The day that is now known as 9/11, holds such a different memory for me. I was 10 or 11 at the time, and that day started off as any other. I was in English class and was not paying attention, as I scribbled pictures of eyeballs with long, flowy eyelashes. Finally, the bell rang and I jumped out of my desk and I was out the door like a shot. I breezed to my locker, and grabbed my flute. For today, all my practicing and long lessons were going to finally be worth it; since, I was trying out for band. I hurried to the band room and began to prepare my flute.
First, I had to put it together, then played a few notes to warm and expand the metal. I waited patiently for the other band members to arrive and prepare their instruments. I barely remember my audition, but I must have done well. Not only had I made band, but I remember happily skipping to my classroom for next period. I skipped all the way into the classroom, a huge smile on my face. I was met with faces of gloom. Everyone chastised me for my smile, and asked me questions like "How could you be happy? The twin towers fell, why are you such a jerk?". I gave them the "I-don't-give-a-crap" look and continued to my desk. It wasn't until parents began to burst into our small christian school, grab their children and go home, that I realized something bad had happened.
I was excited to be out of school early and tried to tell my mom about my exciting news on the drive home. She barely paid attention as her eyes scanned the sky and sped home. My mother speeding was most unusual, even at age 10 I teased her about driving like a grandma. Finally, we arrived home. My father already had the tv on and we swarmed around it. I will never forget those images that flickered across the screen. My mouth was agape with horror and I instantly felt bad for smiling all day. I lived in a sheltered home, I had never seen or heard of the twin towers. However, that day, the images of those two buildings collapsing will always be ingrained in my brain.
Gotta break something this long into shorter paragraphs--big advantage to the reader, but it helps the writer too with organizing thoughts.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people find 9/11 an easy way into this topic, but usually it's just the usual blah blah. You've done the opposite and really personalized this public event, kept it very small and close to home, which is exactly the right approach to this assignment: you start very small and by the end of the paragraph have carefully let it expand beyond your small circle and family. Nice!
I have a story similar to your flute story. On 9/11 I was doing exactly what I'm doing now: reading stuff on line. I had a lot to do, bore down hard, and didn't do any surfing--I just read student papers until about 2:30 when my son called.
'What do you think?' he said.
'About what?'
There was a long silence and finally he told me to check the news. I must have been the last person in American to know.