September 11, 2001 – September 11, 2006

Kris and I were talking yesterday about where we were on September 11, 2001 and all the things that have changed in our lives in the past five years. Five years ago, he was working at Dun & Bradstreet in Berkeley Heights, NJ and was on his way to the office when the first plane hit the World Trade Towers. He said he remembered standing in the break room at his office watching CNN and having an overwhelming feeling that he needed to go home. He did just that. He called his ex-wife at her office and asked her to come home too. He spent the rest of the day camped out on the couch watching CNN and just taking in all that was happening.

I on the other hand was in Santa Cruz de Yojoa, Cortes, Honduras five years ago and my cell phone started ringing right around 8:50AM. It was my friend Monique calling me to tell me that the U.S. was under attack and to get to the TV…NOW! I had not even hung up the phone with her when my host mother, Carmen, came running out to my apartment to tell me that something horrible was happening in the U.S. and to please come in the house and watch the news. That was exactly what I did for the next three days straight. I walked into the house just in time to see the second plane hit the Towers and I couldn’t believe my eyes. The family luckily had a TV and had CNN en Español that was taking its live feed from CNN out of Atlanta. Not very long after that, I got a call from the Peace Corps Security Officer telling me that the Embassy was locking down the country and needed to get a head count on all Peace Corps Volunteers ASAP. I went to work trying to contact all the Volunteers I was responsible for and trying to pass along any news that I had given that some of them lived in sites without TVs or electricity.

There we were, Kris in New Jersey glued to the news and me in Honduras doing the same thing. When he told me he was thinking about how his life had changed in the past five years he said, “I lost that job at Dun & Bradstreet, but gained a new one.” He added, “I got divorced, lived alone, and have gotten married again too.” I thought, “You lost a wife, but gained a new one.” The same thing could be said for me. In the past five years, I got married and finished my time in Honduras. I then started the process to get a new job with USAID and met Kris. I moved to New Jersey and am on my second job here and we got married in April. Life is funny. You never know where it will take you in such a short amount of time.

So think about where you were five years ago today, what you were doing and all that has changed in your life since then. We think you’ll be amazed.