story3383.xml

story3383.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was at home that morning, placing a call to my physician. I was on hold when the first plane struck, and I
thought,"Oh my god, what a terrible accident." As I listened to the Today Show, they mentioned terrorist attack,
and I thought, "Why do they have to say that, maybe it was
just an accident." I just could not fathom that in a country as great and secure as we were that something like a
terrorist attack could happen. Then the second plane hit, and I knew we were in trouble. I placed a phone call to my
husband Bill, he returned my call just as the third plane hit the Pentagon, he too was in disbelief. When the plane crashed in Shanksville, I thought of our son Bill, who is a teacher in the Upper Saint Clair School District in Pittsburgh. Even though this crash was two miles outside
of Pittburgh, I knew that with everything else that had happened that morning he must be a nervous wreck. I prayed,
for everyone, for the people who had already perished, the
people who were trying to escape the burning buildings by
jumping, for their families, for the police and fireman who
were loosing hundreds of workers, and I prayed for my own family who I so much wanted to be with me at this time. It
was just too hard to believe that The United States of
America could allow something like this to happen. It will
take a long, long time to get over this one. I didn't suffer a personal loss, and I have no idea what the families
who did loose a loved one are going through, but I as an American did loose a little bit of that security in
my own country. My son did call me about 11:30 on 9/11,
and I can't tell you how relieved I was now that I'd heard
from the two closest to my heart. Thank-you for allowing
me to express these thoughts, for me I guess it's part of the healing process.