story800.xml

story800.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-06-19

I am a teacher in a small school in Edgewater, New Jersey.... across the river from our beloved New York skyline. I was in my office on Sept 11, when my secretary heard about a plane crashing into the WTC. We all stood around her little radio, transfixed not knowing what was about to happen. All of a sudden a second plane hit and then we knew that this was not an accident. Within that first hour, parents began streaming into the school office to pick up their children, parents who had spouses working in the WTC, relatives who came to get the kids whose parents were working in the WTC, and also parents who just wanted to have their children close to them.
I began to run around the school, picking up the children for their parents. We had some children who were trying to reach their parent who was working in the WTC. They were panicked, and unable to reach anyone. It was frightening..... we knew history was in the making, we felt helpless. When school ended that day, I went down to the water and looking across the Hudson, and saw the huge hole in the skyline and the smoke pouring out of the hole. My heart was broken, and is still aching for what we suffered.
We will never forget. And yes, three children in our school lost their father.