story9452.xml

story9452.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-01

I was listening to "LA Law" while writing narrative notes on my clients at the group home I worked at overnights. They had just left for workshop, and I was waiting for my husband to pick me up from work. When he arrived he said, "Turn on the TV!" I said, "What channel?" He said, "Any news channel," so I turned on Fox News Network. We watched Tower 1 burning, and then saw a plane hit Tower 2. He said, "That happened just before I drove up." We watched for a few minutes, then left to go home. I started to pray silently, "For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world." The talk radio station went back to covering a NY station live, and I heard a call go out for all NY firefighters to report to the scene... Then I heard that the Pentagon was hit. I felt like I was living War of the Worlds, and I cried, because my country was under attack. Two other times in my life that I was scared was during the Cuban Missle Crisis in October, 1962, when I lived in Florida, and when President Kennedy was killed and some of us 7th graders thought the Russians would take over.
My husband and I decided to go to Shoney's for breakfast, and just before we got there Tower 2 collapsed. After breakfast we heard on the radio that Tower 1 had collapsed, and that there had been a plane crash in Pennsylvania.

We went home and I went to bed, since I had to work again that night. My sister and my mother both called to see how our daughter and I were. My daughter was active Army in Colorado and I was a Reservist. I told them we hadn't heard anything. My sister said that our Dad had gone to the Post Office and when he heard, he turned around and went home. I said it must have triggered memories of Pearl Harbor...
Since then our daughter put in for duty in Germany and arrived here last October. I was activated and was sent to the same duty station. I arrived here a few hours after the war started in March. I work with people who have been sent from down range to the hospital here.
I lost my Dad (who was sick since Jan.) the day after the POWs were found and released.