story52.xml

story52.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-02-09

I had just returned from a wedding in San Fran on Monday evening, September 10 in a storm.
Tuesday was my first day back to work in four days. I was pretty anxious that morning b/c I had a meeting to run that evening and had a few things to do to prepare for it.
At 8:50 or so, one of my co-workers comes into my office and says "A plane hit the World Trade Center". She had a very serious face and was making, I thought, a little too much of it.
I guess I was thinking, that's terrible, but freak accidents happen. The woman I share my office with and I went to look out the window to see what it was like. It was terrible, papers and fire and glass. I am lucky to not have seen the people jumping, which I found out later on the news was going on.
I walked back and forth often in the 15 minutes that passed between the two plane hits. On one occassion, my office mate and I were watching when a plane few righy by the window I was looking out of. I should mention that I work on the 25th floor of the building right next to battery park. The office I was in was a corner office that has a view looking straight up Broadway and of the Hudson River and Lady Liberty. Quite exquisit.
Anyway, So we are watching the building and I was thinking about everyone trapped in the building when the plane flew right by my window. I heard it coming, but really did not know or realize what was going on till I saw it sail straight for the second tower. The plane was so close to my window I could see the belly and the doors for the landing gear. I didn't really know what to think. Maybe this is a movie, or maybe the plane is going to try and help, or...
All I remember was watching the plane sail into the tower. It is an image I'll never forget. It burst into flames and paper and glass and smoke was everywhere. I didn't know what to do. I felt pretty safe in my building and felt that if I went outside I would have been in more danger.
I was in my building when the towers fell. I felt the rumble of both them and thought more planes were coming. When the first building fell, i really couldn't tell that it had. By the time I got to the window there was a huge brown billowing cloud of smoke and dust and everyone who had gathered to watch in Battery Park and the surrounding area went running. These people had nowhere to go. A clear beautiful day turned into a big brown cloud of smoke that enveloped the entire area. I could see nothing outside the window.
When the second building fell I only felt it, and could not see it, but more dust came flying around the windows and I covered everything again. We were all forced to leave the building around 11 am. By this time the air had lightened a little and it wasn't that thick as before. My office mate and I walked out with wet rags for our faces and started our 5 hour trek uptown by way of the east side. People were everywhere. If was brown and gray by work, but the further away we got from the area, the clearer the day became. Almost seemed as nothing happened at all.
The police were everywhere and sirens where the music of the day. It was rough, constantly hearing those sirens... It still is. People were offering water and bathrooms and directions. The Brooklyn Bridge hadn't seen as many foot passengers in a year as it saw on that day.
We walked and walked. We actually stopped for food. It was hte only thing I could think to do to keep from becoming hysterical.
We walked to Union Square, when a fighter plane flew over head. I thought it was more attacks. I almost dove for cover. My heart started beating really hard. It was a hard day.
I finally made it up to 33th Street and third avenue where I was able to catch a bus to queens through the midtown tunnel. It left me off on the other side, where I walked home. I live in Astoria and the only thing I could think about was getting out of the city. I got home around 5 pm.