Friday, September 11, 2009

never again

a few months ago i signed up for project 2,996. instead of focusing on the monsters that orchestrated the attacks, the goal is to remember the souls that lost their lives that day. i was randomly assigned a name: mrs. dianne snyder.

a quick google search left me with tears streamin
g down my face. dianne married her high school sweetheart, and had two children, a son and a daughter. she loved to play tennis, garden, and bake cookies. she lived in massachusetts. she was a flight attendant for 19 years. and on september 11th, 2001 she was on flight 11 when it crashed into the north tower of the world trade center.

8 years ago today, my high school principal announced that two planes had flown into the world trade center and another crashed into the pentagon. over an hour later, flight 93 headed towards my beloved washington, d.c. would crash into shanksville, pa. my immediate thoughts went to those on the planes, as my mother has been an employee of united airlines for over 30 years. my stomach sank as i tried to remember if my mom had a flight scheduled for that afternoon, and didn't calm down until i heard her voice telling me "they've grounded all planes. i'm home."

and so my heart truly goes out to the snyder family, i can't imagine what this day means to you. but i honor your wife, your mother, your sister, your aunt, your daughter and the bravery i am sure she showed as the tragic events of that day unfolded.


we will never forget.