nmah3638.xml
Title
nmah3638.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
NMAH Story: Story
On September 11, 2001, right before lunch, I was at work siting at my desk when one of my co-workers, Helen Strelbecki, called and asked - "Did you hear about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center?" She was listening to her radio. She went on to say that they thought terrorists had done it. I thought maybe she wasn't getting the story right or was listening to some skit on one of those talk radio shows. I think I even made some sort of off-handed remark that it'd probably be on the 6:00 news, still not realizing the severity of what had happened.
No sooner had I hung up the phone, the Operating Manager, Jim Loudin, came to my cubicle and said, "Donna, we're shutting the office and plant down --- terrorists have attacked the World Trade Center." I felt like I was in one of those B-rated "attack-of-the -aliens" movies. I asked him what was going on and he then told me that a commercial airliner full of passengers had been flown into the World Trade Center by terrorists. I was stunned.
It was a bright, sunny day, and I remember as I drove home it seemed as if the world and everything in it was standing still even though I could see cars moving and people walking, jogging, children playing, my car radio was on - but the world seemed eerily still and quiet - like the earth was holding its breath.
When I got home and began watching the news coverage with my family - that's when the severity of it all hit. Not one plane - but two planes crashed into the WTC! And if that wasn't enough, a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and another plane had crashed in Pennsylvania and it was supposedly on its way to Washington too. What in the world was going on? The School of Court Reporting where I was a part-time evening instructor called - there would be no school that evening.
Afterwards, I cried I think every day for a week and then off and on for about a month. I felt terribly sad but for some reason not frightened. It seemed the more I cried the madder I got. I thought of all the people killed and the precious families left to mourn them. Still reeling from the death of my own father, I knew how they felt - to have someone you love just vanish from this earth - your life - never to be seen on this earth again.
The lost was brought closer to home by one of my evening students. When classes resumed, one of my typing students came up right before a test and informed me that her mother's brother and sister were on one of the planes that crashed into the WTC. They were on their way to the family reunion. She was visibly shaken and I again was stunned. All I could do was hug her. When she left, I bit my lip to keep from crying and informed the rest of the students.
It was a sad, miserable time. It still makes me cry when I think about it. It still makes me mad!!!
No sooner had I hung up the phone, the Operating Manager, Jim Loudin, came to my cubicle and said, "Donna, we're shutting the office and plant down --- terrorists have attacked the World Trade Center." I felt like I was in one of those B-rated "attack-of-the -aliens" movies. I asked him what was going on and he then told me that a commercial airliner full of passengers had been flown into the World Trade Center by terrorists. I was stunned.
It was a bright, sunny day, and I remember as I drove home it seemed as if the world and everything in it was standing still even though I could see cars moving and people walking, jogging, children playing, my car radio was on - but the world seemed eerily still and quiet - like the earth was holding its breath.
When I got home and began watching the news coverage with my family - that's when the severity of it all hit. Not one plane - but two planes crashed into the WTC! And if that wasn't enough, a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and another plane had crashed in Pennsylvania and it was supposedly on its way to Washington too. What in the world was going on? The School of Court Reporting where I was a part-time evening instructor called - there would be no school that evening.
Afterwards, I cried I think every day for a week and then off and on for about a month. I felt terribly sad but for some reason not frightened. It seemed the more I cried the madder I got. I thought of all the people killed and the precious families left to mourn them. Still reeling from the death of my own father, I knew how they felt - to have someone you love just vanish from this earth - your life - never to be seen on this earth again.
The lost was brought closer to home by one of my evening students. When classes resumed, one of my typing students came up right before a test and informed me that her mother's brother and sister were on one of the planes that crashed into the WTC. They were on their way to the family reunion. She was visibly shaken and I again was stunned. All I could do was hug her. When she left, I bit my lip to keep from crying and informed the rest of the students.
It was a sad, miserable time. It still makes me cry when I think about it. It still makes me mad!!!
NMAH Story: Life Changed
NMAH Story: Remembered
NMAH Story: Flag
Citation
“nmah3638.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed September 28, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/40350.