story564.xml

story564.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-05-08

I was unemployed at the time. I was still sleeping when my mother in Georgia called me at around 6:30 am (California time). I was thinking that if she calls that early in the morning that something tragic happened to a family member. I braced myself for that kind of news when she told me that America was being attacked. "What are you talking about," I asked her, confused. She went on to tell me what was going on and that I need to go turn the TV on. After we hung up I stumbled to the living room, still in a confused state and turned on the news, and saw the picture of both towers on fire. Then a few minutes later a report came in about the Pentagon attack. Needless to say I stayed put that whole day. They virtually evacuated downtown San Francisco and the Bay and Golden Gate bridges were jammed with people trying to get out of SF. My sister lives in DC and I kept trying to call there all day but the circuts remained busy throughout the day. I mostly stayed home glued to the TV that entire day, which was probably a mistake, because that night I couldn't sleem much for the dreams I was having of airport control towers blowing up. I guess every generation has its defining day...December 7 1941, November 22 1963, April 4 1968. September 11 2001 will definite be that date for my generation.