100 Words - 11

On September 11, while I was out walking, a stranger drove up beside me and spoke in hushed tones of what had occurred. I felt an immediate, nauseous dread. The news coverage played continuously across every television channel, like the scenes out of a bad movie. Living in a small community 2 hours from NYC, I knew life had just shifted. I began calling everyone I knew that lived or worked in the city. I couldn’t quite define it, but there was an inner knowing that the bottom had fallen out of something gravely important to all Americans.

--from Loss, Grief, and Renewal