9/11

I was working a second job at an alternative school for kids who had been tossed out of high school for "behavioral problems".  One of the teachers rolled a TV into the classroom and told us what was going on.  When the 1st tower fell the kids cheered.......I walked out, knowing I was going to lose my real job if I stayed, and never went back to that job.  I spent the rest of the day watching TV after I picked up my, then, 3 year old son and 1 year old twins from daycare. 

You never really know what your little kids are putting into their brains as you just go through your day, but when my son "flew" his toy airplane into a lego building he had made that evening, I was crushed.  I'm one of the most un-emotional people that I or anyone else knows (I've only been told that about 1000 times in my life) but I cried like a baby when he did that.  I don't remember the last time I cried before that and I know I haven't since......but man, it makes my blood boil just thinking about it now.

i was in gym class when the first hit, and then got stuck in 7th grade english class for the rest of the day until they sent us home.

On 9/13 I answered a call of a disturbance at a local hotel.  3 kids were trying to get home from New York to New Mexico and the hotel manager wouldn't take their mom's credit card over the phone.  The kids....17 or 18, looked like they were scared to death.....except for the boy, who appeared ready to drag the manager outside and beat the hell out of him. LOL

I got on the phone with mom and vouched for her with the manager......no go.  Being all done with stupid for the day, I just paid for the hotel room with my card and got 100 bucks out of the ATM for the kids to eat and get down the road.

A week later I got a check in the mail from mom covering what I had paid.  A week later UPS delivered a case of Jack Daniels from the dad. HAHAHA!!   I don't drink whiskey.....ever.  I gave all but one bottle away to the guys on my squad.  I still have the last bottle.....never opened.

The  best part of my job has always been the non- stop opportunities to help someone out.  Not once in 31 years have I felt like people don't appreciate what we do. The noise from the haters just rattles around......not worth paying attention to.  When I left my office today, the conference room was filled from one end to the other with food people had been delivering all day.

There are literally thousands and thousands of stories like that from 9/11 and the days afterward......it was just common to help each other get through a tough time....we've certainly gone a long way down a rat hole since then.