Heroes

Romance authors write about fictional heroes. But today, on 9/11, it’s important to stop and remember the real-life heroes from that awful day in 2001. I'm talking about the firefighters and police officers who responded to the terrorist plane attacks at the World Trade Center, the office workers who helped each other down endless flights of stairs as they made their way out of the burning buildings, the passengers on board United flight 93, who prevented a worse tragedy from happening in Washington, DC. Heroes all.

I’ve often wondered how I would respond in an emergency like that?

Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler showed us how. Adrenaline, courage, and, according to Alek’s dad, “patriotism” allowed the lifelong friends to storm an armed terrorism suspect on a Paris-bound train last month, saving countless lives.

But heroes don’t always do big things. They’re the volunteers in this country who help out at soup kitchens, tutor underprivileged students, provide a ride for a neighbor to a doctor’s appointment. Not big things, no, but those small things are big to the people on the receiving end.

Who was it who said, “To the world you might be one person, but to one person you just might be the world?”

Take a moment today to remember the victims of 9/11 in New York, Washington, and a lonely field in Pennsylvania, as well as the brave men and women who rushed to help.

Heroes all.

Jenna

www.jennaives.com

Where were you?

by Kristin Daniels

Today is 9/11.

I wasn’t sure what to blog about today, since we didn’t really have one of our great themes for this week. A new upcoming book? Yeah, I could tell you about that (Hint!). A writing tip or an opinion poll – sure, that might work too. Hottie pics? Oh, just you wait!

But, let me ask this: Do you remember where you were on September 11th, eight years ago? I remember where I was.

I was working at an elementary school. Yep, that was me, Ms. School Secretary, back before the whole erotic romance writing thing happened. I walked into the school around 7:30 central time, and the TV in the child-care area was tuned to a major network (I know what you’re thinking here, and no, no children were around). A plane had just crashed into one of the towers. I couldn’t believe it. We all went into protection mode. We protected our young students from what was going on (not hid the reality of it, those are two very different things). Parents called, quite a few came to pick up their children. Some just wanted to know what we were doing, how we were handling the situation.

Truth was, we were on a semi-lock down. We'd never been on lock-down before, and I admit it was pretty scary. But nothing happened at our school, or any other, thank God.

I distinctly remember walking into our principal’s office later that morning after fielding call after call from concerned parents and looking at his grainy 9 inch television screen.

“The towers fell?” I asked.

“About a half hour ago,” he responded.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the television. Teachers would wander in and out during their breaks to catch up on the news, and our principal sent out emails throughout the day to keep them updated. As soon as the bell rang and the buses left, so did I. At the time, my 3 children were 13 and under, and they all went to different schools. I was so much like the parents that called or stopped by my school that day. I just wanted to hug my kids. I got home after picking up my youngest at his after-school care center. My children and I watched the news together, and I answered all their questions the best I could.

I remember standing outside with my neighbor not so long after I got home. It was a beautiful fall day, not a cloud in the sky. The afternoon had turned so quiet. You see, I live next to a small municipal airport and we are so used to planes taking off and landing that the silence stood out as very odd. There were no airplane trails in the sky that day, which normally wouldn’t seem strange. At least not until you’re looking for them.

9/11 is a day that none of us will ever forget. People are often asked “Where were you when Kennedy was shot?” Well, that was before my time, but I’ll never forget where I was that September day in 2001.

Where were you?