that water. A nice man on a boat picked us up as we heavily waited in the water holding what we could of some bags of clothes above our heads. The aftermath of the flood was filled with tears and the generous help of the Salvation Army. After the water reseeded a day later, began all the clean up; ripping out the carpet, tearing down the sheet rock, sanitizing every surface with bleach, packing up stuff, storing furniture and moving in with gracious family while our house was being put back to together again.
My house ended up flooding a total of three times within four years. The second flood was on June 10, 2001 by Tropical Storm Allison, where most of downtown Houston also flooded really bad. The third flood was on October 3, 2002 (I believe) by just a bad rain storm. After the third flood, FEMA finally bought out my parents home (which was a good thing) so they could tear in down as well as many others on my street and neighborhood because it was now considered a flood disaster area. During our first flood we were out of our home for four months getting it all back together. The second flood we were out for 3 months and by the third flood we were only out for six weeks. By then, my parents unfortunately had this down where they knew who to call, when to call and how to get things moving. We all learned the value of our lives and our possessions during these floods and we stuck together strong as a family; my parents stayed strong for us are still married and happy as ever. I feel that
The first is the day we all know and remember as 09/11--the day that terrorist attacked the United Sates of America when airplane hijackings flew into the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York City, the destruction of the western portion of The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a passenger airliner which crashed in a wooded area in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The total number killed in these attacks is 2,819 (official figure as of 9/5/02). You can visit this website for more 09/11 statistics. I was a senior at Jersey Village High School and I first heard of the news in 2nd period Physics class and not really understanding what was happening, then walking through the hall ways hearing lots of commotion and in third period photography class being able to finally watch a little bit of news coverage of it. These are sights I will never forget seeing on television. When I got home that day, my eyes were glued on the TV for the rest of the evening and the days to follow. I will also never forget the great feeling of patriotism that I felt during the months after the attack. Never Forget.
The second is the day my house (the house I grew up in for the first 20 years of my life) flooded for the first time by Tropical Storm Francis on September 11, 1999. I was a freshman in high school that year and it was a school day when this happened. It was a complete shock to us as we just watched the water in the streets rise higher and higher at the same time realizing that we were not going to go to school or work that day. The water eventually started to seep through the doors and lower windows. I will never forget my mom putting down towels by the door hoping to keep the water out, looking back now, kind of funny, but it was just a natural reaction. We ended up getting a little over two feet of water in our home that day which the water outside our homes was much higher, more like 4 feet street level. I remember helicopters flying over our area, boats going down my street and kids playing in the all that water. A nice man on a boat picked us up as we heavily waited in the water holding what we could of some bags of clothes above our heads. The aftermath of the flood was filled with tears and the generous help of the Salvation Army. After the water reseeded a day later, began all the clean up; ripping out the carpet, tearing down the sheet rock, sanitizing every surface with bleach, packing up stuff, storing furniture and moving in with gracious family while our house was being put back to together again. My house ended up flooding a total of three times within four years. The second flood was on June 10, 2001 by Tropical Storm Allison, where most of downtown Houston also flooded really bad. The third flood was on October 3, 2002 (I believe) by just a bad rain storm. After the third flood, FEMA finally bought out my parents home (which was a good thing) so they could tear in down as well as many others on my street and neighborhood because it was now considered a flood disaster area. During our first flood we were out of our home for four months getting it all back together. The second flood we were out for 3 months and by the third flood we were only out for six weeks. By then, my parents unfortunately had this down where they knew who to call, when to call and how to get things moving. We all learned the value of our lives and our possessions during these floods and we stuck together strong as a family; my parents stayed strong for us are still married and happy as ever. I feel that
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