story4638.xml

story4638.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was at home in my bedroom, getting ready to leave my house for the hospital. On August 17th I delivered my first child, a boy, by emergency C-section. He had been in the NICU ever since and I spent every day, all day at the hospital waiting for him to come home. I was watching the Today show when they started getting reports that there was some sort of explosion at the World Trade Center, they began interviewing a woman who was on the streets and was witnessing the fireball when all of the sudden the 2nd tower was hit. I remember standing there in disbelief with my husband. We watched, captivated and unable to move for the next few munutes and then I realized that I had to get to the hospital. I needed to see and hold my baby. The hospital is very close to Bush Intercontinental Airport and on the way there we heard on the radio that all planes were to land immediately. It was surreal how all of the sudden the sky was filled with airplanes and then it was just quiet. We were sitting at a red light and I looked over at the car next to us and there was a woman and she mouthed the words..."can you believe this??" We both just looked at each other and cried, I don't know who she was but I felt such a connection to her at that moment, she was feeling as hopeless and helpless as I was. This past year has been such a blessing for my family. We have a beautiful healthy 1 year old son and I thank God each day, at the same time though my heart aches for all of the mothers who had small children or were pregnant when they lost their husbands. I am a much calmer person now than I ever was I don't "sweat the small stuff" as the saying goes. I wake up each day with gratitude to live my life the way it is. I don't really want for anything anymore, I have everything that is important to me and I will continue to hold onto them and never take their love for granted.