9/11: I remember

I hadn't turned the TV on yet when my brother called.

"A plane hit the World Trade Center." "What?!?" "Terrorism."

I remember Tom Brokaw calling it "an act of war".

I remember the fear I felt all that day as the news came: another plane, another, and another. The towers falling.

Then there was the trepidation I felt every morning after that, for I don't know how long -- months? a year? longer? Wondering if there would be another attack, wondering what I'd see when I turned on the news.

So here we are, seven years later, with no additional attacks. No one expected that; everyone -- everyone! -- thought we'd surely be attacked again.

And if President Bush had done nothing, they probably would have been right.