My jaw dropped when I found this in my grandmother’s home

Recently, I was at my grandmother’s house for a family gathering. Knowing that she won’t be in the house forever, we’ve been slowly trying to get rid of random stuff that’s lying around in her basement or closets.

Family photo albums? Of course worth saving. Those can stay.

Old vinyls? They’re back in style, baby! Those can be distributed among the children and grandchildren who are interested.

Some items can go, though.

For instance, do we really still need prom and bridesmaids dresses from the ‘’70s and 80s, poofy sleeves and all? No. Absolutely not. Throw them out!

In my most recent look-through, I found something I never expected.

I found a newspaper from the day after 9/11

“U.S. ATTACKED” reads The New York Times headline, “Hijacked jets destroy Twin Towers and hit Pentagon in day of terror.”

I couldn’t believe it. I had no clue she still had this. I don’t even know if she knows she had been saving it.

It wasn’t in a designated stack of other newspapers from significant days in history. It was just in a closet like it was one of those awful prom dresses.

Reading it was legitimately chilling.

Though a little curled around the edges and creased, it’s entirely intact. Holding the physical paper to scan the articles has an entirely different feeling than if you were to find archived articles online.

Working in media myself (and having heard my co-workers report on the horrific events on the air on NJ101.5), I find it fascinating to read how this life-changing moment in time was reported on.

We didn’t fully know the extent of the damage done. We didn’t know we were about to enter a ‘forever war.’ We had no clue how many Americans we lost that day or would lose in the days, weeks, or years to come.

It was an unexpected reminder of that day, but also a look back on how united the nation was in the weeks following the tragedy.

I wouldn’t mind us going back to that solidarity.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.

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