story8730.xml
Title
story8730.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-12-11
911DA Story: Story
I woke up on 9/11 to get my daughter off to school. I drove her every morning cause her school wasn't even 1 mile down the road. I usually dropped her off at about 8:10a.m.
I was also 8 1/2 months pregnant, having gone through a terrible pregnancy.
Our family lives in an apartment where the laundry room is a separate building at the entrance of the complex. We live on the second floor. I had tons of clothes to wash that day and it was just too much for me to go up and down the stairs, and drive back and forth to the laundry room, so my brother and his wife offered for me to bring my laundry over to their house. They said I could make myself at home, eat whatever I wanted, watch t.v., etc. while I did my washing.
So after I dropped my daughter off at school, I went back and loaded up the car with laundry baskets and got on the highway.
It was such a beautiful day! I had the windows down and I stared at the blue sky (that blue that not even Crayola can duplicate) and I turned the radio to a local station.
On this radio station these d.j.'s are very comical, and never serious. They even crack jokes about very serious things. Well, they started talking about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. At first I thought they were joking, but then I realized that the tone in their voices were serious. I thought at first that maybe it was a small cessna or something, then they started to say that there were reports of hijackings. I couldn't wait to get to my brother's to turn the t.v. on. By the time I got to my brother's house, I heard the report of the second tower being hit and got really scared. My eyes darted across the sky looking at jet streams and wondering if we were being attacked.
I couldn't run fast enough into the house. The t.v. was off and I heard the shower running. My sister-in-law was getting ready for work in the bathroom and I spoke to her through the door. She had no idea! She rushed out of the bathroom and we turned the news on. My God! People jumping, the sound of sirens, people crying....Then WTC2 collapsed as we watched it happen. We didn't know what was happening. We held eachother and cryed. She said to me, "Why are they doing this to us?".
She was with me until tower 1 collapsed, but then she had to go to work. I called my husband, a carpenter, who was listening to everything on his radio. I called my mother who had no clue about what was happening, hadn't even turned the t.v. on yet. Then I wondered if I should go pick my little girl up from school.
But....I stayed. I folded laundry in front of the t.v. all day. I cried. I have not been the same person since.
My son was born 11 days after that horrible day. His newborn picture was taken with him wearing a outfit with red, white and blue on it.
Someday, I will tell him in great detail about what happened 11 days before he was born. I will make sure that he will never forget...so that no will.
I was also 8 1/2 months pregnant, having gone through a terrible pregnancy.
Our family lives in an apartment where the laundry room is a separate building at the entrance of the complex. We live on the second floor. I had tons of clothes to wash that day and it was just too much for me to go up and down the stairs, and drive back and forth to the laundry room, so my brother and his wife offered for me to bring my laundry over to their house. They said I could make myself at home, eat whatever I wanted, watch t.v., etc. while I did my washing.
So after I dropped my daughter off at school, I went back and loaded up the car with laundry baskets and got on the highway.
It was such a beautiful day! I had the windows down and I stared at the blue sky (that blue that not even Crayola can duplicate) and I turned the radio to a local station.
On this radio station these d.j.'s are very comical, and never serious. They even crack jokes about very serious things. Well, they started talking about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. At first I thought they were joking, but then I realized that the tone in their voices were serious. I thought at first that maybe it was a small cessna or something, then they started to say that there were reports of hijackings. I couldn't wait to get to my brother's to turn the t.v. on. By the time I got to my brother's house, I heard the report of the second tower being hit and got really scared. My eyes darted across the sky looking at jet streams and wondering if we were being attacked.
I couldn't run fast enough into the house. The t.v. was off and I heard the shower running. My sister-in-law was getting ready for work in the bathroom and I spoke to her through the door. She had no idea! She rushed out of the bathroom and we turned the news on. My God! People jumping, the sound of sirens, people crying....Then WTC2 collapsed as we watched it happen. We didn't know what was happening. We held eachother and cryed. She said to me, "Why are they doing this to us?".
She was with me until tower 1 collapsed, but then she had to go to work. I called my husband, a carpenter, who was listening to everything on his radio. I called my mother who had no clue about what was happening, hadn't even turned the t.v. on yet. Then I wondered if I should go pick my little girl up from school.
But....I stayed. I folded laundry in front of the t.v. all day. I cried. I have not been the same person since.
My son was born 11 days after that horrible day. His newborn picture was taken with him wearing a outfit with red, white and blue on it.
Someday, I will tell him in great detail about what happened 11 days before he was born. I will make sure that he will never forget...so that no will.
Collection
Citation
“story8730.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/17265.