My Dad

My Dad

September 11, 2001 forever changed my life as it did for many people.  I still remember that day like it was yesterday.  I was eleven years old and stayed home from school because I was sick and my two older sisters headed to school.  My dad, who was a NYC Fire Fighter, left early to head into work that day.  It wasn't too long later that my mom, grams and I heard and saw the first Tower collapse.  Just before the second tower collapsed my mom, grams and I got the scariest phone call of our lives.  My dad called us to tell us that he was OK, scared and loved us.  In the middle of the phone conversation his phone went dead and the second tower collapsed.  We had no idea if he was alive or not.  The whole day we were glued to the television and on edge waiting to hear from my dad.  It wasn't until the next morning that we got a phone call from St. Vincent Hospital telling us that my dad was OK, but hurt.  They wanted him to stay longer in the hospital, but my dad just wanted to go home to his family.  When my dad returned home we all hugged him I thought to myself we made it through the worse and experienced a miracle.  From that day on, my dad never returned to work.  He was forced to retire and live with his injuries.  The years that followed were the best years of our lives.  My dad was there for every school function, every holiday, and was there every day which we all spent so much time together.  Again, we all truly thought we survived a miracle.  The summer of 2006 my dad started getting sick and by June 2007 my dad passed away from his injuries he sustained on 9/11.  It was unbelievable and truly still hard to believe that he is not here today.  It has been five years this past June and each year it just keeps getting harder to believe and accept.  Since then we have had three memorial services for him; One in Brooklyn at Fire Department headquarters, one out in Nesconset on the island and one at Engine 74 at his firehouse where his name is on plaques and engraved on to walls.  My dad is my biggest hero and forever he will be considered a hero.  He will always be spoken about with the highest respect and especially to my family in the future one day.

Vocabulary:

1. Collapse- Fall down

2. Respect- looking up to someone, a feeling of admiration to someone / something

3. Conversation- People talking

4. Experience- involvement in an activity, event

5. Miracle- an event or action that is amazing / unexpected

6. Sustain- to be affected by something, to experience setback, injury

Vocabulary Cloze Exercise: Put the correct vocabulary words in the blank.

1. After Chris ran the marathon he ___________with exhaustion. 

2. Because Kelly was involved in a car accident she __________critical injuries.

3. When Kathy received a 100 on her social studies test it was a _____________considering she did not   

    study for it.

4. The ___________between Jen and Kristiana was very loud.

5. Student teaching was a positive _______________in my college career.

6. I ________ my father who was a fire fighter and involved in 9/11.

Grammar Point: This passage has many verbs in the past tense.  List those verbs and any other words that indicate the past tense such as, changed and so on.

 Grammar Exercise:  Write a paragraph explaining a hero in your life that you look up to.  Be sure to use past tense verbs and any vocabulary words.