I often hear adults say things like “you’ll remember where you were when _______ happened.” One of these times for me was Sept. 11, 2001.
On the day of the terrorist attacks I was in first grade at St. Margaret School in Bel Air. I can remember standing in the parking lot outside of school being dismissed shortly after arriving then standing in the family room of my old house asking my mother “what happened?” I vaguely remember her response of “something bad.”
Before asking her what happened, all I knew was that we were getting out of school early that day, but I didn’t know why. I don’t remember the drive home from school or what was showing on the TV screen. I don’t even remember if we went back to school the next day. My mother told me that for a couple days airplanes didn’t fly over our house, but I don’t remember that either.
Last year I went and photographed an annual flag waving event on Rte. 152 over I-95. From talking to the friendly crowd I learned that this event has gone on every Sept. 11 since the attacks. The energy brought by the participants and the overall atmosphere of the event brought me back to photograph it this year.
