Lauren Appell: Grateful on 9/11 to Flight 93 heroes – their sacrifice saved lives, mine included

Mine is a story of gratitude. Gratitude for people who made the ultimate sacrifice when they diverted a plane away from its intended target, the U.S. Capitol, where I was working that day. 

Call it an accident, coincidence or divine appointment – I believe in that sort of thing – but something occurred this summer that brought it all home to me.   Two decades later that date is now solidified in our kids’ history books as one of our generation’s darkest days in spite of the beautiful clear blue sky we woke up to that morning in New York and Washington, D.C.