9/11... A day that will forever be remembered by not only America but by everyone around the world. Our country lost almost 3,000 people that day, leaving 6,000 injured. It is sad to see that on such a beautiful day, when everyone was going along with their normal day-to-day routine, that our country would change forever.

I was only 4 years old on September 11, 2001, so I do not remember as much as my parents and family members; I can only retell what I have been told. My dad called my mom telling her frantically to turn on the television. I was at preschool, only had been there for an hour, when my mom came and picked me up in a panic with my younger sister bouncing on her hip. My mom did not tell me what had happened (she thought I was too young to understand), but I could tell something was horribly wrong. Our TV flicked on and I heard my mom scream as she watched the second plane hit the South Tower, and that is when America knew we were under attack.

My mom called my dad and was talking fast, repeating herself over and over again about how he needed to leave the city and come home. Little did she know that the offices in Chicago were told to evacuate because the Sears tower could have been a potential target. My parents will not tell me what happened once my dad got home or any other events of that day, because they have tried to blur it all out over the years; however, my dad still talks about one thing that has blown his mind throughout all of these years.

September 12, 2001; all planes flying over the United States were ordered to land, no one was allowed to fly in the sky. My parents put my sister and me to sleep and went out onto our deck to watch the sunset. My dad said there was not a single cloud in the sky, and the weirdest thing of all, was that there were no planes. The sky was silent, no one was traveling and he said that it was something that he will never forget. Can you imagine not having any plane traffic in the sky? Not hearing the sound of a plane flying over your head or seeing the white trail in the sky?

My younger brother was born in November of 2002, a year after 9/11. You can see the difference when talking to someone who was not alive at the time compared to someone who experienced the events first hand. He does not have much knowledge of the event except from what we have told him; he said they do not talk about it in school as much as they did when I was his age.

Fifteen years later and our country is still negatively impacted by the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. Even though our country has not had a tragedy quite like this once since, it does not mean that we should forget; never forget those who were lost in the explosions, those who risked their lives to save those who were trapped in the flames, and all of our first responders who made it out alive and even those who did not.