nmah5288.xml

nmah5288.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-11-19

I work in Washington, DC and on September 11, 2001, I was in a training class about five blocks away from my building. Around 10am a cellphone rang and the student answered it, said outloud "What did you say?" and then she turned to the class and said "The World Trade Towers have been blown up!" We were like, "what, how?" So we took a break and when I walked outside, the busyness of people walking and running down the street, heading towards the metro clearly told me something was terribly wrong. I tried, along with everyone else on the street, to use my cellphone to call my office but the lines were tied up. I finally got through to a friend some 40 miles away who said to "get the hell out of DC now. Terrorists have blown up the World Trade Towers and a plane has slammed into the Pentagon, get home now!" So I quickly ran upstairs to the training class and we were all dismissed; I grabbed my bag and ran out of the building, heading to my office which took about five minutes and was not allowed in the building. I walked (quickly) around to the parking garage and found my carpool; we got out of the garage but it took hours to get home. As we rounded one building, I could clearly see the black smoke pouring out of the Pentagon. I knew life as we had known it had changed forever. By the time I got home and my girls got off the bus from school, we hugged and were glued to the TV for the entire night. The next day, upon the advice of President Bush, I went back to work and to the training class; it was a very different day and we were on a heightened alert for months.

I realize how precious life is, always knew it, but now I know that in a second, a blink of an eye, it could be overwith AND without warning. I look around and am more cautious about things. I'm always telling my daughters to be VERY careful.

The lives that were loss and the affects this disaster had on their families, the police and firefighters.

I sure did fly one. I have several flags that I fly during different holidays but for months after 9/11/01 I flew my American flag. My feelings about the flag have remained steadfast and true, we are very lucky to live in a country that is the home of the brave and where we have more freedom than any other country in the the world.