story8384.xml

story8384.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-10-07

I had just finished a 12 hour night shift at 8:00am that morning. I worked on the Jersey City Waterfront, and had a fabulous view of the Trade Center from my desk. Normally, I took the Holland tunnel home from work in the morning, passing right by the Trade Center on my way to the Brooklyn Bridge. Fortunately that day, September 11th, there was a divine intervention of fate. My friend John asked if I would take the long way home (through Staten Island), because he didn?t have a ride. I was glad to help, not knowing that may have changed both of our fates. Normally John took the Path train to the WTC stop to change trains, but that day we headed out together.

I can still smell the salty sea air of that morning, and how the sun nearly blinding as it peaked out past the two powerful structures. It was I site I had grown very accustom to seeing in the morning after a long shift. We got in the car and stated on our way home. It was a quick ride. I had dropped John at his house and continued on my way home. I was exiting the highway, talking on my friend Kiki when I heard the DJ on Z100 announce that there had been a plane crash into the Trade Center. I told Kiki to put on the news, and to call her mother, a New York City Police Officer, to see if we could get additional information. I knew at that moment that this was not an accident, as memories of the 1993 truck bombing flooded my head. I began to panic.

I stated called all of my family members to make sure they were all accounted for, most importantly my sister Kim who was on her way to work at a building right next to the Towers. I had reached her on her cell phone, frantically she described that she had witnessed the first plane hit, and that her husband Brian had quick-wittingly turned the car around to get back home. They made it just in time, as the Brooklyn Bridge had just been shut down to all passenger traffic. I walked in my door, turned on the TV, and woke my other sister Jenene from her sound sleep. I then called my friend Laurie and her fianc? Brian, to inform them of the tragic event that had unfolded during their slumber. They had just recently moved from New York and were now living in Las Vegas. We all sat in shock as we witnessed the second plane hit on live TV news. So I sat, phone in hand in amazement as the towers stood ablaze. Starring, tears poring from my face as they came crumbling down.

The hours and days to follow would all seem like one big mesh of sadness, shock and disbelief! The thoughts that ran through my mind were endless, What if I had not driven John home that day? Would I have been at the Trade Center as the first plane hit? Would John have been changing trains as the Towers collapsed? I think in some strange way, we saved each other that day. When a returned to work a few days later, I was greeted with a great big hug. John had had the same thoughts, and we came to the conclusion that someone had been looking out for us that day.

The morning came and I headed out the door at the end of my shift. Outside of my building I remember the glare of the sun, shinning brighter then ever before. The Towers no longer there to shade it, I stood, looking at the blank space in the skyline. I was overwhelmed with sadness. Until I realized that the sun was shinning on all the rescue workers who had been using our building as a command center and rest area. It was at that moment that I realized; NO MATTER HOW BAD THINGS ARE?.WE ALWAYS HAVE EATH OTHER! We are a country that stands by our brothers and sisters! When faced with adversity, we always rise to the top. The Trade Center and those who were lost in it that day will remain in OUR HEARTS, OUR PRAYERS and OUR LIVES FOREVER!