I can remember my mom telling me pretty much every Nov. 22 that she remembered where she was when President Kennedy was assassinated.

She a junior in high school. She had gotten in trouble for something ... talking, probably ... and was in study hall standing in the corner. She remembered what she was wearing, what the temperature was like, everything.

As a child, I couldn't quite understand how any event, regardless of the gravity, could ingrain itself in one's memory the way that one had for my mother. I couldn't grasp how, on the anniversary of that tragedy, she was transported back in time every year, no matter how much time had passed.

Then I grew up, and Sept. 11, 2001 happened.

I was about six weeks pregnant with my son Will. I was working for a newspaper in northern Indiana, and we had just been purchased by a new company. We had been a twice-weekly for years, but were set to go daily on Sept. 12, 2001.

I was leaning back in a desk chair with my feet propped up on a desk ... not my own, since the tech guys from our new home office were at my desk hooking up my new computer. I was grumbling to myself because they were in my space, and to add insult to injury they were replacing my PC with a Mac.

Our television set was perched on a shelf high up on a wall. As per usual, the sound was turned down, but it was on. I was flipping through a Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, looking up every now and again to see what was on the screen. It was a little before 9 a.m.

All of a sudden, I saw an image of a plane smashing into a building. Thinking it was some sort of horrific accident, I told my editor what I had seen and got up to turn the volume up on the TV.

There was all kinds of confusion ... it was the World Trade Center, the newscaster said. The North Tower.

Then out of nowhere, another plane crashed into the WTC's South Tower, making it clear this was no accident.

I panicked. I felt like I needed to get out of the office and go get my daughter, who was safely ensconced at school with the rest of her fifth grade class. My husband, who worked with me at the time, wasn't at the office yet, and I started panicking about where he was.

Then the third plane smashed into the Pentagon.

Everyone in our office was gathered around the TV in utter disbelief. What was going on?

Shortly after that, a fourth plane went down near Shanksville, Pa.

The news came out in bits and pieces over the next few hours. The four commercial airliners had all been hijacked, probably by terrorists affiliated with the same group. The planes that crashed into the World Trade Center were American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. The plane that hit the Pentagon was American Airlines Flight 77. The thwarted hijacking that ended with the crash in Pennsylvania, whose ultimate target was probably the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House, was United Airlines Flight 93.

News organizations and air traffic controllers nationwide were thrown into tailspins. Civilian air traffic was banned from landing on U.S. soil for three days. Planes already in the air were turned back or sent to airports in Canada or Mexico. News outlets were forced to report unconfirmed stories, many of which turned out to be inaccurate or completely false.

I sat transfixed, watching images of burning buildings and people stampeding out of them -- or jumping from the windows. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

After the initial shock of the crashes themselves, America watched in horror as the WTC's two towers gave way and collapsed -- the South Tower just before 10 a.m.; the North Tower about a half-hour later. Later that afternoon, the entire WTC building fell, becoming a pile of rubble later known as "Ground Zero."

In the days and weeks following the most harrowing attack on American soil in history, more and more information came to light. Some passengers on the doomed planes made phone calls using cabin airphone service and their cellular phones, shedding some light on what really happened before all onboard those flights perished. The hijackers used box cutters to kill passengers and crew members; they also used a chemical spray to keep passengers at bay.

The reason Flight 93 never reached its intended target, black box recordings revealed, was because crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers. A transcript of the flight's recordings contains audio of a hijacker giving the order to roll the plane once it became evident that the passengers could overtake the hijackers.

Months after the tragedy, the official casualty count was 2,974. As of today, there are still 24 people who were never accounted for who are also believed to have been killed.

The trickle-down effect from Sept. 11, 2001 is still being felt today. We're at war as a direct result of what happened that day.

I don't know about everyone else, but it took me a long, long time to feel safe again. I didn't want to let my daughter or husband out of my sight. People predicted that more attacks would happen ... maybe in Los Angeles or Chicago. I was terrified waiting for them.

As the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 approaches, I can remember vividly everything I felt that day. I remember the heroes that emerged. I pray for the families and friends who lost loved ones.

I pray that it doesn't happen again.

But mostly, I just remember.