story5927.xml
Title
story5927.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-12
911DA Story: Story
I have a simple story. A story of little excitement, but simple observation.
I woke to a phone call from my brother who travels a great deal. "Put on CNN,? he said. As a parent of infants I was still sleepy @ 9am and struggled to locate the channel somewhere on my cable. While trying I asked where he was and why it was so important to tune the television in.
"You wont believe what just happened in New York!" Of course, the rest is TRULY history.
I was at home all day/night/day riveted to the television with my 7-month-old twins. Riley and Wills played happily crawling on the floor in front of the television. They knew something was wrong with me. They kept looking at me crying. I worried for my friends working in New York. I worried for my husband, who often drives past New York City and who was out driving that day. I worried for everyone and have not stopped since.
My speechless neighbor came to my door-we were both hoping for a moment of human contact. She is also a stay-at-home mom, but her kids were in school. She struggled with going to pick them up-she chose not to be an alarmist. Unfortunately, she later found out that her kids were of the very few remaining in the classrooms and no teacher gave anyone an explanation as to why other parents were coming to pull their children from a day of classes. She stayed long enough in my living room to watch in horror as the North Tower crumbled in front of our eyes. Her choice to head home was an unusual fear that we all had about staying close to our phone- in case someone needed us. We are not dignitaries, no one especially important needed us that day-just our family members-and that in itself was a blessing.
During the course of the longest day of my life, I spoke to each member of my family. I wanted to hear all of their voices and know that they were all right. I felt guilty being able to do that. Guilty because I knew that so many would not be enjoying such a privilege because of the tragedy that had unfolded in front of our eyes.
We felt an eerie quiet overhead. We are on the flight pattern to Philadelphia International Airport. There were NO planes rumbling overhead. To this day, when we do hear a plane, my babies and I say: ?God bless you airplane.? They will grow up to think this is a natural response to hearing a plane overhead, much like saying the same when someone sneezes. It was something we took for granted until that day.
I try to take nothing for granted since then. I have heard so many stories from friends. ?I was almost on that flight.? ?I was working in the other side of the Pentagon.? ?I watched the towers crumble right in front of my eyes.? Amazing stories from people/friends of simple survival, I never imagined anything like this would happen in my lifetime. How na?ve I was. How blessed I am to have grown up in the generation I did.
I cannot believe that I have a story now. One that starts with, ?I remember exactly what I was doing when?? I thought that was held aside for those that remembered JFK being shot. I cannot believe that I have witnessed such horrors on television.
I went to my neighbor?s today for my 9/11 hug. We were much calmer this year. We were worried what they might be sharing with her children in school. Yet, I thought, how many times in my 37 years have I seen a film loop of the Hindenburg crash? How many times have I seen horrific images of Nazi concentration camps? How many times have I seen footage of President Kennedy being shot? All the times that I watched these things, I had little sense of anything but horrible history. Now, it is less historic to me, it is more a sense of bearing witness to the decay of something we have held so dear and taken for granted.
Today my 19-month-old babies knew something was wrong. I was relieved to see some of the wonderful stories of heroism survival and the beginnings of closure. My son laid his head in my lap and patted me on the leg. My daughter brought me her favorite book. We shut off the horrible history and celebrated ?Pat the Bunny? together. I thank God for my loving husband, my healthy children and all the people that we love. lamj 9.11.2002
I woke to a phone call from my brother who travels a great deal. "Put on CNN,? he said. As a parent of infants I was still sleepy @ 9am and struggled to locate the channel somewhere on my cable. While trying I asked where he was and why it was so important to tune the television in.
"You wont believe what just happened in New York!" Of course, the rest is TRULY history.
I was at home all day/night/day riveted to the television with my 7-month-old twins. Riley and Wills played happily crawling on the floor in front of the television. They knew something was wrong with me. They kept looking at me crying. I worried for my friends working in New York. I worried for my husband, who often drives past New York City and who was out driving that day. I worried for everyone and have not stopped since.
My speechless neighbor came to my door-we were both hoping for a moment of human contact. She is also a stay-at-home mom, but her kids were in school. She struggled with going to pick them up-she chose not to be an alarmist. Unfortunately, she later found out that her kids were of the very few remaining in the classrooms and no teacher gave anyone an explanation as to why other parents were coming to pull their children from a day of classes. She stayed long enough in my living room to watch in horror as the North Tower crumbled in front of our eyes. Her choice to head home was an unusual fear that we all had about staying close to our phone- in case someone needed us. We are not dignitaries, no one especially important needed us that day-just our family members-and that in itself was a blessing.
During the course of the longest day of my life, I spoke to each member of my family. I wanted to hear all of their voices and know that they were all right. I felt guilty being able to do that. Guilty because I knew that so many would not be enjoying such a privilege because of the tragedy that had unfolded in front of our eyes.
We felt an eerie quiet overhead. We are on the flight pattern to Philadelphia International Airport. There were NO planes rumbling overhead. To this day, when we do hear a plane, my babies and I say: ?God bless you airplane.? They will grow up to think this is a natural response to hearing a plane overhead, much like saying the same when someone sneezes. It was something we took for granted until that day.
I try to take nothing for granted since then. I have heard so many stories from friends. ?I was almost on that flight.? ?I was working in the other side of the Pentagon.? ?I watched the towers crumble right in front of my eyes.? Amazing stories from people/friends of simple survival, I never imagined anything like this would happen in my lifetime. How na?ve I was. How blessed I am to have grown up in the generation I did.
I cannot believe that I have a story now. One that starts with, ?I remember exactly what I was doing when?? I thought that was held aside for those that remembered JFK being shot. I cannot believe that I have witnessed such horrors on television.
I went to my neighbor?s today for my 9/11 hug. We were much calmer this year. We were worried what they might be sharing with her children in school. Yet, I thought, how many times in my 37 years have I seen a film loop of the Hindenburg crash? How many times have I seen horrific images of Nazi concentration camps? How many times have I seen footage of President Kennedy being shot? All the times that I watched these things, I had little sense of anything but horrible history. Now, it is less historic to me, it is more a sense of bearing witness to the decay of something we have held so dear and taken for granted.
Today my 19-month-old babies knew something was wrong. I was relieved to see some of the wonderful stories of heroism survival and the beginnings of closure. My son laid his head in my lap and patted me on the leg. My daughter brought me her favorite book. We shut off the horrible history and celebrated ?Pat the Bunny? together. I thank God for my loving husband, my healthy children and all the people that we love. lamj 9.11.2002
Collection
Citation
“story5927.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 30, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/10693.