story1555.xml

story1555.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-29

Well where to start? A day to remember and never to forget. September 11th was a day of sorrow and a day of terror. The faces of people looking for thier loved ones and trying to get out of harms way, will never be forgotten. I know that I was never there to actually see it or hear it, but I remember that day like I was there. I sat in my fiance's parent's house in Florida waiting to go to work when everything happened. I am from Ohio actually- born and raised there-so I had nobody to really contact or connect with when everything happened. I remember it all like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the couch watching the regular talk shows that come on in the morning.We had had men outside working on the cable a couple days earlier. While I was watching Rikki Lake, they had gotten to some good part of the show I had been waiting for when the screen went fuzzy. I thought that the men that were working on the cable were back again. I got up to look out the window so that I could yell at them, but nobody was there. I thought that it was odd. So I sat and waited for the TV to come back on. Then I remember there being pictures of burning buildings and people running. That's all there was, just pictures. No sound was coming from the TV. I was trying to understand what was going on. Maybe I had sat on the remote and muted the TV, but it wasn't. Then came the sound. I still had no idea what buildings they were showing or where they were broadcasting from. It made no sense what-so-ever. I flipped the channel to see what other news channels were showing but they were all showing the same thing. I thought that it had to be something major because I have never seen every single channel on the TV show the same thing before. I got a call from my fiance at work telling me what was going on. He worked at a call center for Sprint. He said that all phone calls had all the sudden stopped. There wasn't a single employee taking a phone call. So he went to his computer and looked up one of the news channels, which gave him all the details that they had had at tha time. He called his family to make sure that they knew what was going on. Being in Florida I couldn't call all of my family up home. I kept thinking about what was going on, trying to let it all soak in. I still couldn't comprehend how something so hideous could happen to so many people. I had to still go to work so I changed and left. Roads were empty. There wasn't a soul in site, which is very unusual down there. That part of Florida is tourist and party central. Every channel on the radio was broadcasting the same thing as I was driving to work. The parking lot was empty when I arrived. I went in to clock in and go to my station. The radio was playing over our loudspeaker in the whole store. All the employees grouped to the front crying while we listened to the President address the nation. I stayed glued to the till I had gotten home where I could watch the TV. Needless to say I did not sleep that night. I watched on the TV as they tried to find people lost in the rubble.
My heart goes out to all that have lost family in this awfull attack. I have lost a parent too. Although I lost my Dad to a heart attack in October of 01' I still know the empty void that can never be filled. With strength and courage we all will surpass this tradgic event. Never forget those who fought bravely, risking thier lives to help others. We need more people like that in this world. Remember what it is to be free. God Bless.