story4087.xml

story4087.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

Scheduled to have surgery on Sept. 12, I was on the phone with my insurance company around 9:00 A.M. They were based out of Texas and were attempting to contact the surgeons office that I would be going to. We spent fifteen minutes on hold until the insurance representative came back saying that she could spend no more time on hold and noted that there was some sort of emergency up by where I lived, but did not know what. The rest of the morning went by, and me, without having any television, was not aware of any of the events. I began driving to meet a friend for lunch in Point Pleasant around 12:oo P.M. On the way I did notice that the streets were very desolate for that time of day and that the presence of state police was significant. When I got to my friends job, everyone was standing there with sullen looks on their faces. I casually greeted my friend and asked what was wrong with everyone. He replied "You don't know?" and I just stared back. He told me that I should ready myself for what he was about to say, knowing that I had for the past year had vivid nightmares of witnessing or being in plane crashes, one of which occured in Manhattan. "The World Trade Center is gone," he said "two planes hit the towers and they collapsed. One more hit the Pentagon and another crashed in Pennsylvania." I was in obvious disbelief and shock having it all hit me at once. We still proceeded to eat at the deli across the street but when we went in and saw employees and customers engaging in nothing but silence around an old radio broadcasting the details and the chaos in New York, the whole moment overwhelmed me and I abruptly left knowing that the way of life of the world had been changed forever. I spent the rest of the day watching the horrific event over and over on the news in my sister's living room. I later convened with my friends at a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot. We watched the sun illuminate the dust that once was The World Trade Center as it made its way down along the shoreline. The pain is still and always will be there when I see the horror of that day or when I pass New York City and know that we can never change what happened, we can never go back.