Two Questions... Two Answers

This is going to seem like the world's most random post.... and that is because it is. I was just thinking about those questions. You know the ones. The ones that EVERYBODY can answer. The questions like, "Where were you when _____________________ happened?" (Insert important event.)

I remember my mom saying once that everyone in her generation can answer the question, "Where were you/what were you doing when you heard that JFK was assassinated?"

Obviously I can't answer that question, but I do have a couple questions like it that I can answer. Two of them, to be specific:

1. Where were you/what were you doing during the attack on 9/11/01? 
2. Where were you/ what were you doing when the Boise State Broncos beat the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl?

I know. Two very different, very unrelated, complete opposite emotional spectrum questions. But I will always, ALWAYS remember the answer to those questions. So, in this blog post, I am going to answer those questions for you! 

First of all.... 9/11/01. I was 11 years old. 

I woke up that morning to my mom talking to someone on the telephone. Whoever it was (I think it was my aunt) told her to turn on the news. I remember my mom watching and listening to the news, staring at the tv with her jaw dropped. I remember her telling me that this was bad. Very bad. She told me that someone had attacked our country. Whoever it was that attacked us flew an airplane into a building in New York. We were watching the news when suddenly another plane flew in the the second twin tower. I remember my mom started to cry. I don't think at that point I completely understood what was going on. 

I had an orthodontist appointment that morning. I distinctly remember sitting in a chair, leaned back with an assistant's hands in my mouth.... the hands weren't moving. The assistant's eyes weren't on me. They were on the TV. Everyone's eyes were on the TV. And nobody wanted to believe what they were seeing or hearing. 

Later that day, I went back to school. I was sitting in Mr. Olivaria's computer class when all the sudden over the PA system we hear "LOCK DOWN!" So, we turn off our computer monitors and quietly crawl under our computer desks. We were all really scared. We didn't know what was going on. We knew that there had been a terrorist attack that morning in New York, and we were all sure that the next target was Lowell Scott Middle School in Boise, Idaho. It turns out that someone was just guarding a cell tower, and was holding a gun, which is why we had the lock down. 

Anyway, on the bus ride home, I stared out the window, still trying to comprehend what exactly had happened that day. As I peered out the window, I noticed something different. I noticed something beautiful. There was not a single home between that did not have an American flag up somewhere outside their home. It was definitely a site I had never witnessed before. That is my memory of 9/11.

Second: 2007 Fiesta Bowl. I was 17 years old. 

On a more lighthearted note, this was a very exciting experience. Boise State had been doing well in football that year and in the previous few years. All eyes were on our Boise State Broncos. Although they were considered EXTREME underdogs going into the Fiesta Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners, there was still quite a lot of excitement going on in the city of Boise. There wasn't a single person in Boise who wasn't planning on watching the big game. 

I was at Stuart Carson's home with a bunch of my friends. All I can say is that I don't think that I have ever seen a more exciting, more intense, more happy game of football in my life. Or any other sport, for that matter, really. I felt like we won it, then we lost it, then we won it, then we lost it, then we won it again... all in one game. I pretty much had a heart attack. 

OK. I can't explain it myself. You just have to watch this clip. You know you want to relive it too. Just sayin.