Thursday, September 11, 2014

My 9/11 Story

As many people all over social media are recalling their experience with the 9/11 tragedy and here is mine. After living in Minnesota for over six years now, my feelings and thoughts regarding what happened that morning haven't changed.  The only thing that has changed is the people around me don't seem to have a complete grasp of what happened that day.  Just like I don't have a complete of what happened to the people and families that were truly involved.

I had just got done with my 8:00am class at Brockport when I turned on the tv.  I tuned to NBC at the time because that is what channel was always on when any of roommates or myself turned on the tv.  I literally couldn't believe my eyes as they had a camera on the first World Trade Center Tower after it got it.  It all didn't make sense. Then I saw it. The second plane hit the second Tower and I watched it live.  At that point I knew it wasn't just some random mistake.

After seeing the second plane, I woke up my roommates and told them what happened.  There was no true confirmation from anyone on tv if this was truly a terrorist attack. After waking up my roommates all I could think of was my brother, who was in the Navy in San Diego. I couldn't imagine him actually going to war. My second thought was with my Uncle, who worked at NBC at the time a couple of miles away from the World Trade Center.

Having two family members somewhat involved certainly hits home. I really didn't know how to react. My eyes were glued on the tv until about 2:00pm.  At that point, I headed to the gym and saw one of my teammates. His father worked right in the financial district and no one had been able to get in touch with him. A very scary thing for any family. His father ended up being okay but it was definitely scary until he heard from his dad later in the evening.

I didn't mention above but I was in New York City about two weeks before 9/11 while at Yankee Stadium for Dave Winfield Day. Scary to think that only two weeks before I had taken for granted being in one of the greatest cities in the world. On top of that, we traveled as a team in November for a tournament at NYU.

We stayed a few blocks away from where the Towers went down.  The area still smelled of burning everything, and it was awful. Every single time we went to our hotel from practice and the games we drove right past the gigantic hole that was formerly where the Towers stood. It was an unreal experience. I didn't want to visit it on foot because I didn't want to relive everything from that day. I was bound to get extremely emotional and since I am a tough guy, I didn't want anyone to see me that way.

A few weeks passed and my father called me. He told me that one of his former player Daryl "Pops" McKinney has passed away after the Towers fell.  He also told me that another one of his former players had been late to a meeting and avoided the tragedy.  After hearing Daryl had passed, the whole thing hit home hard.

Here is a great story regarding former Boston College lacrosse player, Welles Crowther. BC is honoring him for their football game this weekend. Here is how they are honoring him.












People don't truly realize how fortunate we are to live in the United States.  There are certainly things that we don't like but every day we take for granted what we have. This is the greatest country in the world and we are lucky to live in it. On that note, I want everyone to relive one of my favorite moments after the tragedy.

#NeverForget



Gives me goosebumps every time.
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