The day started as any other one, but by the time we went to bed our lives were changed forever, I'm sure that we all remember exactly where we were and what we were doing at the time that the terrorist attacks started in New York City and Washington D.C. But what it makes the September 11 of 2001 so remarkable in my memory, it is not only that it was a tragedy where thousands had perished and where I lost some friends and acquaintances, but also because I was working as a flight attendant onboard an American Airlines flight bounded to New York's' LaGuardia Airport.

It was a beautiful morning in Houston Texas, where my crew and I had spent the night. I was flying a Super 80 aircraft that regularly carries a crew of 5, a pilot, a first officer, and three flight attendants. That was the third and last day of our assignment and we were very excited about going home.

The pilot, James Knight and the First Officer, Chuck Fieldmen had given our usual briefing at the breakfast table at the Hilton Medical Cedars Hotel, in the heart of town. Me and the other two flight attendants, Wendy Goodwin and Dale Campbell, were complaining, as we were used to do every time we had such an early flight. It was about 5A.M. when the crew got into the van that took us to the Houston Hobby International Airport. None of the five had an idea of what was about to happen in New York, none of us would ever expect that such a beautiful day was going to turn so ugly and change our jobs and lives forever.

As we get to the airport in Houston, everything seems in order. The pilots got into the...