story5809.xml

story5809.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

It was my son's first full session of nursery school.Because some of the kids weren't taking things so well,they let the parents stay in a separate room with refreshments. I think to comfort the parents, more so then the kids.My son Vic was only in his class 5-10 mins. when my cell phone rang. It was my husband ,who is a New York City Police Officer, calling to telling me that 2 planes had hit the trade centers.He sounded concerned but not sure how concerned he should be, until he heard the words I guess he was thinking I might say..."My mother works there...my mother works at the World Trade Center". At this point he was speechless and I was frantic. He had to go, but he was going to call me back soon. He told me not to worry, til there was something to worry about. I'm not sure why, but I tried to call my mother, at her desk, hoping she wouldn't answer,but for all the right reasons. At this point my cell phone went dead,so I ran to the office to use thier phone.At the time I was unaware of all the total strangers trying to get me though this.People that I had just met minutes earlier.I finally reached my older brother at home, who is also a New York City Police Officer.He was unaware that our mother even worked at the trade center,due to the fact that it was a recent move for her company.I remember him saying over and over"No,she works in Jersey...No, she works in Jersey City". Once he realized what was going on he lost it. I couldn't reach my younger brother, because he was at work.I knew he dropped my mom at work every morning at the trade center, before going on to his job in Jersey City. I thought maybe he knew something.By this time I want to explode so I got Vic and headed home. On the way I heard reports that all the bridges and tunnels and highways were closed.So, I was trapped on long island, not that I could do anything if I was able to leave.I just felt helpless. Everything was so out of control and no matter how I tried ,I couldn't get even an inch of control over the situation, which made me crazy.When I got home I called a neighbor to come and....I'm still not sure what I wanted her to do, but I called her and she came. Somehow everyone on my block was at my house, trying to help, make me feel better, but the images on the T.V. contradicted every hopeful word they tried to give me.I remember shaking at some point that I thought I would have a heart attack.I needed to hear that my mother was okay,that even if she was hurt,she would be alright.Iremember when the first tower fell, my world stopped .For a brief moment I heard nothing but an echo of myself crying. I was losing it. A person everyone swore was the rock,she handle anything,starting to crumble.I needed to go get my other two children out of school.Now my mind was racing.I needed to protect what I could. I knew that my older brother and husband were fine. At this point my younger brother called me from his job in Jersey. I didn't even recognize his voice, it was a sound I had never heard before. He had seen the whole thing from across the water. All he could say to me was "I dropped her off at work...where is she?...where is she?" I din't know what floor she was on. It never seemed important to know.I sent my kids to a neighbor up the block, to try and shield them from me. I never thought I could be a bad influence on my own kids until that day.I didn't want them there.By now the secon building had fallen and I had still not heard anything. I couldn't take much more. My cousin had calledto try to get some form of information.My mother had been a mother to her and she was to get married the next month, but the joyous occasion was lostin the maylay and cries"What will I do without her....what will I do without her!". I had no answers for myself, let alone anyone else.I stared so hard at the T.V. screen that my head hurt,trying to see her running from this horror.But the harder I started, the more insane it made me.I think on some level I tried to convince myself ,that this was not real.I thought maybe this would help me stay sane.Hours had passed and not a word.My husband called on a regular basis to see if I had heard from her. It was about 6 hours later, my phone rang and it was my sister-in-law, to spread the news that she had heard from my mother she was okay. At this point I burst into tears of joy....it was over, she's okay. I was even slightly happier alittle later when I had spoken to her in person, and even happier still when I got to finally go to see her a day or two later, when the roads finally opened.In my 33 years on this earth I never thought I could ever feel as much relief as I did the day I got to hug my mother for the first time after the attacks.IT WAS UNDESCRIBABLE! God Bless!