My heart is heavy today … remembering 11 years ago. Such a sad day for the entire world.
I was newly divorced living in a little apartment in Gulf Breeze with Samantha who was 2. We had PlayHouse Disney on TV and I was getting her ready for preschool when I called a guy friend to ask a car question. (he worked at an auto store) I asked what he was doing and he said “Watching terrorists attack New York City” And I laughed and asked which movie he was watching.
He was a jokester and I didnt take him seriously until he begged me to just turn the News on. “It’s too early in the morning to give me a hard time,” I remember saying. I knew Sam would be mad for me interrupting Mickey, but I changed it just in time to see the second plane hit. I sat down in total disbelief and just watched the TV and cried. I turned PlayHouse Disney on Samantha’s tv in her room so I could watch the news in the living room.
My exhusband was active duty Navy at the time and on an undisclosed training mission. I frantically called the base what seemed like hundreds of times – unable to get through to anyone. Finally late that night I was able to get in touch with one of the guys I knew from the Squadron and he told me he had talked to J and he was fine.
For eleven days I watched nothing but coverage from Ground Zero. I collected every newspaper, read every story online, listened to very radio show. I cried a lot in those eleven days. I watched the rescues, the hundreds of replays of the second plane, the people covered in ashes, the fireman raising the American Flag. I heard the stories of the phone calls, the children, and the arguments before he left for work. I died a little bit each time they raised the death toll, and wondered if life was ever going to be the same.
It’s been 11 years since that day but I can still feel all of the pain and emotion I felt way back then. My Facebook stream is full of stories from where people were. No one has to say what they are referring to… just somber stories of where were all were almost exactly 11 years ago. We were all in different places, different lives, different experiences… but I think we all died a little that day.
This morning I took my 6 year old to the bus stop, came home to that 2 year old who is now 13 as she was getting ready to head of to middle school, and the man I love that I am so thankful to have in my life as he was leaving to go play a round of golf with his buddies. Once everyone was gone…. I sat down and cried.
We may never fully recover from that day, and maybe that is a good thing.
So…where were you?
10 Days Left 
Last Day! 
{HUG}
I was driving to school – it was my freshman year of college and we were only a few weeks into the semester. Traffic was really heavy compared to normal. (I later found out that military personnel had been called in, and they were all trying to get on base at once.) Once I made it to school, I found out that classes for the day had been canceled. So I drove to my parent’s house.
I was a senior in high school, a terrible accident how can a plane just hit a busy office building, as I sat in class and watched the 2nd plane hit the towers I remember the sickening realization that this was no accident, and thinking things will never be the same. My heart still hurts for those people who were just going about their daily lives, and the first responders who tried to save them. Today is a day to take the time to (say a prayer for/thanks) to your local first responders and those families that were directly impacted with loss. ♥♥♥
The world forever changed in our young eyes, but admittedly we are not still as directly impacted by what happened that day as I thought we might. Security screenings at the airport used to be simple and thoughtless, terror on American soil virtually unheard of. Today we lead more cautious worried lives, but things could be much worse. In my mind that morning they certainly were…
I will never forget where I was that day or what I did the days afterwards. Like you I watched everything shown on tv, read papers and magazines. I had to take a step back when I started having nightmares.
I was at work and my parents called to tell me what was going on. I announced it just as our office manager was also announcing it on the intercom. We all crowded around the TV in the breakout room and watched. We were watching one of the reporters from the Pentagon when the plane hit his location. He had no idea he was under attack. I also got a call from a co-worker who’s BIL was a contractor at the Pentagon and he often took his child to work with him. Thank God he had not gotten to work yet that day. He was rewiring offices and had seating charts for everyone. His charts were used to recover the missing employees. I remember donating blood down the street and just crying a lot. I know a lot of folks in both NY and DC so it was a hard day.
I was actually in the hospital due to early labor with my oldest. I didn’t even know what was going on. I was really into the tv show that I was watching when my mom came in my room and turned the tv to the news and I fussed at her because I didn’t believe it. She then told me that we couldn’t get a hold of my cousin who worked in the towers.