Hello all:
And I encourage you to share with me, where were you on 9/11?
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Today marks the seventh anniversary of the darkest day in our history.
I took a moment today to reflect on where I was on that day.
I remember I was a new mom. I had a great job. I was married. Just starting out. I remember thinking...life is good.
At that time, there was a morning show on the Boston affiliate of the WB. It was called Boston's WB in the morning. I was only a P.A., making peanuts, going to work at 2:00 am. But I loved it. It was the only time in my life when I can remember looking forward to going to work. We did local morning news. Very Today Show, but local. We covered a nice mix of serious news, cooking segments, and the occasional dancing dog!
If you ask me, what we covered that day before the first plane hit the tower, I couldn't tell you. It's like my day started at 8:30 instead of 2:00am. I have no idea what the news of the day was before that event, I can't remember.
I remember sitting in the news room, wondering if anyone would notice if I slipped out the side door and went home. The day for me was over and I was tired.
Then I noticed that the sales people were walking into the newsroom to look at the monitors. This was odd, usually they were busy basking in their own glory in their fancy suits. Why were they staring at the monitors.
Then I saw the strangest thing. Black smoke was rising from a tower in New York. I remember thinking, "Wow....how is the fire department going to put that out?" I had no idea what had just happened...how could I?
One by one...we took our places...some of us hit the AP wires....some of us manned the phones at the assignment desk....I made my way to the studio...we would be going live.
Stephanie Leydon was the anchor. She walked in and said "I don't know what's going on! What's going on?" I told her to take her place and that I would feed her any information I could get my hands on.
Poor Darren...he was our weather man. I just walked up to him...Does your computer have internet access? Yes. Is it hooked up to a printer? Yes. Is that phone connected? Yes. THEN GET OUT OF THE WAY!
Stephanie was live on the air. I was looking for anything on the net. I would print it out... highlight the important stuff and slide it within hands reach. She would read it on the air. And that's how we did it.
I remember how stressful it was. There were scared angry people all over the city tuning in to see what was happening. We knew just as much as they did.
It was so confusing. What was happening?
Then I looked at the newspaper that was lying on the desk. September 11th. Then I looked at the phone..the digital display gave the date...9/11/01...9/11...9-1-1....It hit me like a ton of bricks...I remember I yelled out...Oh my God!! We're under attack! This is no accident! It's 9-1-1!! We're being attacked!!
On this date...all those people desperately dialed 911, hoping someone would come for them.
I just wanted to go home. My daughter was only 6 months old. As a new mother I was convinced that she was in danger and I had to go home and shield her from all of this.
At one point that morning, I looked up. Just as I looked up...the first tower came down. I can't describe the horror I felt. I can only decribe what I felt as a tremor/growl coming from my soul.
All those people were gone.
I finally went home at 4:30 that afternoon.
I remember flipping through the channels. I tuned into Univision. I saw something that has haunted me until this day. They were airing footage of people falling from the towers. There was this one man, falling. His tie flapping in the wind above him like some kind of perverse joke of a parachute. And the camera followed him falling and finally it turned away.
And I prayed. I prayed that when the towers fell, all those people trapped inside felt nothing. I prayed that when those people fell, that angels snatched up their souls and took them to heaven. I prayed that it was a horrible nightmare and I would wake up soon.
It wasn't.
It's been seven years since that very dark day. Sometimes, I still cry.
At that time my oldest son was newly adopted, he was 17. I rarely had he TV on at that time of day and just by chance I flipped it on and the 1st plane had hit. I woke up Bryan and said to him "I don't have an idea what is going on, but history is being made." He watched with me as the 2nd plane hit and it stunned him as he had never seen or imagined America under attack or at war, really. We watched all day, of course. Fast forward to today. He is 24, paying great attention to the presidential race, issues beyond the personalities. Smarter man, hardway to learn but at least there is a legacy for him and America.
ReplyDeleteI was on my way to work in Long Island New York in the opposite direction of New York City. I'd missed my commuter train and had to wait for the next one. I had no knowledge of what was going on until I’d gotten to work. I remember as if were only yesterday. I remember thinking about the people in who worked in the towers and how horrific it must have been for them and their family member watching as it unfolded, helpless. Just a year prior my worked in the concourse level... It was surreal.
ReplyDeleteit's interesting Sonia, because, i woke up for some reason that morning, several hours earlier than i normally do...i turned on the tv, which i never do in the morning...at the exact time flight 11 hit the tower..i went to work, and that was the talk...i did not find out, until a week later that my cousin was on the plane i watched, hit the tower...live...i went to the memorial a year later...i asked my uncle for permission...it seems that people from New York, and those who had family, understand...Yet, the rest, use it as a rally cry for war...
ReplyDeleteThey enjoy watching the videos, discussing the politics...was it the darkest day in US history..I think Pearl Harbour gets that one...but, it is something the modern States will never understand...It is used as a cry for freedom....I say, bull...It is an excuse...It was a bunch of lunatic terrorists who wanted to make a point...To this day, I do not believe their point was listened to...and until we listen to what they said that day, the terrorists have won...They took freedom away, they instilled fear, and destroyed the American economy....
In my eyes, my cousins death was a waste...my friends husbands death, was a waste...
I remember that day so vividly. I went to work at my part time gig at a hospital and everyone was staning around the TV instead of working. I asked what was going on and they told me and all looked at me to see my reaction. I just didn't know what to think. I started to work, half heartledy listening to the radio. It was a sick day. I was dead inside, because of 9/11 and I was also going through a horrible divorce. I also had just recently moved from Florida to Connecticut. A few months earlier I contemplated a postion in the WTC. I will never forget that day.
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