story4101.xml

story4101.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I had just given birth to my first daughter on September 7th 2001. We had just come home from the hospital on September 9th. Weary from not getting any sleep on the previous nights my boyfriend and I along with my daughter had just gotton up when we recieved a phone call from my boyfriends father, he told us to turn on the TV. We had asked him what channel and he replied,"it doesn't matter just turn it on!" As we did we saw the most horrific sightever imaginable, WTC Tower 1 on fire. Reports at the time were unclear as to what had happened. Then, still in bed with my newborn baby tightly in my arms we saw the other plane hit WTC Tower 2. At that point I still could not grasp the fact that what I was seeing was real, I kept thinking it was a movie. I could not believe what was unfolding before my eyes. The next few days were unbearable. Being postpartum ontop of this horrific event made turning on the TV unbearable. One of the many images that is still so vivid in my mind was that of a women holding a picture of a man holding his baby in his arms with the caption above reading,"have you seen my daddy?" I could not stop crying after I saw that. Here I am with a new baby in my arms that I brought into this crazy world. It was bitter sweet to have her and be happy knowing that so many babies lost one or both of their parents. I did not want to leave the sercurity my house or the peaceful feeling that I got looking into my daughters eyes. Even then I had a hard time not thinking about all of the unborn babies that would never know their fathers. Or the mothers that would have to go through such a joyful time without their spouses to help them. September 11th is a day that all of America will never forget. I as a American and a new mother will always feel for those mothers and their babies that were born after that day without their fathers. Those babies will never meet their dads or know the world as we did before that awful day in September when time stood still.