A Perfect Tuesday Morning, Marred by Tragedy

I was in high school, sitting in English class. The principal came over the loud speaker, instructing teachers to turn on some news channel.

My teacher said, "Well, we must finish X before we do that."

Whatever X was, it definitely was not as memorable as the tragedy we all know took place on September 11.

The rest of my classes that day involved watching the news. More news. No class. No homework. Though we did still move among our classrooms per usual.

I remember going home and staring at the TV. My grandfather — who had died relatively recently — was on my mind, probably because of the amount of deceased we continually heard about. As a teen, I hadn't experienced dealing with death or tragedy much. He was my personal connection to the grief those people who lost someone were feeling.

Muskego Patch Local Editor Denise Konkol shares her story below:

I was on my way into work downtown when the discussion between Jim Irwin and the morning team on 620 WTMJ about the recent Packer game was interrupted.

The news man broke in and I thought at first "how rude."

Then as he explained the crash, I thought, "what a terrible accident."

By the time I got into the parking structure, news was leaning toward the plane being a commercial jet, and I still felt that something must've happened to the pilot to create this situation.

However, as events unfolded, we soon realized things were indeed very different and would never be the same. I recalled at one point during the day waking up to that same news man make a pun of it being 9-1-1, like an emergency.

I also recall feeling sorry for Jane Lloyd Pettit, who passed away and was being honored on the front page of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Her face looked at me from a box along a downtown street that was virtually abandoned by noon on that day.

Our building was not evacuated, but the skywalk to the Reuss Federal Plaza and the entire building itself, was. A guard would remain at that access point for at least the next year to check all persons walking through before they entered the federal building from Grand Avenue.

Today is eerily the same. Clear blue skies, crisp air...a normal Tuesday by any assessment.

I breathe a silent prayer of rememberance and thanks, shed a small tear, and proceed with the work of the day.

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Tell us in the comments.