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Reflections on September 11th
By Mommy24-7 | September 11, 2007
Today is a hard day for me. Although what happened on September 11th, 2001 is not at all forgotten on other days or times of the year, it’s certainly emphasized on the anniversary. I don’t want to be sad all day, but it is, after-all, a day of mourning.
I lost a lot that day and it changed my life forever. I had just moved out of Manhattan a month and a half prior and lived just across the Hudson with a breathtaking view of the city that never sleeps at the end of my street. I worked in television which has it’s breaks… one of which I was on. On breaks, or hiatus, I would do temp work and that is where I found myself on Monday, September 10th, 2001. After a long day, I took the train from the WTC uptown to meet a friend for dinner. Just on a short train ride, there is usually enough to complain about for a while…which is what I did when I met up with my friend. But we quickly got over complaining and had a nice dinner and drinks. It was pouring outside, so we stayed even longer. I felt a cold coming on, so I told my friend (also my recruiter) not to call me for work the next morning unless it was absolutely necessary. Most likely, I would have returned to the WTC vicinity, possibly the same job. The building that has been condemned and draped over with an American flag was where I was working. I’ve gone there in my head many times, wondering… now I’m just thankful I was home, in bed, asleep.
B was my fiance then, and in another state. He was at work when he heard the news that everyone heard…a plane had struck one of the towers. No one knew what to think of it then. He called just to let me know, hoping I was at home and not working nearby. I woke up quickly with that news. I put the tv on and hurriedly got dressed… I planned on walking to the end of the street to look for myself. Right before I walked out the door, the first tower fell. Total devastation. As anyone else, I could not believe what I was seeing. I honestly still did not believe it as I saw it right in front of me without the tv in between. I joined a huge crowd of people who were lined up and down the boulevard parallel to the city. It was chaos there, and we were “far” away. I heard screaming, crying, shouting, car radios, sirens…. Just before I had left my apartment I heard that all air traffic was grounded. I had just finished telling everyone around me as we all exchanged what we knew…and seconds later, what did we hear? A plane overhead….it felt like time stopped and then we all looked up in slow motion in fear and horror. It was an F-16. We watched it fly across the river and over the WTC site. I was waiting for bombs to drop. I really didn’t know what to think, do…we were so high up that giant Manhattan looked very small all of a sudden…especially in the smoke covered haze that was spreading quickly. I felt myself trapped in a disaster movie, but it wasn’t special effects, it was real. How could this happen?! I was scared for my family and friends who worked and lived downtown. I was scared for everyone on that island, scared for everyone period!! The phones were all jammed. No one could get through.
Then all of us standing together, saw the most horrific sight…it had happened to the South Tower and now, it just wasn’t possible, the North Tower was going down. I will never forget it. Yet, luckily, a lot of it is missing from my memory. I remember the tower, the flames and smoke and the screams (from around me) but I can’t remember anyone’s faces from the crowd I was with. We were all sad, scared and angry.
Yet, as everyone knows, September 11th, 2001 was a beautiful day… as I stood high on the cliff overlooking NYC, to the left it was a beautiful day with the bluest sky…to the right it was hell. I left after a while to try to track people down online, by phone…it was very reassuring to hear everyone’s voices or get an email etc.
I think I’ll have to post this because I can’t write anymore right now.
***In Memory: Stephen P. Russell, Engine 55***
Topics: Pieces, Reflections |
September 12th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
My grandmother’s caretaker is in her 60s I believe, and she was telling me how on 9/11/01 she was babysitting a 10 month old at the Gateway Towers, the residential towers across the street from the WTC. They had to evacuate, and they were told to walk toward the river, down by Battery Park. She was cradling the baby when one of the towers fell. The world went black, couldn’t see a thing. Just as it happened she heard someone shout, “Is the baby ok? Is the baby ok?” A pair of hands were all that she could see and he directed her to a police boat in the river. She had to toss the baby down into the boat for authorities to catch, and then she herself had to jump down. They rode off to NJ. I had never thought of that - escape by boat, that is the perfect getaway - they should have had more rescue boats available that day. Well, maybe they did, but we just didn’t hear of them. It truly is a day of infamy - one that everyone will remember where they were when it happened.
S
September 13th, 2007 at 7:54 am
You know, after all this time, I don’t think I ever knew that you were slated to work down there that day!! Thinking of you and your family…