story7702.xml
Title
story7702.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-17
911DA Story: Story
It was very early in California when the events begin to happen. I have a habit, learned from my years in the military, to turn on the news every morning as soon as my alarm goes off. I have the alarm set two minutes before the top of the hour so I can catch the top stories on CNN before hitting the shower.
I turned on the TV and there was a commercial on. After the commercial a screen with the words "Breaking News" came on. Both planes had hit already, so the first thing I saw was the gaping hole in the north tower. I started saying "Oh my God!" over and over. My brother and mother came running into the room to see what was happening. It was the most shocking thing I've ever seen. My mind couldn't process what I was seeing.
I knew I had to go to work, so I rushed into the shower and watched the news while trying to quickly get ready. I happened to be looking at the screen when the south tower collapsed. I remember the view from CNN. There were two puffs of dust, one on each side of the building and the just a huge cloud of dust. I knew it had collapsed. I ran into my mother's room. I was crying and my hand was over my mouth. I couldn't speak to tell her what had happened. I immediately thought of all the firemen and emergency workers who must have been killed when the building collapsed.
I got into my car and drove to work, very nervous. I work downtown surrounded by high buildings. On the drive to work I heard on NPR that the north tower had collapsed. I remember driving over the hill on highway 52 waiting for downtown San Diego to come into view. I knew nothing had happened, but I still half expected to see smoke coming from downtown.
I work at the state court downtown. Everyone was very tense. There were rumors of planes headed to the west coast, although I knew almost immediately they were talking about the planes that had already crashed. There is no TV where I work and we couldn't listen to the radio during work because of what we do. There was a rumor that the court was closing, but I walked down the hall and all our judges were on the bench.
We got the work 20 minutes later to get out of the courthouse. I was working with a customer, but my boss just told me to get out of there. When I was walking back to my car there were crowds of people streaming out of all the tall buildings downtown. There was a traffic jam to get out of there at 9:30 a.m. I wasn't afraid or panicked, I just had a feeling of dread. I remember thinking that this must be how it felt during World War II, this general feeling of worry and dread.
I went home and my brother's girlfriend asked me if I would watch my niece. My niece was two at the time and very sweet. I played with her and took her to the park. I got her down for a nap and I was so emotionally exhausted myself that I also fell asleep.
The next day I had a job interview for a huge promotion and it was my little nephew's birthday. I got the promotion. I remember not being able to feel happy about my good fortune. I remember feeling that evening after work as my family gathered to celebrate my promotion and my nephew's eighth birthday that we were so very lucky to be together as a family.
It has now been a whole year and I still can't really believe that this tragedy really happened. It's so huge that my mind still can't comprehend it. I think about the victims and pray for their families every day. I walk past a fire house on my way to work every day. When I see a firefighter I always say thank you.
I turned on the TV and there was a commercial on. After the commercial a screen with the words "Breaking News" came on. Both planes had hit already, so the first thing I saw was the gaping hole in the north tower. I started saying "Oh my God!" over and over. My brother and mother came running into the room to see what was happening. It was the most shocking thing I've ever seen. My mind couldn't process what I was seeing.
I knew I had to go to work, so I rushed into the shower and watched the news while trying to quickly get ready. I happened to be looking at the screen when the south tower collapsed. I remember the view from CNN. There were two puffs of dust, one on each side of the building and the just a huge cloud of dust. I knew it had collapsed. I ran into my mother's room. I was crying and my hand was over my mouth. I couldn't speak to tell her what had happened. I immediately thought of all the firemen and emergency workers who must have been killed when the building collapsed.
I got into my car and drove to work, very nervous. I work downtown surrounded by high buildings. On the drive to work I heard on NPR that the north tower had collapsed. I remember driving over the hill on highway 52 waiting for downtown San Diego to come into view. I knew nothing had happened, but I still half expected to see smoke coming from downtown.
I work at the state court downtown. Everyone was very tense. There were rumors of planes headed to the west coast, although I knew almost immediately they were talking about the planes that had already crashed. There is no TV where I work and we couldn't listen to the radio during work because of what we do. There was a rumor that the court was closing, but I walked down the hall and all our judges were on the bench.
We got the work 20 minutes later to get out of the courthouse. I was working with a customer, but my boss just told me to get out of there. When I was walking back to my car there were crowds of people streaming out of all the tall buildings downtown. There was a traffic jam to get out of there at 9:30 a.m. I wasn't afraid or panicked, I just had a feeling of dread. I remember thinking that this must be how it felt during World War II, this general feeling of worry and dread.
I went home and my brother's girlfriend asked me if I would watch my niece. My niece was two at the time and very sweet. I played with her and took her to the park. I got her down for a nap and I was so emotionally exhausted myself that I also fell asleep.
The next day I had a job interview for a huge promotion and it was my little nephew's birthday. I got the promotion. I remember not being able to feel happy about my good fortune. I remember feeling that evening after work as my family gathered to celebrate my promotion and my nephew's eighth birthday that we were so very lucky to be together as a family.
It has now been a whole year and I still can't really believe that this tragedy really happened. It's so huge that my mind still can't comprehend it. I think about the victims and pray for their families every day. I walk past a fire house on my way to work every day. When I see a firefighter I always say thank you.
Collection
Citation
“story7702.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 25, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/14251.