story8620.xml

story8620.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-11-05

I was preparing for a class that I and two co-workers were
going to give that day.

My dad called me, "turn on the television", he aid. "Dad", I told him,"remember I'm at work and I don't have a television."

He was out of breath and talking quickly, "terrorists have crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City. Get out of your building, get out of there."

A co-worker was in my office and I quickly told her and another co-worker outside my office heard us and mmediately turned on the radio and attempted to get news through the Internet. Soon, nearly all the 60+ employees on our floor
had heard the news as we shared it over cubicles and out of office doors.

My dad continued to be anxious for my welfare, since I work in a high-rise building, though only about one-third the height of the WTC towers.

I asked him, "Dad, maybe two planes just crashed in mid-air over the buildings." I just couldn't believe that someone had purposefully done such a thing. But as I heard the news from my co-workers and I turned on my own radio, I learned that he was right.

I assured him that I would be alright and told him that I loved him before we hung up. Later my brother called me saying the same thing, "Sis, get out of that building, get away from there." I assured him that I was okay and probably going to be okay. It was still incredulous to me that people would do such a horrible thing.

Within a few minutes of this, my daughter called me from Ashtabula, Ohio in tears. She had turned on the television to see the second place hit the South Tower. Later, I was so thankful because when I looked at the flight path of
United Flight 93, I realized that its flight had been changed from Cleveland, Ohio and probably flew over my daughter's home on its way to its terrible end in
Pennsylvania.

Today, I realize that people do such things. It is a fact that makes me more uneasy in my work place and, actually, in other familiar places as well. Now I carry my cell phone with me everywhere. I always tell my husband where I am going and when I expect to return. I am more watchful of the people around me and my surroundings, while at the same time, I try to let those close to me, including my co-workers, know that I appreciate them. A few days after the
attacks a co-worker came to my office and gave me one of the lovely pewter hearts which her husband had given her. She said she wanted me to know that she values our friendship. I told her that I would carry it with me always as a remembrance of the care we should give one another.

Now I know more of the story of why my parents were so worried that day. My dad and brother were talking together that morning and my mother was listening to a local radio station when she heard that a plane had crashed into the 'tower'. She immediately called for my dad and brother to be quiet because since it was a local station, she thought it was my work place. When they learned it was the
WTC in New York City, though they were not as worried as before, they immediately recognized that this could happen anywhere. It bothers me that they suffered even one moment of worry and concern for my welfare.

My dad passed away in April of 2002. In fact, on September 11, 2001, he was awaiting surgery that would, we hoped, give him more time to live. The surgery was postponed until November 30 and we had over four more months to have him with us. Whenever I think of 9-11-2001, it is difficult to separate my sorrow for our nation and the people who suffered such horrible losses and my own grief
at losing my dad, my best friend.