I was 22 on September 11, 2001. I am now 32 and it seems like yesterday, not ten years ago. It was supposed to just another day for me except that it wasn't. I don't remember how I felt when I got up that morning, but I do remember how my co-worker Michelle and I felt when we started our work day - we were sluggish, tired, and extremely scattered. We were daycare teachers at preschool in a shopping center in Cockeysville, Maryland (a suburb of Baltimore) and for some reason, we just couldn't get our act together that day. We had a lesson plan to follow, we had everything ready, but somehow, we were completely blank. We simply did not feel like being there and looking back, I think we knew something was wrong; something just did not feel right, but we couldn't put our fingers on it. The children must have felt something, too, because they were extra rambunctious from the get-go. Michelle and I decided to procrastinate and let the kids freeplay a little longer than normal; with our airheadedness that morning, it would have been like herding cats, so we decided to let them run wild.

At some point, our director hurried into the room and informed us in a low voice that an airplane had hit one of the WTC towers in New York City. Curious, Michelle and I decided to yet again postpone the actual lesson for the day and turned on the radio - with full permission from our director, of course. We were listening to the news attentively but we weren't afraid - yet. At the time, we thought it was just a freak accident. But then, while we listened and the children played, we heard the report of another plane hitting the other tower - and that's when we got scared. Obviously, this wasn't a freak occurrence; someone was after the US.

What on earth was happening? Things like didn't happen in our generation. WW2? That happened to our grandparents. Vietnam? That happened to our parents. Terrorists didn't fly planes into buildings in real life! That's something you would see in a Die Hard movie. Not in real life. And terrorist attacks occurred overseas, not in America; what was happening was not supposed to happen. Not here. But it was happening and it was happening here, where loved ones resided and only a few hundred miles away from where we lived. 

I was sitting there, listening to the news with Michelle and I mumbled something about the Pentagon and White House being next. It seemed logical to me - the terrorists were obviously trying to get us where it hurt; they had already taken out "The Money", so logically the government and military were next. What I didn't say was what I was also worried about those of us in Baltimore; the UN building was located in downtown Baltimore in the Inner Harbor and it seemed a likely target. I was thinking about that when the report came in that a plane had flown into the Pentagon - one of the targets that I was concerned about. At that point, I felt ill; I felt sick and I can't remember being so afraid as I was then. I just wanted to go home. I couldn't think of anything else. I just wanted to leave. As soon as that report came in, our director decided to do just that - she called parents, told them to pick up their children, and told us all to go home. After the last child left, I ran to the bank, withdrew a  good sum of money (I was worried I would lose access to it somehow), and went with Michelle to her apartment; my dad was working nearby but he couldn't leave his job. The interstate was quickly getting clogged with people hurrying home in a panic, so staying put made sense.

Michelle and I watched everything happen on CNN. It was unreal. It was terrifying. But it got worse - as the day went on, people started jumping from the towers; we were actually seeing people kill themselves rather than being burned to death in the towers! People, right there on camera, were jumping and falling to their deaths. We were watching people DIE. And then the towers fell, one after the other. People were covered in dust. People were trying to rescue survivors. People were dying. And it was happening right there in front of us on TV; not a movie, but real life. 

I can't even properly describe how that made me feel, other than what I've written here. Ten years later, and it still makes me cry. At the time, my brother-in-law's siblings (Leah and David) were living in New York and I was on pins and needles wondering if they were okay. I thought about those people jumping from the burning towers - I couldn't get those images out of my head. For the first time in my life, the US looked like a war zone. This wasn't WW2-ravaged Europe. This wasn't the Middle East circa Desert Storm. This wasn't the genocide in Rwanda or Yugoslavia. This carnage was happening here, right here, on US soil. 

I'm still horrified and shaken. I still cry. It happened and I still can't believe it. 

I started "Meatless Mondays" about a month ago and, so far, it's going great! Here's a link to the website for more info: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/.

I decided to try this because I honestly have been eating way too much meat, for one, and I realized that you don't need to eat a lot of meat to gain health benefits from it. Also, I am trying to save money and become more resourceful. In case anyone wants to try this, I've decided to start sharing some of the recipes I try. There are tons of resources out there, so, like all those little kids said on Reading Rainbow, "Don't take my word for it!"

Tonight, I feasted on a delicious tomato soup and polished it off with an phenomenal smoothie (I freakin' LOVE avocados). 

Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

• ½ Tbs. EVOO
• ½ tsp. chopped garlic
• 1 ½ Tbs. chopped onion
• 1 Tbs. chopped carrot
• 2/3 c. veggie broth/stock
• 1 tsp. canned tomato paste
• ½ c. canned diced tomatoes
• 1/8 tsp. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. onion powder
• ½ tsp. dried basil
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• 1/8 tsp. ground thyme
• 3 Tbs. half-n-half

Preparation:

• In stock pot, heat olive oil. Over med. heat, roast garlic until slightly brown. Add onions & carrots; sauté for 2-4 minutes. Stir in veggie broth & deglaze garlic from bottom of pot.
• Add tomato paste, undrained diced tomatoes, sugar, & spices to pot; simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with hand blender until smooth. Return to heat and bring to slight simmer.
• Add half-n-half; mix evenly. Bring to slight simmer for 1-2 minutes & remove from heat.

Serving Suggestions:

• Wheat roll
• 10 baby carrots
• 1 c. Cottage cheese
• 1 c. melon 

 *I found this recipe on MyAlli.com, but I can't find it in the system anymore. I had this for dinner tonight and it was awesome! I would try adding more basil, though.

Banana-Avocado Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 Banana

1 Avocado

1 1/2 Cups Milk

½ C. plain Greek yogurt

2 Tbs Honey

2 Tbs Wheat Germ

Preparation:

1)    Chop banana & avocado as best as you can (avocados can be messy); dump all the ingredients in a blender.

2)    Blend them until mixed.

Serves 2 people.

*This is an original recipe. I found another recipe online but omitted a few ingredients and added a few more. This is what I decided on after many tasty tries. You can add more or less honey or wheat germ according to your taste. Vanilla yogurt may also be good; I just use the plain Greek yogurt because that's what I usually have on hand. I'm also a HUGE fan of Greek yogurt, but really, though, any yogurt would work, I'm sure.

Mm-mm good...Happy Meatless Monday!