Keep on living for today

What I saw today seemed absolutely unreal. I left Bloomington in June to work at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The museum is across the Potomac River from the Pentagon. We received word that the World Trade Center had been struck by a plane, then the building across the river was hit. The museum was evacuated, and we were all out in the street, desperately trying to get home.\nTaxis were flying down the street with no passengers, but none of them would stop. There were no buses to be found, but there were so many people. I had never seen that many people jammed onto the train platform. The Metro was open, and we finally managed to shove into a train. Of course, the Pentagon station was closed. \nToday was the first time I have ever talked to a stranger on the train. One man even gave me his seat, and another gave me his magazine. The streets above were chaos, but in the trains under the ground, I have never witnessed such politeness and unity, in spite of the extremely close quarters.\nWhen we finally reached Vienna/Fairfax, the end of the Orange Line, the next battle was to get the car out of the parking garage and home. It wasn't until my sister and I were both in the car that we realized the true extent of the horror going on in New York and at the Pentagon. \nYou can see the Pentagon from the fourth floor of the museum, but even seeing the news reports and checking in with friends, finding out who hasn't checked in yet, I feel like I should wake up any minute from this horrible nightmare.\nI've never been so scared in my life, but once the museum reopens, I will be going back to work. I pray for all of the people who lost their lives, their families, our nation and the world. Nothing is ever going to be the same, but even if my life will only last another week, I intend to live each moment to the fullest. I'm certainly not going to allow myself to stop living now because of fear. I owe that, and so much more, to the people working in the building across the river, who weren't as lucky as I.