Harrison Fields: On 9/11, I was 5 years old and son of an NYPD detective. I wondered, 'Is mommy alive?'

I was five going on six-years-old, living in upstate New York, and the son of a single mother serving in the NYPD as a Detective in the Medical Examiner’s office on September 11, 2001. 

I was confused, but confusion soon turned into worry as I remembered that my mom worked near those smoking buildings.  Soon, my grandfather, a retired NYPD Sergeant, came to pick up my two siblings and me from school. My grandmother was noticeably on edge, the phone rang non-stop, and my mom was nowhere to be seen or heard. Morning turned into afternoon, and still no sign of my mom—just the cold feeling of worry and fear.