On September 11, 2001 I was 12- Here's How I Remember It

It's been 22 years since we all witnessed the attack on America. Every year I like to reflect on that day and remember where I was at that certain point in my life.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, it was a Tuesday and I was twelve years old and I had just started my seventh-grade year. I had finally hit the sweet spot of my middle school experience, I was no longer a newbie sixth-grader and was looking forward to the fall dance.

That morning, I woke up like normal and got ready for school. We had a small TV in our kitchen that was turned on to the news not just that day but every day, and when I walked in, the first plane had already hit one of the towers. My family and I watched in horror as the second plane hit the next tower.

On the way to school, it was all over the radio stations; I can even remember Buzz talking about it; by the way, we've received your messages and are currently searching for the audio of Buzz's broadcast that morning.

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At school, I remember my friends all talking about it but I don't think any of us really understood what had actually happened. We were all twelve and up until then, we really had no real concept of what terrorism was. We grew up untouched by war and now that was becoming a real possibility

I live in a city with a military base and had many cousins in the armed forces at the time. I can remember my aunts and uncles being concerned that one of my cousins would be called to a war that was inevitable. Our belief that America was untouchable had been shaken.

I remember having so many questions throughout the day and still not understanding. It was a day where teachers ditched the lesson plan and had the classroom TVs set to the news. As we watched the updates coming in to update America about the plane crash at the Pentagon and the plane crash near Pennsylvania.

The death toll kept rising.

I remember suspicions and distrust growing fiercely afterward. In the months that followed we heard about changing threat levels and color codes and more suspected terrorist attacks- like the whole Anthrax ordeal.

It was a scary time. But the one thing I remember the most is the unity that came afterward. "United we stand; divided we fall" was the slogan everyone wore with pride. We became a stronger nation.

Now, 20 years later- it seems like a lifetime ago- and "unity" feels like it's just another word that has lost meaning. Either way, we never forgot that day in September of 2001.

See 20 Ways America Has Changed Since 9/11

For those of us who lived through 9/11, the day’s events will forever be emblazoned on our consciousnesses, a terrible tragedy we can’t, and won’t, forget. Now, two decades on, Stacker reflects back on the events of 9/11 and many of the ways the world has changed since then. Using information from news reports, government sources, and research centers, this is a list of 20 aspects of American life that were forever altered by the events of that day. From language to air travel to our handling of immigration and foreign policy, read on to see just how much life in the United States was affected by 9/11.