When 9/11 Happened....

 Where were you when 9/11 happened?  What were you doing? Who were you with? Do you remember?     I DO!

I remember ever detail of that day. It was almost in slow motion. I know where I was, what I was thinking & every emotion I was feeling. I can remember MORE details about that day than my own wedding day or even the day my son was born…  Here’s my story.  

It was a normal traffic filled Tuesday morning on I-30. I was heading to work at government defense company and was listening to KLTY, when they broke thru to give a news report. They said that a plane had hit the Twin Towers in NY.  They sort of chuckled as they talked about what sort of moron couldn't see the two big towers enough to avoid hitting the building with a small plane. Since it had just happened, they only had limited information. There weren’t any news reports or footage on TV yet. The radio dj’s, as well as every listener, thought it was a small personal two seater plane being flown by an inexperienced pilot who was misguided and just didn't see the tower. They thought it just HIT or clipped the building, not crashed into it.  As I listened to this on the radio, I remember giggling out loud and saying "What an Idiot" and kept on driving not thinking anything else about it. It wasn't until I arrived at work a few mins. later that I found out what was REALLY going on.

The whole office was a buzz. Radio's were on in every office & cubicles listening to the news story unfold. People were standing in the hallways talking & yelling new bits of information coming across the radio out to the entire floor. There wasn’t any work being done. Then.... It Happened… the 2nd plane hit the south tower. The office just stopped.  Phones stopped ringing, printers stopped printing, fingers stopped typing and the whole place fell silent & time stood still as we listened to the details. The silence was deafening!  Everyone just stood in silence, disbelief, shock, horror, sadness and fear.  I can remember the looks on faces. Each face engraved in my mind.  I remember hearing someone burst into tears and I too began to tear up as the details became clearer.  It wasn't an idiot pilot misguided or not paying attention, the planes were commercial airliners. They were full of innocent people and as far as anyone knew, they had been high jacked.  The news reporters were as stunned as the rest of us were. For a moment, they too fell silent. 

News of federal buildings all over the nation were being closed down and air traffic were called to be halted, started to come across the airwaves and fear struck deep. No one knew why these planes were flying into the towers or the pentagon, but it was apparent that our federal government was under attack.   Our company was part of that world, and our building was right next door to a Reserve base... Two thing our office had in common with what was going on.  Fear swept over everyone as we began to wonder & worry if we were next. With our ears glued to the radio, we somehow managed to slowly get back to our offices to begin trying to work again. All of a sudden two Jets went SCREAMING out of the base next door, shaking & rattling our building.... work stopped as everyone raced to the windows to see where they were headed. 

 

Then – out of stillness - the sirens in our building start going off and a voice comes over the loud speakers repeating.... "IMMEDIATELY EVACUATE THE BUILDING, THIS IS NOT A DRILL". Everyone flew into offices & cubicles collecting there belonging and we quickly, some running, made our way to the stairwells. We raced down the stairs as fast we could possibly move. No one asked questions, we just moved. We ended up outside the building in the parking lot looking up at the sky all expecting to see a repeat of what just happened in NY.  Once gathered, we received the news that a bomb threat had been called in and we wouldn't be allowed back in the building until a bomb squad could check it out.  Panic erupted. People started crying.  (I have a knot in my stomach just writing this)  Graciously our managers realized this was too much for any of us to handle in one day and we were allowed to go home. We couldn’t get to our cars fast enough. 

I called my husband almost in a daze on the drive home, letting him know i was leaving work & caught him up on the newest details. I continued to listen to the radio, I couldn’t turn it off. It seemed like THE longest drive back home I had ever made.  I kept watching the skies that whole way, I guess I was looking out for a misguided plane. I don't know. 

 

I arrived home, turned on the TV and there before me was image after image after image of the horrific event, exactly how it unfolded that morning. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't take my eyes of the TV screen.  No commercials, no breaks, Nothing but the replaying of the video of each plane crashing into the towers, people plunging out of windows, people running, screaming, crying,....  AND THEN... the first tower began to buckle and I watched it peel like a banana as it came crashing to the ground.  I was yelling at the TV..."NO!" and burst into tears.  I just sat there helpless, consumed with sadness, fear, shock & confusion. Thousands of people, right in front of my eyes, had just lost their lives all the while I sat in horror just watching it happen. It was overwhelming.  

I watched BOTH towers crumble to the ground on Live TV.  Even though I didn't know any of those people, I felt as if I knew them all. They suddenly became friends and colleagues and the loss cut deep within me. I mourned and cried there on that couch for hours as I just sat and watched it over and over again.

I cannot begin to explain to you the pain, the sadness and the sense of loss and anger that accompanied that day. I know that you have your own story of where you were & what you were doing the day that 9/11 happened. I hope that you share it.  I don't think that any one of us will ever forget that day.  It is hard to believe that is has already been 10 years.  That day brought a nation together in unity and In Prayer!  We mourned together and we prayed together.  Somehow, among all the day to day things of life, We as a nation… Have Forgotten.  We are no longer united as one.   

For the sake of all those that died that day, WE CAN NOT FORGET 9/11/2001. We mustn’t!  We are their legacy!  We have to remember, we have to talk about it and WE HAVE TO FIGHT!  

My question to you is…  Do you remember?
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THANK YOU to ALL who served during 9/11!!
~A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT!~
http://youtu.be/J3eQmzw6n3k