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"Because my daughter (sophomore in H.S.) was one of 36 kids picked out of 1300 for a trip to Spain and France in the spring. It's a terrific opportunity, but I'm afraid to let her go."

My daughter Carrie is a high school Spanish teacher. She, along with the French teacher and English teacher, took some of their students to England, France and Spain last summer, not to long after the Madrid subway bombings. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. But things went well with no incidents and they had a great time. Hopefully your daughter will have a wonderful experience, too.

Carrie was in Japan on 9/11, teaching English at a Japanese High School. She did not know about the attack when we called her at suppertime because of the time difference. She sent the following e-mail describing her reaction. It still brings a tear to my eye.

09/12/2001

I woke up this morning and went walking, able to enjoy the beautiful day that was beginning. It wasn't too hot yet and I like passing the early risers in the street, smiling at them and saying good morning. I was thinking about all the wonderful things I wanted to share with you in this newsletter, my dear family and friends.

I got home and hopped into the shower and as I was getting out, the phone rang. It was my brother (Mark, a senior in high school at the time)telling me things I didn't quite understand. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon collapsed? What in the tarnation is he saying. Then, my Mom got on the phone and explained, and the things that have been happening here suddenly seemed so meaningless. Thousands upon thousands of my fellow Americans have been brutally murdered and I cannot comprehend the hate inside the people who did this.

Just recently, I was reading a summer edition of Time or Newsweek (I can't remember which) and the main articles were about the ten worst countries in the world. As I was reading them, I felt for the people in those nations- nations where peace is a foreign term. And I thought about my country, and how we love peace and freedom. Now, I'm not saying the US is perfect by any means, but we were founded on these principles. And we do our best as a nation to live by them.

As for me, I am perfectly safe. I am one of four Americans in the city so I will not be in any danger here. The staff here at the school has been very kind and the principal spoke to me this morning and expressed his condolences. I couldn't help but cry. I will be teaching today and if you could remember me in your prayers, I fear that I will begin to cry as I give my self introduction. I don't want to teach but I also know that life must somehow continue on. I have to be at work, and I have to go home and find something useful for me to do to keep my mind off this tragedy.

My brother Kevin is in the Navy. I was so hoping that his time in the military would be a time of peace. That hope looks very bleak right now. Currently he is still in Virginia on red alert. Just like the rest of the country, he will be sitting and waiting.

My prayers will be with all of you as we wait to see what will happen next. Will there be another attack? How will the US respond? Maybe, we will all wake up tomorrow to find that this was all a terrible dream, but I know that's wishful thinking.

As we begin to deal with this tragedy, stories will begin to emerge about people who died in this tragedy, people with lives similar to ours who certainly didn't expect to die on their plane flight or at work. I read about the Solicitor General's wife who was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. She had called her husband on her cell phone to tell him what was happening. The article said that she was supposed to have left on a flight on Monday but Tuesday was her husband's birthday. She postponed her flight so that she could be with him the morning of his birthday. My heart went out to that man because he will live for the rest of his life feeling guilty and thinking that his wife would still be alive if it weren't for him. But at the same time, her gesture of love towards him was touching.

I love you all and miss you dearly. Carrie