story167.xml

story167.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-03-07

I am a Teaching Assistant at George Mason University and that morning I was reviewing material for a Western Civilization class. Suddenly, both my landline and cellphone started to ring. My son and sister both called me and told me to turn on my television set. I was horrified to see the second tower get hit.The three of us cried and talked all at once. My sister decided to get off of the telephone and go take her daughters out of school. I went upstairs to my computer and noticed that I was receiving many email messages from friends who work in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Most of my friends in Washington work at major museums on the mall and were also trying to understand what was happening. Though we tried to call each other on the telephone all the lines were busy. Shortly thereafter they were sent home. They told me later that they walked home since no one felt comfortable taking the Metro. They also talked about how the city was in a gridlock with thousands of people attempting to leave. My brother and sister-in-law, who live in California, sent me an email to make sure that I was ok and not downtown. My sister-in-law's mother works in New York City in a building adjacent to the Twin Towers and they were very concerned. I spoke with my mother who said that she had not yet heard from my brother who often is at the Pentagon. My nephew's wife works for the Park Service on the Mall and no one had heard from her. This was upsetting since events were still unfolding and we were concerned about their safety. I eventually got dressed and drove to George Mason University. As I was driving I noticed people crying in their cars. There was a lot of conflicting information on the radio stations including a report that a plane had crashed near Alexandria, Virginia. Though we held classes many students were not there. We talked about what was happening and dismissed class early. After classes I called my sister. She had picked up her daughters, went to a flag store and bought fifty little flags, and was at Fairfax Hospital with hundreds of other people who were already in line to donate blood. The line by mid-afternoon was over six hours long. Her daughters passed out American flags and a television crew that was there filmed them. I drove to my parents house to see how they were and if they had heard from my brother. Though he had a cell phone, his wife had not yet been able to reach him. We decided to eat an early dinner at a local restaurant. I was surprised to see how many people were there...it was standing room only. I talked to a lot of people as we all waited for a table. No one had had lunch, everyone was agitated, many were waiting for family and neighbors to make it home from Washington, and no one wanted to be alone. The restaurant we were at is like a sports bar and had many television sets. All the various television stations were on. Service was slow because all the waiters were intent on watching the latest news. No one complained. People moved from table to table talking and comparing stories. Very late in the evening we heard that my brother was ok and simply stuck in traffic along with most of the city's federal employees. We also eventually heard that my nephew's wife had been taken to a safe place soon after the Pentagon had been hit. It would be another 24 hours before we heard that my sister-in-law's mother was ok. We would later learn that she was emerging from the subway at the Tower Center when the second plane hit.I could not sleep that night, nor could anyone I knew. We all had our t.v.'s on. I was on both of my telephones simultaneously almost the entire evening as I checked to make sure all my friends made it home ok. Various friends and family members who live in the mid-west and on the west coast called all night long to talk.