I had just arrived home from taking my son to kindergarten when the phone rang. It was my husband wanting me to turn on the TV and confirm the rumors he was hearing at work about a plane having hit the World Trade Center. Thinking oh, it must have been some small plane I went over and turned it on in time to see the live feed of the second plane hitting the second tower - I can't believe what I'm seeing. Newscasters are stunned, don't know what to say. All any of us can do is watch in horror as the events unfold before us. I remember thinking briefly that this couldn't be happening but it is and as the truth of the situation begins to sink in I break out in goosebumps and go numb. Literally transfixed by what I was seeing I abandoned all the plans I had for that morning to watch and begin to pray for the victims, the injured, the rescuers. Then as if it wasn't bad enough already the buildings collapse like some kind of planned implosion - oh, no, I think - there is no hope now for those left inside.

My heart goes out to those who have lost their loved ones. Those who are lucky will have the remains of their son, daughter, husband, wife, returned to them. The rest will have to face the awful truth that they were probably incinerated in the terrible fires - cremated. Oh, dear Lord, have mercy on these people.

My mother lost one of her brothers during World War II. He was a pilot, shot down during a mission somewhere over the Pacific. Neither his plane nor his remains were ever found. I thought about her this week and the pain she still lives with not knowing even after all these years what really happened to him. Still holding a tiny flicker of hope alive in her heart that he's alive somewhere even though she knows it's probably not true. Remembering her pain makes me think about the thousands of people who will be facing this same situation now and my heart breaks - tears fall and a fear I've never felt before begins to sink in.