Looking at ripple effects

On that September morning in 2001, Lyndsay Melancon, 17, was caring for her then 3-week-old daughter and finishing her senior year of high school studies.

Her world began to change after the planes hit the World Trade Center.

"I was woken up by a phone call from my dad asking me that if we went to war, if my husband [of two months] would have to go," Melancon said. "I ran to the TV and turned it on, and watched what was happening.

"I started shaking and trying to call my husband to find out if he was going to be deployed."

She said the day was made even more stressful, because family and friends kept calling to see if her husband, who was in the military, would be going to war.

"I [said] 'how should I know,'" Melancon recalled with a laugh. "I wasn't best friends with the president."

Joking aside, Melancon wondered what would happen to her new family.

"My friends weren't worried about it. They were upset that we got attacked, but that was it," she recalled. "My family was worried for my husband since he [was] in the Air Force."

Since Sept. 11, many of Melancon's friends have been deployed as part of the War on Terror.

She has also lived overseas, as part of her husband's deployment.

"It was hard," she said. "I remember living in Italy a year after Sept. 11, and the town we lived in hated Americans because of the war.

"I was afraid to leave my house with my children."

Melancon wishes organizers would build a memorial wall or a garden at ground zero.

She also has a deep sense of pride for the military.

"Although I might disagree with our president, I support our troops 100 percent," she said. "I thank them everyday for fighting for our country, [keeping] us safe and free."