story5028.xml

story5028.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

We live in Connecticut and invited my husband parent's to come with us to Disney World with our children. We were going to a business meeting and thought it would be nice to take the kids and grandparents. So we stayed at their house in New York and took a car to Newark Airport. On the trip down to the airport, my dad's cell phone rings. It's my brother-in-law calling to tell us a plane just hit the World Trade Center. I think he joking. We are on the NJ Turnpike. We look out the window, and the building is on fire. Then the second plane hits. At this point we are watching out the limo window and watching the TV in the car. We don't know what to make of it. Then we hear the Pentagon has been hit and that they think there will be an attempt on the White House. I start freaking out that we are going to have a war. I feel no control and very scared. I start to worry about my cousin who works down town 3 days a week and call her house to see if she is okay. No Answer. I find out that evening she was out, but not at work.

My father-in-law is very upset. He came to New York as a young boy from Italy and made a good life for his family. He thinks the USA is the greatest place to live. The land of opportunity. You see,the company he owned, put all the fire doors and gragage doors in the trade center. My husband remembers going there as a child with his father to work and talks about how he went to the top of the building before it was completed. We cannot understand why someone would want to hurt innocent people. My seven year old son is very upset and becomes quite. He is just taking it all in.

I decide to call the airline to see what is going on. I am told the airport is still open and planes are flying. We continue to the terminal. I get out of the car and go to the ticket counter to find out that all flights have been cancelled and that the airport is closing. I exchange my tickets for the next day. My husband takes our son the the bathroom. I get back in the Limo and wait for my husband and son to return. The police chase us away from the drop off area. We circle the airport and get them on the next passing of the terminal.

When we are leaving the airport the first building collapses. People are standing at the side of the road with video cameras recording the event. We are all in shock. I still can't beleive the World Trade Center in gone. When I first graduated college, I worked at 140 Broadway and took the tubes from NJ to the World Trade Center and remember what a great building it was.

Life will never be the same. We took our trip in November, but we flew out of Hartford. It was comforting to see the Army men there.