story11332.xml

story11332.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2005-03-12

My day started as most days did make some coffee, take a shower and start to dress for work. In the midst of dressing I get a call from the living room from my mother-in-law, who was visiting, I went in and saw the replay of the first airplane hitting the World Trade Center tower, my only thought was oh no, traffic was about to get stupid. I rushed to get finish dressing and jumped in the car, I was about a quarter of mile from my home when the news of the second plane hitting the tower was reported, I knew then as most of us did that we were under attack. I continued to work, never taking in consideration that maybe I should just stay at home that day. Traffic did not get stupid in fact it was just about clear sailing all the way to New Jersey, the news reports from the radio were chilling I cannot remember the exact sequence of the reports but before arriving at Teterboro I learned the Pentagon had been hit that the authorities were looking for a plane, that the South Tower hit at the World Trade Center had collapsed and that all air traffic had been grounded.
As I approached Teterboro I could see in the distance the North tower still standing, it is a vivid memory one that I shall never forget. The tower had a gapping hole in it, you could see the jagged beams of the structure around the hole, smoke was billowing out of the hole upward toward the sky. The thing that struck me more than anything at that point was the smoke from a distance of about 9 miles was not black but white, had I been any closer I probably would have seen the people jumping from the windows I am glad I was not closer. The rest of the day at work was spent watching television reports and being extremely afraid which gave way in a few days to anger.