Just seven months before, I had moved to Brussels, Belgium, where my partner had been transferred. I was still getting used to things like the time difference, and so it was early afternoon when the Internet forum I was logged onto started buzzing.
And someone typed, "look at those towers burn"... those are the words that popped my eyes wide open, and I started asking questions. That led me to turn on the BBC, my only TV news outlet, and watch the incredible events unfold.
Tomorrow, there will be newly minted 21 year old adults celebrating birthdays... grown men and women who did not exist on September. 11th, 2001.
As air travel was shut down across America, and the shock began to give way to knowledge, I remember wondering if it was just the beginning, if the Islamists had declared outright world wide war on the Great Satan. I had to cancel my first planned return to the States, only a few weeks afterward. Nobody knew what might happen. I'll never forget the sensation in the pit of my stomach as I asked myself, "is it possible that I might never go home again?"
The world was relieved to learn that they'd fired off all their ammo and no more attacks were coming. I'm still certain that the Islamists are not through, but they have so few resources and the use of those is much more difficult now... so at least their next major move is postponed.
But the thousands upon thousands of family members and friends are still grieving. The military losses are the same, endless sources of agony for families and friends. So, too, the illnesses caused by the air pollution at the site, for the initial rescuers and workers. Many have died of cancer and other miseries.
God bless and keep the victims, all of them, and those who mourn. God comfort the sick and dying, as the echoes of that day are still reverberating across this country.
And may God keep America close to heart, and protect her from the evil that has targeted her in our time. We don't make it without Him.