Remembering 9/11: A New Series

 last week caused many Americans to pause and reflect on the fact that the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks is only a few months away.

There is nearly a whole generation of young children who were born into a post-9/11 world and there will be - no doubt - many opportunities for adults to pause and reflect on their memories of that day in the coming months.

That's just what we want to do here at Patch. Every Friday, the editors of the Ballston-Virginia Square Patch and the Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslyn Patch will be talking to Arlingtonians about what they remember, what they experienced and what this 10-year milestone means to them.

The vast majority of Americans have painful memories of Sept. 11, but Arlington residents and New York City residents have unique memories.  The attacks on America happened to take place in our . It made it seem more real. It was too close to home.

Ballston Patch Editor grew up in Arlington.  She remembers first hearing the news of the attacks as an eighth grader at St. James Catholic School in Falls Church.

I will never forget when I first heard about what was going on Tuesday, Sept 11, 2001. I was in eighth grade and left history class to go wander the halls (of course, "go to the bathroom") and I saw my God-sister (my Godparents' daughter) sobbing in the hall while my Godmother was signing her out. She wouldn't tell me what was going on. All she said was, "It's really bad and I'm worried about my brother." Her older brother lived in New York City. 

I quickly ran to the school nurse, whom I was very close with, and asked her what was going on. She flipped on her TV and said, "Look, because you asked I'll let you know, but we're really not trying to worry all the students." It was right after the first plane hit, and they didn't know if it was a bad accident or a terror attack.

Being the reporter I am, I ran back to my history class and told my teacher he had to turn the TV on "because something really big is going on." Our classroom fell silent and remained that way for the rest of the day. I will never forget when the second plane hit, when the Towers collapsed, the smoke for days from the Pentagon. Those scenes are forever burned in my mind. 

I have never heard a room of 30 13-year-olds so silent and serious. We were so confused and so scared.  I remember not wanting to look at certain people because I knew their parents worked in the Pentagon or were on business in New York City. Specifically, my friend Katie's mom worked in the Pentagon and my friend Brendan's dad was a firefighter. We found out the next day that Katie's mom was out for a meeting and Brendan's dad was one of the first firefighters on the scene of the Pentagon.

Kids were getting picked up from school early, and by the end of the day there were only about seven of us left. I was so upset my mom didn't pick me up, but she told me news reports said kids were safer in school while they didn't know what was going on. We spent the next week (and the better part of the last 10 years) glued to the TV, just watching. There was nothing we could do. 

I never saw Ground Zero, and it goes without saying that the devastation there was incomparable to anything else, but I saw the Pentagon everyday after the attack. It smoked for days and days. To this day, I can't drive past the Pentagon without thinking of the attacks and a small part of me still expects it to be smoking.

If you are interested in contributing to the "Remembering 9/11" conversation in the coming weeks and months, email us at lauren.sausser@patch.com or abigail@patch.com. We look forward to hearing your stories.