For our grandparents, it was Pearl Harbor. For our parents, it was the assassination of JFK. For us, it is 9/11. We all remember exactly where we were when we found out about our nation being under attack.
On Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001 my mother paged us over our household intercom: “Michael, Arthur, and Allison, it is time to wake up. There is a national crisis; meet me in my joking.”
I figured that it was something serious since my mom, the Queen of Nicknames, used our full names here. So, I rolled out of bed and met my brothers in the hallway, and the three of us walked to my parents’ bedroom. There was my mom, trying to stay calm but noticeably shaken. With the TV on in the background she announced that two planes had been flown into the World Trade Center Towers; then she added, “and we don’t know if Kevin made it