09/11/2026
25 years ago today and I can still remember that morning so clearly. 🇺🇸
I was 17 years old and a senior at Etowah High School. I remember walking into Coach Duncan’s economics class happy and bubbly like I normally was. He looked at me, gave me the hand gesture to calm down and pointed at the TV. I remember just stopping.
We sat there glued to the TV watching Tower 1 burn, and then watched as the second plane hit Tower 2. We watched it happen live. I don’t think at 17 years old I could even fully understand what I was seeing. The feelings in that classroom are still hard to describe.
When I left campus that morning for work exit, I remember hearing from the parking lot that all activities were being canceled for the day. I was scared. I think we were all scared because nobody knew what was coming next.
I was supposed to go to Pigeon Forge that weekend for a car show and I remember actually wondering if something like that could be attacked too. That’s how uncertain everything felt.
I called my mom scared and in complete disbelief over what I had just watched happen.
It’s crazy to think that was 25 years ago because some parts of that morning still feel so vivid.
I’ll also never forget the days that followed. The American flags everywhere. People praying. People checking on each other. It didn’t matter who you were, we were Americans and we were together.
Today I’m remembering all of the lives lost, their families, our first responders and everyone whose life changed forever that day.
25 years later… we still remember!
May we never forget what happened that September morning.
And may we never forget how united we were in the days that followed. 🇺🇸❤️🤍💙
#911