story5626.xml

story5626.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was on the freeway driving to work at 6:30 a.m. as a high school drama teacher. I was in a really good mood because I was just starting my 33rd year of teaching and I knew it would be my last because I had already announced my retirement. When the news of the first plane hitting the tower was announced on the radio I went into shock. For the past 25 years I had joyfully taken my advanced drama students to Manhatten for a week over Christmas to experience live theatre. How many times had we all layed on the cold cement and looked up between the towers to take amazing pictures. Even though I had dozens of the same shot from previous trips, it will still just as exciting each time to share this moment with my students. I have still been unable to pull out those photographs and look at them. In fact, I doubt I will ever visit my beloved New York again. I will never forget the terror I felt as I pulled into school and ran to the nearest television. I thought it best for the students to keep things as normal as possible so I continued my planned lessons but snuck to a TV between periods. Later my students told me how thankful they were I kept some normalcy on that horrific day. I feel so much sympathy for all of those who lost loved ones.