story1698.xml

story1698.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-03

I had gotten into the habit of watching the early morning news as I got ready for work. On Sept. 11, I had just turned on the tv and instead of our local anchors, there was Peter Jennings. I knew something was wrong and just then they switched to a live view of the Twin Towers. I plopped on my bed, couldn't believe my eyes, there was one tower on fire and they said that a plane had just flown through it! As Mr. Jennings was speaking in the background, I caught out of the corner of the screen the second plane coming straight for the other tower! The tears immediately started flowing and all I can remember saying at that moment was, Oh My God! Oh My God! My youngest daughter came into the bedroom and asked me what was wrong, I just pointed at the tv. She asked me what was going on and I explained to her what had just happened. She asked me then, she is 14, why it upset me so much, it was in New York and we were in California. I then sat her down and explained to her that this was an attack on America and that everyone in our country would be affected by this. It was not until a couple of months later that it finally sunk in and she understood. I called both my parents, waking them up out of bed, as it was only a little after 6am in California. I told them to turn on the news, that planes had just hit the Towers in New York. As I was speaking to my stepmother, the plane hit the Pentagon! I was mortified and practically moaned over the phone! I sent my daughters to school and went immediately to work. I work for the Dept. of Transportation in Northern California. We listened to the radio until Governor Davis sent all government employees home for the rest of the day. I run the mailroom here at Caltrans and for the next two months we had to use special procedures for handling the mail. It has been an emotional experience, one that I will never forget. God Bless America!