Remembering the bombing

Every year in my house, April 19 was one of the few days out of the year I might see my parents cry. Even when I was too young to comprehend it fully, I could sense the helplessness they must have felt, which over the years has turned into a hopefulness, and the guilt that has turned into growth.

Terrorist attacks are meant to incite fear, but my mom said she doesn’t cower because of what happened. It simply made her want to live a life that is honorable to her friends.

“Twenty-five years is a long time,” she said. “And honestly there are days in my life I don’t think about what happened on April 19, 1995. And there will be other days where I’ll just have the most profound memory or moment. Twenty-five years is a long time, and there’s been a lot of water under that bridge.”