story3784.xml
Title
story3784.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I do marketing for an auto dealership in Southeastern, MA, and was going about my morning when suddenly one of my Service Advisors burst into the office shouting, "A plane just hit the World trade Center!"
"Terrorism?" I asked, a chill going down my body...
"No, can't be", he responded, "Probably just some inexperienced pilot".
As we ran to our customer lounge, all doubt was removed as we watched the building burst into flames. I was sick with worry - I have friends and family in the area!
As the day went on and tragedy unfolded, the entire office ground to a hault. Customers and employees alike hovered over my shoulder, as I was the only one in the office with an Internet connection.
"CNN is down! MSNBC is down!" I told impatient onlookers. "Let me try projo.com" [Projo.com being the Providence journal website]. Projo.com was up, but the images were terrifying. I called my brother down in South Orange, NJ - an hour from the scene. He had only moved there two weeks before, from Boston. Was he okay? He was, but he informed me they were evacuating Boston, as a precautionary move.
The day passed in a blur, and when I got home, I couldn't take it anymore. I turned on The Disney Channel, just to get away from those horrible images; to hope that it was only a dream. My Mom came home and yelled at me for watching Disney, as if I didn't care...but soon enough, she , too, had her fill of the rubble, fright, and anger that now filled her heart.
A phone call came that night - my cousin, Michael, an E-4 in the US Navy was not coming home. His ship, the USS Phillipine, had turned its course back to the Persian Gulf. Our country had gone to war, and my 22 year old cousin - the baby of my family - was on the front lines, and almost on the front page of USA Today. Pictures of bombs being set off made cover pages, and just outside the frame was Michael, standing next to the sailor who was "pushing the button".
Michael is safe at home now, and my lost loved ones are accounted for...I guess I was one of the lucky ones...yet, how does a nanny explain to her young charges what is happening? How does an auntie explain to her nephew and niece that we are at war against an unseen enemy? How do we go back to the innocence we lost? Not all deaths are physical...the toll was much higher that day than newsgroups reported. The death toll will never be totally accounted...for there are those that still live who have died inside. My heart goes out to them all.
"Terrorism?" I asked, a chill going down my body...
"No, can't be", he responded, "Probably just some inexperienced pilot".
As we ran to our customer lounge, all doubt was removed as we watched the building burst into flames. I was sick with worry - I have friends and family in the area!
As the day went on and tragedy unfolded, the entire office ground to a hault. Customers and employees alike hovered over my shoulder, as I was the only one in the office with an Internet connection.
"CNN is down! MSNBC is down!" I told impatient onlookers. "Let me try projo.com" [Projo.com being the Providence journal website]. Projo.com was up, but the images were terrifying. I called my brother down in South Orange, NJ - an hour from the scene. He had only moved there two weeks before, from Boston. Was he okay? He was, but he informed me they were evacuating Boston, as a precautionary move.
The day passed in a blur, and when I got home, I couldn't take it anymore. I turned on The Disney Channel, just to get away from those horrible images; to hope that it was only a dream. My Mom came home and yelled at me for watching Disney, as if I didn't care...but soon enough, she , too, had her fill of the rubble, fright, and anger that now filled her heart.
A phone call came that night - my cousin, Michael, an E-4 in the US Navy was not coming home. His ship, the USS Phillipine, had turned its course back to the Persian Gulf. Our country had gone to war, and my 22 year old cousin - the baby of my family - was on the front lines, and almost on the front page of USA Today. Pictures of bombs being set off made cover pages, and just outside the frame was Michael, standing next to the sailor who was "pushing the button".
Michael is safe at home now, and my lost loved ones are accounted for...I guess I was one of the lucky ones...yet, how does a nanny explain to her young charges what is happening? How does an auntie explain to her nephew and niece that we are at war against an unseen enemy? How do we go back to the innocence we lost? Not all deaths are physical...the toll was much higher that day than newsgroups reported. The death toll will never be totally accounted...for there are those that still live who have died inside. My heart goes out to them all.
Collection
Citation
“story3784.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/16445.