It is very hard to believe that 14 years have passsed! I still remember sitting in Mr. Malaska’s 6th grade science class at 9:02 a.m. when we thought a sonic boom had happened. Our middle school could feel it, even though we were 12 miles away from downtown! Kids and teachers started freaking out because at that time we didn’t know what exactly had happened, just that something happened downtown at a federal building.
The office had a TV on and so did the library, but no one else. I didn’t really know the full extent until I went home that day and saw the coverage on TV. I don’t remember a whole lot after that. It was a Wednesday so we had church activities to go to and I think my parents made us turn the TV off after a while because it was pretty bloody and gruesome. We sat down and talked about what had happened. That night we found out one of our church family friends was in the building next to the Murrah building and had died. His daughters are older than me and I remember always looking up to them. It was, and still is, very sad.
I still am very proud of how our community and whole state came together to help after April 19. The devestation was overwhelming but everyone pushed and pulled together to help in any way possible. There was a great team who designed and made a memorial that would help everyone deal with what happened at 9:02 a.m. that day. It is a great place to visit, reflect and remember.
14 years later, we remember.
