09/11/2026
What do you remember about 9/11?
I remember every detail of that day. Like the day I got married, or the day each of my children were born, the images are burned into my mind. But for the total opposite emotions from those days.
I was driving to my job in Euless working for a construction company. When the first plane hit, my wife called and told me about it. She was pregnant with our firstborn, and had just been in NYC one week before. We talked a few minutes about it then hung up and I tuned my radio to the news. Neither I nor anyone else realized just what was happening yet.
While I was listening, the second plane hit. I remember thinking to myself “Bin Laden.” Then the news of the third plane. Then the fourth.
Despite the gravity of the moment and the unknown, our company didn’t send us home for the day. I remember being concerned that DFW could be a target. My wife was at home and I was in the mid cities, so I felt fairly safe about our locations. I remember waiting to hear that all planes in the entire country were safe on the ground.
It was heartbreaking watching the people in those towers with no way out. Watching Tower 2 come down. Watching Tower 1 do the same. It was a helpless feeling. There was nothing I could do to help other than pray. And I did.
I was sad. I was confused. And I was angry.
Despite the horror of that day, I loved and still love what 9/12 brought. For the first time I could remember in my lifetime, there was no black or white, no Republican or Democrat, no North or South. All of our differences didn’t matter.
We were ONE country, united.
It’s been 25 years today. I wish our country could go back to that unity of 9/12 when we were all brothers and sisters, proud of our country, and blessed to be Americans.
I still remember. And I made a promise to myself that I will never forget.
-Kerry