story5228.xml

story5228.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

The thing that stands out the most to me about September 11, 2001 was the weather. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. It seemed like such a great day to be alive and enjoying the late summer climate. At least that was what was going through my mind as I drove the 13 miles to my workplace for 8:00 AM. I was also reviewing the day's schedule-In at 8:00 AM, out at 3:45 PM, on to pick up my then five year old son from extended day care at school, and then proceed to my local precinct to cast my votes for my city's primary election. Little did I know what was to come.
The day started out ordinary enough. I am a claims representative for a national insurance company, and I was logged into the phones, computer powered up, ready to take reports and handle my caseload of auto, homeowners and injury claim files. Just another day....
I believe I was paying an automobile appraisal when Kathy, my team leader, looked up from her phone call and said, "Oh my God. A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center!"
Everyone around me looked up, stunned. We all began logging into whatever Internet newspaper sites we could access-I remember USAToday.com was a popular one-to get any information we could. The info superhighway was expectedly jammed! As we were attempting to get more news, Kathy said "My god, they hit the other tower with another plane!" That's when it hit me that this was not just a random crash; this was a planned event. TERRORISM, I thought. A shiver went up my spine.
When I heard the plane went into the Pentagon, and then discovered on Washingtonpost.com that another plane went down in PA, I thought, "My God, has the world gone crazy? What is this world coming to?" I called my mom at work and she was in shock. She and her co-workers saw the second WTC plane crash on live TV. I then called my husband, who was scheduled to work at 2:30, and he had no clue about the tragedy! He was napping on the couch and didn't have the TV on. Naturally, he was shocked when I filled him in and immediately put on the news to get the updates.
All through work I had one thought. I had to get to my son and hug him and make sure he was safe. You see, he just started kindergarten and this was his first full week of school. So I was pretty useless at work that day. I couldn't wait until 3:45. I high-tailed it out of work and practically flew to his school. After picking my son up from school, I remembered I had to vote. We went to the precinct which is, appropriately for September 11, an Assembly of God church. After voting, my son and I retreated to the church and prayed. The tears rolled down my face as I prayed that justice would be served swiftly to the masterminds of this evildoing.
I went straight home and watched the news for a couple of hours, trying to make sense of all this madness. My son knew that some bad people had crashed planes into some big towers in NYC, but that was about all he could comprehend. However, within days he was able to identify bin Laden, and could recite the names of countries such as Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. I equate the war on terrorism for my son to the Vietnam War for me in the late 60's/early 70's-as a child I knew things were happening that hurt people, but it was in a far-away place and it seemed to last forever. It seemed so remote.
I can't believe how I can recall this with such clarity. Now I know how my parents felt when asked where they were when JFK was assassinated.