September 10, 2001

I'm sure that most Americans can remember where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001.

But what about September 10?

I remember exactly what I was doing on the night of September 10, 2001.

I was at the library. You see, I was 14 and had just started high school and my mom and my friend Aley's mom were meeting to discuss plans for our biology co-op that fall. Aley and I had schemed up a way to get our moms to let us come along so we could hang out and talk at the library for awhile while our mothers bored themselves with lesson plans. We roamed the aisles and discussed which books we had read. She had, of course, read many more of the classics than I, so she told me about which ones she liked. We perused the videos and the kids books. And finally we found ourselves some comfy chairs where we could just sit and talk.

Why do I remember this?

Because I remember hearing that the night before the September 11 attacks, the terrorists were sitting in a bar in New York City, rejoicing over what they were about to accomplish. And I remember realizing later that while they were having an early celebration for their soon-to-occur attempt at tearing our nation apart, I was enjoying myself at the library. I didn't realize it at the time, but I know now that I was enjoying my last night of true innocence of the evils of the world. I was at the library, talking about nonsense with my dearest friend.

And the next morning, the world stopped turning and everything....yes everything....changed.

A world that I had never thought about was about to be revealed to me.

A world where the innocence I had once known was stripped from me overnight. The world did not feel as safe as it used to. And I knew it.

We may all remember where we were when the world stopped turning....but where were you the night before everything changed?