Remembering...

Like most Americans, I am thinking about Sept.11, 2001 and what happened on that day. I was a student nurse at clinical on the Ortho unit. I was helping my patient get a bath when the first plane crashed. I was so nervous about my patient and then suddenly so frightened I remember going completely numb.

Then a page for me was called overhead. When I picked up the phone it was my husband. He said, "Did you see what happened? We are activating. I won't be home tonight and I probably won't be home for a long time."

I was frozen. I am normally very level headed in a crisis and I just couldn't move. I just turned and went back to my patient. The television was on and I heard about the second plane. I was completely spaced out. The wife of my patient told me I look pale and helped me to sit down. My instructor and my friend Patty knew my husband was in the Navy and they came to find me. My teacher told Patty to drive me home.

When I got home there were all of these messages from my friends and family wondering about Robert and offering support. I just lay down on the kitchen floor and cried like a baby.

I didn't hear from Robert for 3 days. They never did deploy that day, but they were at the ready in defense of our country.

I am lucky. Robert has spent the lion's share of 20 years on sea duty or shore commands with attached billets. He has been gone for much longer than he was ever home. But he DID come home, and that is what I am grateful for and remembering today.