My Dad May Have Died On September 11th, But His Legacy Must Live On

September 11, 2001, started out like  a regular old boring school day, here in New York. It was about as exciting as walking home from school with my kid brother.  

I was rocking the same Don Mattingly jersey that I wore every Monday morning. If you don't know who Don Mattingly is, he was only like the greatest first basrman EVER for the New York Yankees.

I wore his jersey for a good reason  About a year ago,  Laura Slayton told me she thought Mattingly was the coolest New York Yankee player of all-time. I didn't really care what Laura Slayton thought or anything dumb like that,  But, she was friends with Emily Landis, and well, Emily was like super hot and super cool. My friend Steve Rogers heard that Emily  Landis was so cool that she even liked to sneak into the R rated movies with some high school girls.

The Day First Period Actually Wasn't Boring

First period was ALWAYS the boringest out of all our boring-ass boring periods and was seeming no different on September 11, 2001. 

After we stood up and said the stupid Pledge Of Allegiance,  our social studies teacher,  Mr. Italy, started class with a ramble about how the The Constitution of the United State is supposedly so important.  I was  kind of pretending to take notes, and just trying not to get caught checking out Emily Landis when the principal, Mr. Dent, called Mr. Italy out to the hallway. Mr. Italy wagged his finger at us and told us all to sit down and shut up while he walked outside.  Otherwise,  we would all get a detention or something stupid like thst.

You don't have to be a fortune teller to figure out what we did when Mr. Italy and Mr. Dent walked out into the hall. Of course, we all started messing around when they walked away.  I sent a note to Emily Landis asking her if she wanted to go to see an R rated movie this weekend, and a couple of other boys sent notes to different girls. I gotta say i sent the note to the hottest girl in 8th grade.

The Only Time Mr. Italy Didn’t Holler At Us

Then, Mr. Italy came back in the room, with a different look than he usually had when he came back into the classroom and we were all messing around.He didn't even scream at the boys that were talking.

He didn't even say anything, as he walked over to the TV.  

We all stopped talking as he turned the TV on. We knew this wasn't like when he used to turn the TV on for a reward after we passed some dumb test.

That's when we saw it....

The World Trade Center was on fire. 

The news channels sure were good at scaring kids on this day. First, they kept showing the planes crashing over and over again. Then , they showed something worse. We watched people jumping out of burning buildings.  That was creepier because buildings are just buildings,  but seeing people jump to their death was wicked for a room full of 13 year old kids.

I Knew I Would Never See My Dad Again

I think I can say this stuff was especially terrible for me. I could only think about my dad.

When the bell rang,  I was frozen to my chair. I guess they had to get school nurse in the room, to help me snap out of it. 

The reason for all this crazy stuff by me was my dad was a volunteer firefighter, and I knew he was nuts enough to head right for those burning buildings. 

Also, you see, my dad wasn't just a normal dad who just like paid the bills, and occasionally yelled at his kids. He was an awesome dad. He went to all my baseball games. He always listened to me talk about girls at school, boring teachers, and all the other boring stuff that annoying kids talk about.. He was like another one of the guys. But, I still couldn't pull one over on him, or anything like that. 

Apparently,  my gut was right. He left his day job that morning, as a teacher. Rushed to the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge, since he heard that was on fire. He was there with all his fire crap on . He ran all the way to the other end of the bridge, which was 5km`s.  I guess he saved three people in his way to help put out the fire. But, the smoke eventually caught up with him, and I guess he basically just coughed to death. Mom and I knew that he would eventually die for someone else.

Different Place, Same Troubles

After that happened, mom couldn't take being anywhere near New York anymore . So, she threw all of our stuff in dad's old truck, and moved us up to Alaska. It's cool being up here.  But,  it doesn't really bring Dad back or anything. 

 I feel like we just put all of our problems in the trunk of Mom`s car,  and drove them all the way to Alaska.  I cry like twice a week. Especially in the summer. This is when I really misd playing catch with Dad. I guess she cries like twice a minute. 

But, the good news is that I was out messing around, late last night back by Smith Road. And, my new  girlfriend Caroline and I found a bridge, that is exactly five kilometers long.

So, we are going to see if the local fire department can lend us some of their junk, and we are going to get all the kids at our school to have a 5km race next year, while each of us lugs around all that fireman stuff.

Even if I can't play catch with him again for a while, at least me and a bunch of kids can pretend like we might be as brave as him.

I hope he can see us, from wherever he is.

Further Thoughts 

The inspiration for this story came from the podcast,  20 for 20. The 20 for 20 podcast is a podcast that tells 20 stories of miraculous heroism during the tragic events of September 11th. During episode number on, they honor a man named Stephen Siller who ran through a closed tunnel with 60 pounds of  gear on his back in an unsuccessful attempt to save the lives of others. 

I also highly suggest you check out more info about the man who founded the 20 for 20 podcast,  Niels Jorgensen . Mr. Jorgensen has selflessly dedicated a great portion of his life to raising awareness for the survivors of 9/11 that the United States government failed to provide adequate health insurance for.

Do you think you could have been as brave as people like Stephen Siller and Niels Jorgensen if you were faced with such tremendous adversities?  My opinion is that the hero  inside all of us can be released if we are truly tested.