Virginia Hartman knows both South Florida and Belgium well. She lived in Boca Raton for 15 years and raised her kids there but was born and raised in Brussels.
Tuesday morning she woke up to seeing her native home under attack.
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She was able to get in touch with her family and friends who are all safe.
Tuesday's attacks come three weeks after she took her family on vacation to Brussels.
"I was literally there three weeks ago. It could have been my family there. I could have been me. It's scary," said Hartman.
She now lives in New York but knows how packed the Metro stations were at the time the explosions went off.
"It's a busy place, especially in the morning, there's no standing room," said Hartman.
Now that she's back on American soil, she says the Belgian people can't give in to terror.
"We can't live in fear. This could happen anywhere, it could happen in Boca, it could happen where I'm living now. We can't let them win, we can't live in fear," said Hartman.
She plans to take her family back to Belgium in June and says the attacks won't stop her from going back to the place she calls home.
