Today is September 11, 2008

I can't believe that it has been 7 years already. It feels so strange.

September 11, 2001
Mom and I were in Las Vegas sound asleep at the Sahara Hotel & Casino when dad called to tell us that we were "at war." We freaked out and turned on the T.V. What we saw was unbelievable.

Immediately, I guessed that it was Osama bin Laden or Slobadan Milosevic. I was right! Who else?

(The weirdest thing that happened is that at O'Hare airport prior to our departure, one of the airline attendants was joking around and called Slobadan Milosevic to the desk! How weird is that?)

Next Steps
I wanted to rent a car to drive home and it was still early enough, but mom argued with me too long about it. She insisted on flying back. As a matter of fact, she wanted to leave right away. Leave right away?.....We couldn't even leave on the date that we were scheduled to leave.

Rumors
Rumors were flying that Las Vegas could possibly be a terrorist target, so that was frightening.

Hotel
The Sahara hotel did an excellent job of providing guest security. I was quite impressed by the way they handled the events and the comings/goings of guests. I felt very safe there and I am grateful to the Sahara for keeping everything professional and secure during a very turbulent time. I know that the Sahara is not the fanciest of hotels, but it met our needs, and exceeded them after the 9/11 attacks. I will forever be grateful to the Sahara and I will be sad if they ever implode it (as they are doing with many of the older hotels from the Rat-Pack days).

Casinos
It took till around lunch time before anyone felt comfortable playing the slot machines. It was so quiet in the casinos with the exception of the T.V. monitors that they had everywhere playing the headlines of the day's nightmarish events.

It didn't take the hotels/casinos long to put up tributes to all of the victims of 9/11. It was just amazing.

Flight Home
Needless to say, mom won and we flew home. I already had a plan running through my head. There was no way that I was going to let terrorists take over our plane. I was determined to be on the lookout and pounce on them if I had to.

When we were in line to check in at the airport, there was a Middle Eastern man who kept pacing. He kept looking at his watch, getting out of line, and eventually meeting up with a few other Middle Eastern men and a woman. They apparently, were going to get on our plane. Fear ran through me. I wasn't trying to stereo-type, but their behavior was most strange. I reported them to Security and I could immediately see them running around overhead.

Shortly afterwards, they were escorted to the front of the line and checked in. They were in our waiting area, and it turns out that they were royalty on a month long honeymoon and they were not used to waiting in lines, so they were a bit antsy. I was extremely relieved, but never again will I dismiss peculiar behavior because you just never know. It's better to be safe than sorry.

I ended up feeling flu-like on the way flight home. The stress probably ran me down. A huge man sat next to me (in the aisle) and took over most of my space. He turned out to be a charter airline pilot for Canadian vacations, but was located in Wisconsin. I told him that if there was any monkey business, that he had to fly the plane. I continued to keep an eye out for anyone who looked suspicious.

When we finally made it home after an exhausting trip, we discovered that you could no longer hail a taxi at the airport. They had to be pre-arranged, so we experienced some difficulty trying to find a ride home. Even taxi pages were torn out of the phone book at the airport. Just the beginning of many changes that the attacks on 9/11 imposed on our country.

Honor
We wanted to honor and support our country. We went to a large, cheesy souvenir store located across the street from the Sahara near the Holy Cow casino (which is no longer there). We bought pins to wear the with flag of the United States on them.

I proudly wore my pin today.

Delmonico's Steak House
That night we had dinner reservations at Delmonico's. It was the best Bone-in Rib eye, but it was difficult to feel excited about anything. It was not busy at all, but we did have a reservation because on any normal day, it is quite busy.

Reflection
Looking back, I think it would have been nice to have been at home during the attacks on our country, but I probably would have been at the office already anyhow.

Not that it was a happy occasion, by any means, but to be stuck in Las Vegas during this time was quite an event in itself. I will never forget where I was or what I was doing the morning of 9/11.

Many changes have taken place regarding security for our country since 9/11. Many people complain because it's an inconvenience to go through airport Security, to have to remove your shoes, or not be able to carry liquids on the plane. I would rather be inconvenienced slightly in order to save lives. People take advantage of the great country that we live in and often make the mistake of believing that nothing will ever happen. Well, I will do anything it takes because I survived 9/11.

Moving On
I hope that I never live to see another 9/11 or similar event. I never want to forget it, but I hope that we become a stronger nation and hope that these terrorists learned that they cannot fix anything by attacking our country.

We are strong and we are united!