story4681.xml
Title
story4681.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I was at my office when one of my co-workers came in and said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. My immediate reaction was asking if the news media had said if it was a private plane that hit it and what the weather conditions were like. I was extremely shocked to hear that it had been a commercial airliner.
I called my husband at his office to tell him what had happened and one of his co-worker's brought in a tv. We were talking when all of a sudden he stated that one of the buildings had collapsed. I went to CNN's web page and there was a picture of the first tower gone. We talked awhile longer when my husband blurted out "oh my God, the other tower just went." A chill came over me, and then dread thinking what was going to happen next. I worked by RDU airport and then noticed that we couldn't hear any planes taking off, that's probably when they grounded all planes.
I then started to worry that something might happen next on the West Coast where my parents lived so I called them right away. I spoke with my Mom and Dad, and my Mom seemed really scared on the phone, however, little did I know that this was going to be the last time that I would talk to her because we lost her two days later to heart failure. The worst part was due to the attack all flights were cancelled and I was not able to get to California until that Saturday. It took me 16 hours to get there, and it was a little scary seeing all of the security around the airports.
We drove across country because my Mom's wishes were to be buried in Michigan where she was from. The one thing that will always stand out in my mind is seeing all of the patriotism that we saw while driving. There was not one city that we went through that didn't have some type of banner, red, white and blue decorations or American flags hanging from the over passes. And the number of cars, houses and businesses that were also showing their patriotism was also incredible.
I hope that out of this tragedy we have learned to become one people, regardless of race, as true Americans, and to hold strong to our belief in freedom, to always hold in our hearts and to never forget those who were lost on that dark day of September 11, 2001.
I called my husband at his office to tell him what had happened and one of his co-worker's brought in a tv. We were talking when all of a sudden he stated that one of the buildings had collapsed. I went to CNN's web page and there was a picture of the first tower gone. We talked awhile longer when my husband blurted out "oh my God, the other tower just went." A chill came over me, and then dread thinking what was going to happen next. I worked by RDU airport and then noticed that we couldn't hear any planes taking off, that's probably when they grounded all planes.
I then started to worry that something might happen next on the West Coast where my parents lived so I called them right away. I spoke with my Mom and Dad, and my Mom seemed really scared on the phone, however, little did I know that this was going to be the last time that I would talk to her because we lost her two days later to heart failure. The worst part was due to the attack all flights were cancelled and I was not able to get to California until that Saturday. It took me 16 hours to get there, and it was a little scary seeing all of the security around the airports.
We drove across country because my Mom's wishes were to be buried in Michigan where she was from. The one thing that will always stand out in my mind is seeing all of the patriotism that we saw while driving. There was not one city that we went through that didn't have some type of banner, red, white and blue decorations or American flags hanging from the over passes. And the number of cars, houses and businesses that were also showing their patriotism was also incredible.
I hope that out of this tragedy we have learned to become one people, regardless of race, as true Americans, and to hold strong to our belief in freedom, to always hold in our hearts and to never forget those who were lost on that dark day of September 11, 2001.
Collection
Citation
“story4681.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/4112.