story112.xml

story112.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-03-02

I work for the federal government in a small, rural Appalachian town. We had no TV at work. My husband was at home and when the first plane hit, he called to tell me what he had seen on TV. I assumed this was a plane that had somehow gone astray. Minutes later, he called back telling me of the second plane and how it was witnessed by the news media and people in the area. The third call informed us that the Pentagon had been hit. Our District Office immediately called and told us to leave our office at once. I began rounding my family up. I knew if America was being attacked, I wanted my loved ones with me. My 2 year old granddaughter, Hannah, was a few blocks away at day care. I had an overpowering urgency to get to her. Once there I found the day care workers glued to the TV watching in horror the events. Hannah had already been picked up by her mother, who is a college student. Hannah had cut her leg in an accident and today was the day the stitches were removed. They indicated she would be back. I planned to rush to the doctor's office and find my daughter and granddaughter. At that moment she pulled in. I remember her jumping from her van, asking me what was wrong. She stated later there was a look of horror on my face that she had never seen before. I told her what had happend and that our office had been evacuated. Her 7 year old son was at school and we decided she should go get him. My other two small grandsons were at the school, also, and we agreed that she would pick up all three boys and take them to my house. A lot of parents were panicking and picking up their chilren, as well. We sat in front of the TV most of the day until my son-in-law got off work. I wanted my family with me. Since the kids were getting restless, we decided to take them back out for lunch and try to create some normalcy in their lives as they were seeing things on TV they had never seen before and we knew it was upsetting. I remember President Kennedy's address to the nation and how scared I was at the threat of nuclear war. That same feeling was with me on September 11th. Is this it? Are we all going to die? We prayed for the Lord to guide us and our leaders and the people directly involved in this horrific attack. Our lives will never be the same. Some things absolutely lost their importance to me. I now live with the notion that tomorrow may never come. Whatever menial chore I am doing may not matter tomorrow. We have become closer as a family, celebrating birthdays, happy occasions, and just loving each other. Today is all we have. I wonder how many people said goodbye to their loved one that morning and had no idea it was the last one. How many had an argument and never got to say "I'm Sorry". I think of the families and I hurt. May God Bless America and our leaders.