story1295.xml

story1295.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-20

I work as a cashier at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, I was sitting at my window. Someone was at one of the other cashier's window on his cellphone with his wife. She was telling him about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. He dismissed the call and said goodbye. Only a minute later she called him back to tell him about the second plane hitting the other tower.

At this time, I had to go to class. We were discussing the rumors of terrorism and several people worried about family members in New York.

When I returned to work after class, my supervisor was outside having a cigarette. She asked if I had heard about the towers falling. I hadn't. Then she asked if I had heard about the pentagon. I hadn't. She filled me in on all that had happened in the hour I was in class. I was in shock.

The first thing I did was go and get on the internet to read the news reports. I also called home to my sister, to see if she had heard from the school about the children.

After work, I went home. My sister was going out for the evening, and I didn't want to be alone.

I was afraid that there was going to be more attacks.
I didn't want to be home alone, so I went to my boyfriends. My daughter and I spent the evening there.

In the week following, news trucks and cameras were out front of the university. It seemed there might have been a terrorist trained at my school. That hit home hard. Luckily it turned out that the person they thought had piloted one of the planes was not one our students.

Still, people started bashing my work for training terrorists. People complained about our foreign students, and our process of accepting students.

After all the bomb threats, suspicious items for the bomb squad to investigate, and rumors flying around campus, life had been changed, there was no going back to our simple, peaceful life.

I don't want to say I have forgotten September 11th, I never will. I have moved on.