A Moment with Mason I Will Never Forget

I am still in disbelief at what I saw on television tonight, even after 7 years. I cannot believe the time that has passed since that unforgettable, horrible day. I remember sitting in my Research Methods class, a graduate class at MTSU I was taking along with 2 other classes before moving up to Louisville to attend the Univ. of Louisville for my Master's in sociology. It was about 8:35 am and a teacher poked his head inside the door to inform us that a plane had just hit one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. I did not really think much about it; for I had visited NYC last in December 2000 and had an opportunity to visit this thing called the World Trade Center, but really had no desire since I didn't really know much about it. Boy, do I regret that! Anyway, for some reason my professor started laughing. I will never forget that. I guess he didn't believe the professor who had told us, but I still could not quite understand why he was thought it was humorous. I then went on to Spanish class where my sweet little instructor from Brazil was in tears about what was happening. I remember that day on MTSU's campus like it was yesterday. It seemed like a complete nightmare. I remember driving home the long 50 minutes not even really paying attention to my driving because a million thoughts were racing across my mind... was my college friend Lauren Padalino who who had taken a job at NBC okay? What about my friends who I graduated with from high school who were currently living in New York City? Wait, did my high school friend, Michelle Marck, still live in NYC, or had she moved on to her next adventure by now?? And then to get home to sit on the floor in my bedroom for hours straight with my eyes glued to the news. The channel I was watching happened to have a video camera on the towers when the second tower was hit. I just didn't know how this could be happening. I mean, we hear our parents talk about tragedies happening during "their day," but something that was actually happening during my generation!?!?!? Something that I would have to tell my children someday... "Mommy was in graduate school during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center..."

Well, tonight that moment happened. Marc and I were sitting down for dinner when we started discussing how Mason is 4 months old today. He was born on May 11th, and now his big 4 month b-day had finally arrived!! Well, while Marc and I are in awe about how much our little boy has grown and changed over these last few months, many families and friends are still grieving what tore their lives apart 7 years ago on this day. Many lives were lost and they will never be forgotten. We turned on the t.v. to the History Channel where a documentary was being shown of several NYC residents who happened to be out and about with their video cameras on the morning of September 11, 2001. So, we got to see what happened that day from their eyes.

Mason had been fussin' a little bit since his eating "session" had just finished, but as soon as he saw that Mommy's demeanor had suddenly turned serious as she was watching the t.v., he just stared at me soo intently like he sensed something was wrong. His eyes turned to the t.v. to see why Mommy was sad. As soon as he caught sight of the television program, his eyes were glued to it for the next 45 minutes. He was sitting in the Boppy in my lap, and all I saw was the back of his little head as he was taking in all of the action, many colors, and hustle bustle of New York City on that horrible day. While the ideas of all the parenting books that little babies aren't supposed to watch television, etc., etc. went through my mind, especially the events being shown on the television tonight, I still didn't take Mason away from the t.v. There was just something in his little 4-month old, blue eyes telling me to not do that... All I could think of was Mason growing up someday to help people (a prayer Marc and I say for Mason every single night when we put him to bed), just as the firefighters in NYC did that day. It's hard to explain...

I asked Marc to run upstairs and grab our camera so that I could capture this moment. I always remember the story my mom tells me of my older brother, Jody's, eyes being glued to the television during President Jimmy Carter's inaugural speech in November 1976, when Jody was just 2 months old. She has a picture of that moment in Jody's baby album and I still think about it every now and then. This moment tonight with Mason reminded me on that picture of Jody and Jimmy Carter. We put Mason in his little bouncy seat in front of the t.v. and he and Daddy sat together and watched footage of the Twin Towers coming down. Here are the images I captured: