story20791.xml

story20791.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2006-09-12

I was three months pregnant with my son and had just been coming out of three months of morning sickness. After three mornings of waking up with no signs of morning sickness, I woke up on September 11, 2001, looking forward to the first day of a Mommy and Me class with my two-year old daughter. I was still drowsy, yet cheerfully I realized that for a fourth day in a row, I woke up without feeling sick. The end of morning sickness was near when my phone rang around 7:45 am (Pacific Time) in Glendale, California. I picked up the phone wondering who was calling me so early. My father was on the line and all he could tell me was, Did you hear? Did you hear the news? . . . The towers . . . Theyre gone. They are gone. I responded, What do you mean gone, shaking off my sleepiness . . . What towers? My dad answered in a stunned voice, In New York, the ones in New York . . . They are gone. Trying hard to make sense of the conversation, I responded, You mean those huge buildings in New York? My dad in a beleaguered and saddened voice said the World Trade Center . . . both towers gone, gone, gone. Still doubting what my father was saying, yet feeling fear seting in, I responded, Dad! Thats not possible. Those buildings are huge. What are you talking about!? And he said, Im telling you, honey, they are gone . . . terrorists . . . turn on your TV.

Now I was worried and tears started to well up in my eyes from a pang of fear (and pregnancy hormones, too). I called my husband into the living room and we saw the towers crumbling to the ground (repeated footage since in NY time it was now about 10:50 a.m.) New footage followed focusing on the Pentagon. Later I was to hear of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. I was bewildered and overwhelmed; a weird numbness set in my core, and for the rest of the morning I went about my business in a despondent manner, upset at the tragedy and loss of lives. The rest of the day and week perhaps, I was living life in an enigmatic self-protecting trance; part of me tried to ignore the tragedy but another part of me knew I couldnt.

Granted, my morning sickness came back shortly after watching the footage of the towers falling and the nauseous feelings remained yet for another month. And for at least a month afterwards, I was in fear for myself, my family, and the new life I carried. It wasnt until I spoke to my obstetrician about my fears of anthrax that I finally felt better. What did she say? If I were you, I wouldnt worry about anthrax. Youre chances of getting cancer are much, much higher than experiencing an anthrax terrorist attack. You need to worry about protecting yourself from cancer, not anthrax! With that, my scientific mind (I was a chemistry teacher at the time) finally kicked in and enabled me to put everything that happened in the right perspective dont worry about yourself, odds are low now; pray and help others who experienced the tragedy more directly. I was lucky I did not know anyone who died on 9/11. People on the west coast were lucky. We werent targeted. Yet, we also mourn with those on the east (and across the country) who lost friends and family. We pray and hope such loss will never happen again.

Its been five years since the tragedy and its amazing how vivid my memory still is of the morning of September 11, 2001, 7:45 am pacific time in Glendale, California.