Yahoo! is asking Americans how September 11 changed them. Below is an account from a reader.
I will never forget September 11, 2001. I was a third-year graduate student at the University of South Carolina, studying for master's degrees in social work and public health. I looked forward to graduating in May 2002 and starting a new career. The morning of 9/11, I was at my social work field placement, blissfully unaware of the horrors that awaited.
[Your story: How has September 11 changed you?]
My mind was on the previous weekend. I had celebrated Labor Day in Virginia with extended family and Bill, a soldier in the U.S. Army I'd met on the Internet in 1999. We chatted every night and finally met in person in May 2001, when the Army sent Bill to South Carolina on business.
In August 2001, Bill moved to a new assignment at the Pentagon. When Labor Day approached, I suggested that Bill come spend it with me at my grandmother's house in Natural Bridge, Va.
Bill worried about imposing on my family, but I encouraged him to stay two nights, since Natural Bridge and the surrounding areas are so beautiful. We spent a magical weekend getting to know each other better. My then 95-year-old grandmother told me she loved Bill and hoped we'd get married.
The morning of 9/11, I was feeling good, still riding the crest of that wonderful Labor Day weekend. At age 29, I was on the brink of a new career and had found someone to love.
Then 9/11 happened, and Bill was working in the Pentagon. For most of that day, I wondered if I'd lost him. I didn't know at the time that Bill was in the wedge of the Pentagon that was hit by American Airlines Flight 77. His office had just been relocated from the area where the aircraft crashed. Had 9/11 happened a couple of weeks earlier, Bill would probably be dead.
The evening of September 11, 2001, I still didn't know Bill's status. I called my mom and told her about Bill. My mom was an Air Force wife during the Vietnam era. She told me not to expect to hear from Bill for awhile. As we were hanging up, my IM lit up. It was Bill, writing to tell me that he was OK.
I was so relieved to know that Bill had survived. We agreed it was time we made our relationship more official, understanding that if Bill had died on 9/11, I would have had no way of knowing. We told our families about our relationship. Soon after that, we got engaged.
Ten years later, we're about to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary. My career went a different direction, since the Army requires us to move often. But I wouldn't change a thing.
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