#NeverForget – Looking Back on September 11, 2001

You just don't forget it. I remember every detail of that tragic day as if it were yesterday. I was a new mom to a beautiful baby girl. She was just 4 months old. I had taken a year off of radio during the pregnancy and had an offer I couldn't refuse out of Peoria, IL. to work for 98.5/101.1 The Party doing evenings (later went on to do mid-days).

I was staying with my best friend and her family that week while I looked for a new home. She came in, woke me up and said "Oh my god! A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center!" I was in a haze and wasn't fully awake yet. Once I rushed out into the living room and saw the images and live news coverage, I immediately called my Dad. He worked for the R.I. Arsenal at the time and I needed to know he and my mom, who also worked there, were okay.

Once I knew they were, I called my boss at work. I was told to report to work as quickly as possible. The radios stations had all gone live and began broadcasting CNN coverage. We spoke to as many local officials as we could call. My sweet baby daughter came with me that day. I was on-the-air with her on my hip. I remember feeling so lost with such a sense of loss, that day. I didn't know what the world was coming to or what kind of condition the world would be in for my little girl.

Listeners started calling in about gas prices going up to $5.00 per gallon. Long lines started forming at the pump and grocery stores were being ransacked for essentials. I recall having to get fuel, myself, for the drive home to the Quad Cities and paid more than I ever had before. Gas stations were closing early and many places looked like ghost towns.

I listened intently to all the news and talk stations on every channel I could, flipping through the radio on the way home. That drive home that night seemed so long. I thought longer and harder on that night's drive home than I had ever in my life. I knew in my heart we'd be going to war. And for the first time, I had family who would be going.

It's been 14 years and the feelings come back, even as I write this now. Where were you? #neverforget