A true hometown hero

Today Emma and I joined the Cameron community in lining the streets to welcome a parade of veterans and other vehicles carrying the body of a fallen American soldier back to here to his hometown. 2nd Lt Darryn Andrews was killed last week in Afganistan. He leaves behind a family including his wife, Julie, a 2 yr old son and a daughter, due in December. Here is the story: http://kmil.com/story.php?id=8205

What a privilege to be able to take part in this experience on 9/11. Eight years ago today America lost so many innocent people, including emergency responders. The figher fighters, policemen and members of the armed forces were honored in the pep rally today. They played the song "God Bless the USA". I started thinking about how young the student population was in 2001. The seniors were just 9 years old and the elementary population wasn't around yet. The happenings on that day still seem so recent to me but it's merely a piece of history to them.

On 9/11/01 my former room mate Betsy ran into my college apartment bedroom shouting "Wake up, wake up, turn on the TV!" We all gathered in the living room to watch the story unfold. I truly thought that the first plane had gone off track and hit the building. When the second plane hit I knew something different was going on. Upon my arrival to class my American Literature professor was very solemn and dismissed us, almost immiediately. I remember there being a fuel scare. My friend Lauren and I followed each other to a nearby gas station and waited in line for a long time to fill up.