~~~I was pulling into the parking lot at work when I heard the
"breaking news" on the car radio. I immediately returned home
to get our tiny portable tv {5"inch}. I called the boss to tell him
what had happened & why I would be 10mins late. By the time
I grabbed the tv & was on my way back to the office the 2nd plane
hit. Everyone stopped by my desk whenever they could to see
what was happening. We all watched the startling images in total disbelief.
Our office had 1100 corporate travel clients stranded around the globe.
Our agents took turns at the computers 24/7 until everyone of them
was accounted for & had revised travel arrangements to get them home
as soon as possible as safely as possible.
Without a doubt, 09/11/01 was the most devastating day in my lifetime.
R I P to the victims, and prayers going out to their loved ones.
I was working in the business office at Sears at the time and had the day off, so I was sleeping in. My mom came in and woke me up to tell me that a a passenger plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. That woke me up in a hurry, because my folks had been to NYC in '99 and had been to the WTC twice while they were there, once to eat at the Windows on the World restaurant, which they really enjoyed, and once on some sort of tour of the lobby. I still remember asking her, "Did the pilot have a heart attack or something?" We had no idea what was going on until the second plane hit the second tower. That was when we knew that it couldn't just be some catastrophic accident.
We were riveted to the news coverage on NBC all day, but I reached my breaking point fairly early on. I remembered all too vividly the first explosion at the WTC--February 26, 1993. A car bomb went off, and that too was an act of terrorism. That was the day before my 16th birthday, which was the worst birthday of my life, and I was horrified at the age of 15-almost-16 to think that this could happen in America.
I saw the first tower fall, but when the second tower started to crumble, I couldn't take it, and I literally jumped up from the couch and ran out of the family room. My mom came after me and asked me if I was all right. I nodded my head, and then in a breathless rush said, "I can't. I just can't watch it. Not again. Not now that it's so much worse than it was in '93."
The day just got more and more horrifying, with the reports of the plane down in Shanksville, PA, and the one that hit the Pentagon. All of the fatalities in the WTC towers had to number in the thousands, but it was another knife to my heart when I heard about all the FDNY fatalities. I'm ashamed to say that I was so shortsighted, I didn't even think that the firefighters would suffer such numerous casualties.
About 3:00 in the afternoon Central time (my time), I went outside and looked up at the sky. It was one of those increasingly rare but beautiful when we do get them early autumn afternoons in the Midwest--the sky an endless ocean of crisp, clear cerulean blue without any clouds in it, the grass still green, the sun bright and warm, and the perfect breeze, not filled with the stifling heat of August but not yet tinged with the chill of September and the following months. Everything was calm in my neighborhood, and I remember thinking how insane that was, that things should be so tranquil here when hellfire was raining down 2000 miles to the east.
I found out when I returned to work the next day that every store in the mall had closed except Sears. Sears stores across the nation had closed, but the general manager at the store where I worked had refused to closed, even though closing was sanctioned by corporate headquarters. There was no business anyway, and everyone wanted to get home, but Meg (the store manager) wouldn't let anybody go.
It wasn't the first moment of historical profundity that I witnessed in my lifetime, but it was without a doubt the most tragic and the most devastating. I couldn't believe it when I looked at my calendar this morning and realized it's been eight years since that day.
It was a couple of months before I moved in with the DH so I was got up to get ready for work and turned on the Today Show at 7 a.m. (PST) like I did every morning. By then both planes had crashed into the towers and also the one into the Pentagon. The first voice I heard that morning was Katie Couric's and when I turned on the TV, I put down the remote and planned to head to the kitchen to make some coffee. I glanced at the TV and could see the smoke rising from the towers and stopped dead in my tracks. At first I thought it was the preview for an upcoming movie. When I realized it wasn't I grabbed the phone and called my mom. I remember asking her in a shaky voice "What the H*ll is going on?" and she answered "We are under attack." That sent a chill up and down my spine. The next call was to the DH, who I knew was sleeping cuz it was his day off. I remember being really really calm when he answered and I said "Please turn on the TV and trust me when you see it, it is not a joke or a movie." He couldn't believe it either.
By the time I got to work, the first tower had collapsed and the second fell while I was at work. The city clerk had a TV in her office and though we didn't have cable, all the basic channels were covering everything all day long so we wondered in and out of her office as the news transpired about . I remember how quiet we all were. We would exchange glances and weak smiles as if to say "I can't believe it either." The DH watched the events unfold all day and emailed me non-stop. Sometimes the info was in error as the stories were unfolding (including how many airplanes were still in the air). *KG* ~ I can't imagine being in the airline industry and what it was like to try to bring all your clients back home safely. I had a friend who had started a new job on September 10 which meant flying to another state and she was stranded there the entire week.
I seem to recall a national day of prayer and I remember wandering down to the local Catholic Church. I had never been there before and I haven't been since but I just had get up out of my chair and go. When I looked around, I could see several of my co-workers in the pews. Again, we said nothing with our voices, only with our eyes.
I think I was glued to the TV for weeks as the rescue mission turned into one of recovery. I remember having an overwhelming feeling of sadness for a long time. And for the first time ever, I felt vulnerable as an American.
A _________________ "It has been a magnificent journey..." ~ Linda Dano, 1999 Daytime Emmys
I had jes finished watchin' the previous days ATWT's and flipped it to Good Morning America(waitin' for Regis to come on)...They were talkin' about the 1st plane...My BFF called to see if I was watchin'...We were talkin' when #2 hit.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
