25 Years Later: We Remember September 11th

Shawna and LaLa: Life Beyond The Mic

Shawna and LaLa reflect on the 25th anniversary of September 11th, sharing personal memories and honoring those affected by the attacks. They

Key takeaways

• The emotional impact of September 11th continues to resonate deeply across generations, with personal stories from both hosts highlighting how the event shaped their lives.
• Michael Hingson's survival story exemplifies courage, resilience, and the vital role of service animals in emergencies.

Main topics

• 25th anniversary of September 11th
• Personal memories of the 9/11 attacks

Notable quotes

"I remember seeing kids leaving classrooms... one girl was crying because her father was in the World Trade Center."

"They were taking buckets of fingers and toes and body parts… it really screwed him up."

Conclusion

As Shawna and LaLa honor the memory of September 11th with personal reflections and

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) What's up? You're listening to Shauna and Lala. Check us out at shaunainlala.com on all social media platforms at shaunainlala. You could follow me on Instagram at therealshaunamay. And check me out at bella underscore lala 125. It has been quite the week this week. Jelena started school today. How did drop off go? Speaker 2 (0:26) It went so amazing. Not for me. I was crying. But Jelena, thank God, was so excited. She was so happy to be there. And she even says in a video, like, I was filming her to say goodbye to Mike, my husband. She said, I'm not going to cry. I'm not scared. Mommy's going to leave me. She was even saying it out loud herself. She was just so happy to be there with all the kids to play with them. She's going to be a teacher's pet. I already know it. She's a very loving child, loves to hug. She just kept hugging her teacher and just following her around like a little puppy dog too. They're going to love her. Unless they get annoyed. But she's not an annoying kid. She's just loving. You know, she's one. You see her with your mom. She's like, oh, I love you. Wants to sit on her lap. Wants to hug her. Yeah. She's very loving. But she was. It was good. So we will see. I could have stayed for story time. And she seemed OK. So I said, you know, is it OK if mommy goes home? And she's like, yeah, you can leave. I'm OK. And I was like, oh, part of my heart broke. And part of me was happy that she was happy and didn't need me. So. I guess when we pick her up today, we will see how it went. And if she says, I never want to go back again, or she's excited. So I'm hoping that. Speaker 1 (1:44) Well, hopefully she will be excited. And hopefully she will make a lot of new friends. Yes. And work on learning kindergarten Speaker 2 (1:54) things. Yeah, learning how to read. That's my biggest thing. I'm going to start reading.com again, because I know. When she did it for a little bit for the trial, she was picking up fast. And it's amazing, that program. So I think between that with me doing that at home and then her going here, I think she's going to excel. Speaker 1 (2:15) Yeah. I asked her the other day what her shirt said, and she said, you know I can't read. Speaker 2 (2:22) Yep, she can't read. She wants to read badly, but yeah, it's hopefully that Speaker 1 (2:27) they can help teach. If Speaker 2 (2:28) I knew how to teach her how to read, I would homeschool her. I always say that, but I want her to learn through a teacher, and then I could do the reading.com at home and go from there. Speaker 1 (2:37) Yeah. Now, if you were to homeschool, you would actually sit with her at a table and do work, or do you hire somebody? Speaker 2 (2:46) Nowadays, they have programs online, so it's almost like an online school. that you pay for it. And it's pre-recorded by a teacher. So they'll sit on a screen and go over lessons. But yes, especially her age, a lot of stuff would probably be me working with her one-on-one, like, you know, writing with her. So yeah, it would be both. But they say with homeschooling, you don't need... as much time, the kids that are sitting in school for six, seven hours a day, with homeschooling, it's usually about two hours a day. And that's it. And they say homeschool kids are far more advanced than public school. And that's what's crazy to me. Speaker 1 (3:30) I believe that. Speaker 2 (3:31) Yeah. I was telling, I don't know if I was telling you, but I was telling somebody, when I went to the orientation for homeschool, there's a four-year-old in her class. and him and his brother have been homeschooled since they were little. I mean, they're still little, but they've been homeschooled. So they were drawing other countries' flags from memory. And I was over there, and Jolena's drawing a sun and flowers and grass. And these two kids that are four and five were drawing. One kid's like, I'm going to draw Brazil's flag. Oh, yeah, I'm going to draw Belgium's flag. And I'm looking, and they drew the right flags. Speaker 2 (4:05) I said, that's amazing. The mom goes, oh, yeah, you know, we work on a different country's flag every, I forget if she said every week or every few weeks. And they knew all the flags. Speaker 1 (4:15) That's crazy. So I Speaker 2 (4:17) believe homeschool kids can be more advanced in public school. Well, Speaker 1 (4:21) they can be because you don't have to deal with all the BS of X plus Y equals Z. Things you're not going to use. Yeah. And that was my biggest thing, like, especially in high school. I'm like, who needs to know this? I'm not going to be a contractor. I'm not going to be an architect. Yeah. I don't need to know what X plus Y plus Z equals 10 squared. I don't need to know that. Unless Speaker 2 (4:46) you're going into that field of work, I think that's when you should take that class. Speaker 1 (4:50) Yeah. And what needs to be done is taught life skills. Speaker 2 (4:55) How Speaker 1 (4:55) to write a check. How to use a credit card. How to stay out of debt. Stay out of debt. Exactly. Do your taxes. Do your taxes. Pay your bills on time. Change a tire. Like, I don't know. Yeah. And it just, it amazes me what they're teaching in school. Speaker 2 (5:14) Oh, I know. Geo's in Algebra 1. And it's an advanced class. And I don't even understand it. And he's struggling a little this year with it. He's like, this is so hard. And I said, I want to tell you, you're never going to use it. You know, I believe you're never going to use it, depending on the job you're going into. And I'm like, I'm sorry, buddy. You know, it's not going to get any easier from here on out. You know, then you're in high school and all that crap. So, yeah, no, I told him, I said, I can always homeschool Speaker 1 (5:42) you. He's like, no. Well, this week marks 25 years of September 11th. This Friday, actually. I can't believe that it has been. 25 years. It's so hard to believe. And that day truly changed our country, our state. And I don't know if you remember where you were when you heard about it, but I remember. Speaker 2 (6:08) I remember I was in school. I don't remember the class. That's what a lot of people know exactly. But I think my teacher didn't tell us. And then I remember just seeing kids leaving classroom, walking down the hall. And I was like, where's everyone going? I guess it was the kids whose parents were in the World Trade Center. And then my mom called the school and she picked us up early because she was scared. She thought that the whole country or the whole state was under a terrorist attack. You know what I mean? So she took us home. And that's really what sticks in my mind is my mom. And when I was waiting in the office for her, I remember one of the girls. in there and she was crying and it turned out her father was in the World Trade Center. So she didn't probably know he died, but she knew he was in there. So that sticks out in my mind too. Speaker 1 (7:04) I don't remember. I remember where I was. I was in the office and they were just talking about it. And we have a school called Twin Towers. Speaker 2 (7:14) Yeah. In Speaker 1 (7:15) our town. And that's what I thought it was at first. Oh, Speaker 2 (7:17) yeah, that's true. And I Speaker 1 (7:19) just remember, like, freaking out, like, oh, my God, they're going to come to our school and, like, bomb us. And then. I didn't realize it until I got home and my aunt in Florida called my mom and was like, are you okay? Or, you know, what's going on? And then I realized, I don't think my mom picked me up early. She might have. I'll have to ask her if she remembers. But it was just so, such a scary day. Speaker 1 (7:50) New York hasn't been the same since. And we know so many people, even though, you know, we're about an hour and a half away from the city. So many people up here have been affected and so many kids that we went to school with, they lost loved ones. Even now, like from being, you know, my mom's friend, we're actually honoring him tonight at a dinner because he was in 9-11. He happened to be working as an electrician. By 9-11 and, you know, when it happened, he ran in. Speaker 2 (8:23) Oh, really? Speaker 1 (8:24) Yeah. And that's how he got his cancer. He's fought it, fought it, fought it. And then he unfortunately was diagnosed a few months ago and he just went so fast. And he... He says that it was because of the World Trade Center. Oh, yeah. Speaker 2 (8:43) A friend of mine, I just learned that her father, he wasn't there when it happened, but he was FDNY and he was up here. But they called him in and she said he knew something must be bad because they called all hands on deck. And she said, I think she told me he was down there for six months. Oh, my God. They didn't let them. leave they had a she said that the aftermath of it was so much and the the amount of bodies and body parts that he saw she said it really screwed him up i believe it she said they was taking buckets of fingers and toes and body parts and i've heard that from another friend whose father was there doing the same thing and and now and he got cancer too he has he's been battling cancer and uh it's so crazy that besides the tragedy of 9-11, now the people who went to save them, they're