OAK HILL -- On 9/11, I met a brother I never knew I had. We arranged to meet at a Starbuck's in Orlando.
While we started to get acquainted we heard the announcement that the U.S. had been attacked, an attack we would learn a short time later eas orchestrated by Osama bin Laden. Thankfully, he was hunted down by the US and killed. At the time, we were asking, who was he and why was he attacking the United States? The Twin Towers in New York City had been destroyed! We couldn't believe our ears!
We both said there must be some mistake. The newsman had to be wrong.
But he wasn't.
Our reunion now was forever etched in our minds as 9/11. Since we were both in shock, we cancelled our meeting and agreed to meet again two weeks later.We needed to get with our own families, to hold them, to cry with them, and to digest what had just happened. Nobody attacks our country!This is America!! This didn't really happen!
Reality set in as I drove home--I needed to go home--I could see my "new"brother again. Our country would be OK! But life as we knew it changed forever.We had been violated!
Thankfully, we did survive and the American spirit prevails today. My "new" brother never made it back to Orlando--he died from a massive hemorrhage . I will never forget where I was that day, Sept. 11, 2001.
Editor's Note: Commissioner and Vice Mayor Linda Hyatt and fellow Commissioner Douglas Gibson are non-partisan candidates on the Nov. 6 general elections ballot to be the next mayor of Oak Hill. Hyatt started writing a blog for Headline Surfer well before she announced her intention to run. Gibson doesn't have a problem with it. It has been made clear to Hyatt the blog is not for self-promotion in this election and she understands that condition.
Headline Surfer is Florida's first 24/7 Internet newspaper launched April 7, 2008, initially as NSBNews.net. It is based in New Smyrna Beach, covering Volusia County and throughout the Orlando Metropolitan Area via HeadlineSurfer.com, NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net. "Headline Surfer" is a registered trademark owned by NSB News LLC, for editorial, marketing and advertising purposes. All rights reserved.
