story7603.xml

story7603.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-16

It was my birthday and my daughters first day of preschool. I had just dropped her off and then went to my grandmothers house. As soon as I entered the house she told me to come see the tv. She was watching the Today show and they were showing live pictures of the first crash. As we watched the show the second plane came in. Right then everyone just knew that it was definately not an accident and that we were being attacked. As I watched in disbelief I remember thinking about how those poor people at the top would have a hard time getting to the bottom of the building and to safety. It never even occured to any of us that the buildings could collaps. As we saw the first one go down we just kept thinking "what is going on". Then we started to wonder if the second one would fall too. I remember thinking "Thank God I don't have any friends or family in New York" Then as we realized that one of the flights had originated from Boston we began thinking if we knew anyone who was flying out of Logan Internation that day. We were lucky enough no to.
As I watched the buildings fall and thought about all those poor people I just remember thinking that my birthday would never be the same again. My birthday just passed and I had no desire to celebrate. I told my friends and family that at least for this year out of respect for the families of 9-11 that I did not want any cake or "happy birthdays" because it was not a happy birthday.

Rene' Parr