11 reflections on 9/11: Nicole Stuart, Senior

I was really proud of myself when I was offered a federal job at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.\nIf you haven't been there, the USHMM is on the Mall, across the Potomac River from the Pentagon, maybe three blocks from the Washington Monument.\nMy first day of work was Sept. 10, 2001. I had a federal job. I had found easy street.\nFunny how quickly things can change, especially when all hell breaks loose on your second day of work.\nNow, the USHMM is at a level five security, the same level as the White House. Security saw a plane fly low over the museum, and the rest, as they say, is history.\nThe evacuation of the District was an interesting process. I was actually lucky to have taken the Metro (subway) to work. My coworkers, who had taken the bus from the Pentagon, had to find some other way home.\nIt was only when I turned on the television that I realized the full extent of the mornings events. You see, I knew people who were at the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and even people who were flying that day.\nI lived 10 minutes from Dulles International Airport. I lived minutes from Vienna, Virginia, where some of the terrorists had apparently been living.\nIf you had told me on Sept. 10, 2001, that in one year, I would be back in Bloomington and back in school, I never would have believed you. But, as fate would have it, here I am.