story6947.xml
Title
story6947.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-12
911DA Story: Story
9-11 Where were you?
Often we are asked, ?Where were you when ?
Pearl Harbor was attacked ?
Kennedy was shot ?
Challenger exploded ?
Princess Diana?s tragic accident ?
After that day we will now be asked, ?Where were you on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the day America was attacked ?? The activities and actions of that day will be permanently and vividly etched in each mind while the details of other days gradually fade in comparison. The stories will vary, each one an individual snapshot of the hours, minutes, and seconds of that day, but one central fact will remain, that day 9-11-01, America, even this entire planet, was changed forever. America has joined the rest of the world in the realization that yes, it can indeed happen here.
My husband, Charles, and I praise the Lord for His sustaining mercies while we were in Washington, DC for a military conference he was attending. I especially am grateful for God?s mercy and guidance during those days.
As a young girl growing up in upstate New York, New York City was an extraordinarily fascinating place for me. Our family lived in Finger Lakes area of New York about eight hours away by auto travel. Our mother was born in New York City and grew up there. It is still home to her four sisters and one brother and so over the years we visited every summer, staying for at least one week. During those very special days our aunts and uncles took us to wonderful places, like nothing we had ever seen. The wonders of that parenthesis in time in the midst of summer served to fill the remainder of weeks of the year with the awe of places most of our friends had only read about- places like the Statue of Liberty- in those days one could actually walk into the arm and climb the inner circumference of the torch. The Empire State Building, then the tallest in the world, held the grandest view of the entire city. Standing at the top the wind that swept up the canyons of the city danced demandingly at the edge. To peer over the edge meant to remove one?s hat or lose it. So mighty was the wind that it could lift your contact lenses off your eye if you turned your head just so. Yet the view was so captivating, the closest thing to being a bird. The ride in the elevator was so gravity defying that the pit of your stomach had to catch up to the rest of your body. And so the visits went, Madison Square Garden [the old one] to see Barnum and Bailey Circus. Grand Central Station with trains coming and going to all parts of the country. The ride on the Staten Island Ferry to see Aunt Jeanette. And shopping, oh the shopping with Aunt Ann who knew all the best places.
Later after graduating high school, New York City would be my home for four years as I attended Hunter College on 57th street between Lexington and Park Avenues. For two years I lived with Aunt Ann and my grandmother on 401 East 79th Street at the corner of First Avenue. The final two years of college we were housed in the Metropolitan Hospital?s nurses dormitory on 99th Street and First Avenue in Harlem. During all four years we took college courses as well as affiliated with the hospital so as a result I got to know Manhattan very well as I traversed the distance between the two. The wonder of New York City never left me even though eventually I left it to return home. The last time that I lived in New York City was in 1974 when I stayed with my girlfriend Joyce in Staten Island before I entered the U. S. Navy. The next time that I would see New York it would be brief visit in 1997. My husband and I drove through New York on the way to see mother?s family prior to going to upstate New York for mother?s funeral. We briefly drove through New York on the return trip. So in 2001 when our 40th high school reunion was planned for August 30th in upstate New York [Seneca Falls] it was an opportunity to show Charles the New York state that I had grown up with. The date we had to be in Seneca Falls was in the middle of the time that we could be gone, so we had a few days on each side of the reunion. There were a variety of ways we could drive up from southern Virginia but as the days grew closer it was decided to visit West Point at the head of the Hudson River that runs past Manhattan. As we approached New York City on the New Jersey Turnpike I was overwhelmed with the need to see it. We had not planned it ahead of time but as we saw the exit for Liberty Island Park we took it. We parked and walked to the water?s edge. From there I could see the Statue of Liberty as it stood just as it had so many years ago when I was a young girl walking around inside of it. Off to the left was the foot of Manhattan. The twin towers of the World Trade Center stood like stalwart columns tall against the horizon that I have known my entire life. Who could have imagined that Saturday August 25th as I lifted my video camera and then my still camera to capture the moments that I would never be able to take these same pictures again. Who could have conceived that in 17 days the landscape of New York would be changed forever as would be the landscape of our hearts as a nation. I am so glad we visited that day. The pictures of the World Trade Center from Liberty Park are stunning, especially the one with the statue in the foreground of the soldier carrying his wounded buddy. How unknowingly prophetic.
Fast forward to Sept 2001. Washington D.C. had always seemed secure for me, after all the President of the United States lived there. It was home for me from 1982-1986 when I was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Again, it was home during 1995-1998 when my husband, Charles, and I lived in nearby Virginia and both worked in the heart of downtown D.C. not far from the White House. As a nurse and Quality Assurance professional I had helped to write and carry out scenarios for disaster preparedness- scenarios that we fabricated while not believing they could actually become reality. The years spent in D.C. were busy ones dedicated to our Navy commitments. So when Charles was to selected to attend the CAPSTONE course in D.C. at Walter Reed September 10-14 it seemed a great opportunity for me to go with him and take the time to see some of the historical sites that I had not visited before as well as see some familiar ones that I enjoy seeing from time to time. This week was to be an opportunity for me to explore places that I had either had not had the opportunity to see in the past or some special places that I wanted to visit again. It was a time that I dedicated to the Lord for Him to lead me to do and be wherever He wanted me to be -- to be used as He saw fit.
On Monday September 10th I took the Walter Reed Hospital shuttle bus to the Tacoma metro station and from there got off at the Reagan World Trade Center. The metro empties into a lovely tree lined courtyard in the midst of this magnificent building. It was the first time I had seen it since it was finished. This day I spent seeing some of the Smithsonian museums. One art gallery had a traveling display on the history of the piano which was fascinating. It even included a rhinestone studded piano belonging to Liberace. This first day was also an opportunity to buy an all day metro rail pass that I could use for the day when I would do the most traveling from location to location. I planned that for either Tuesday or Wednesday for going to the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery. So on Monday evening I was deciding between the Pentagon/Arlington or the White House. On Tuesday morning I felt led to choose the White House. In the copy of the letter to David to follow which was written on Wednesday September 12th I share more of that planning process and the choices that I felt led to make.
The emotional innocence of Tuesday, 9-11, evaporated slowly for me that day. Perhaps because without a cell phone or a television information was slow in coming and it was coming from people surrounding me who were hearing it third hand and also not seeing it. For even later who could fathom what it would look like. If seeing in on TV is not the same as seeing it in person, then hearing it is not the same as seeing it. I did not feel afraid.
On Tuesday I was standing in line waiting to go into the White House from 8:30 AM until 9:40 when all of a sudden Secret Service agents started running past our line of people outside on the sidewalk next to the White House screaming for us to leave, to clear the area, to MOVE, MOVE, MOVE. With no explanation and no knowledge of what was happening in New York we were astonished to be told so forcefully to leave. It would not be until Wednesday afternoon that we would learn that the White House may have been the intended target of the attack instead of the Pentagon. Had that been the case I am certain I would have been standing before my Saviour instead of seated now at this computer.
For His grace and mercy I am indeed thankful, all the while knowing that although the area I was in was spared, so many others have suffered great loss and many families remain in uncertainty concerning their loved one.
On Thursday I returned to the White House and it was an opportunity to witness for the Lord. A chance to talk to staff in the White House about America's need to return to the righteousness that God desires us to demonstrate. All over the city I encountered roving reporters gathering news. As soon as they knew that I had been there first hand on Tuesday the camera man was instructed to begin taping while they asked questions. It was a marvelous opportunity to be a source of light and a testimony. One question was regarding my presence on Thursday after Tuesday's experience. The reporter wanted to know if I was afraid. When I replied that I was not afraid, it opened the door to tell why. The two of them listened as I shared that God was not surprised about Tuesday. That as far as I was concerned He already knew the number of my days and that nothing could happen to me that He had not already allowed to happen. That even if something happened to me that man would see as a tragic thing, God could even use that for good because I love Him and want to follow His purpose.
Often we are asked, ?Where were you when ?
Pearl Harbor was attacked ?
Kennedy was shot ?
Challenger exploded ?
Princess Diana?s tragic accident ?
After that day we will now be asked, ?Where were you on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the day America was attacked ?? The activities and actions of that day will be permanently and vividly etched in each mind while the details of other days gradually fade in comparison. The stories will vary, each one an individual snapshot of the hours, minutes, and seconds of that day, but one central fact will remain, that day 9-11-01, America, even this entire planet, was changed forever. America has joined the rest of the world in the realization that yes, it can indeed happen here.
My husband, Charles, and I praise the Lord for His sustaining mercies while we were in Washington, DC for a military conference he was attending. I especially am grateful for God?s mercy and guidance during those days.
As a young girl growing up in upstate New York, New York City was an extraordinarily fascinating place for me. Our family lived in Finger Lakes area of New York about eight hours away by auto travel. Our mother was born in New York City and grew up there. It is still home to her four sisters and one brother and so over the years we visited every summer, staying for at least one week. During those very special days our aunts and uncles took us to wonderful places, like nothing we had ever seen. The wonders of that parenthesis in time in the midst of summer served to fill the remainder of weeks of the year with the awe of places most of our friends had only read about- places like the Statue of Liberty- in those days one could actually walk into the arm and climb the inner circumference of the torch. The Empire State Building, then the tallest in the world, held the grandest view of the entire city. Standing at the top the wind that swept up the canyons of the city danced demandingly at the edge. To peer over the edge meant to remove one?s hat or lose it. So mighty was the wind that it could lift your contact lenses off your eye if you turned your head just so. Yet the view was so captivating, the closest thing to being a bird. The ride in the elevator was so gravity defying that the pit of your stomach had to catch up to the rest of your body. And so the visits went, Madison Square Garden [the old one] to see Barnum and Bailey Circus. Grand Central Station with trains coming and going to all parts of the country. The ride on the Staten Island Ferry to see Aunt Jeanette. And shopping, oh the shopping with Aunt Ann who knew all the best places.
Later after graduating high school, New York City would be my home for four years as I attended Hunter College on 57th street between Lexington and Park Avenues. For two years I lived with Aunt Ann and my grandmother on 401 East 79th Street at the corner of First Avenue. The final two years of college we were housed in the Metropolitan Hospital?s nurses dormitory on 99th Street and First Avenue in Harlem. During all four years we took college courses as well as affiliated with the hospital so as a result I got to know Manhattan very well as I traversed the distance between the two. The wonder of New York City never left me even though eventually I left it to return home. The last time that I lived in New York City was in 1974 when I stayed with my girlfriend Joyce in Staten Island before I entered the U. S. Navy. The next time that I would see New York it would be brief visit in 1997. My husband and I drove through New York on the way to see mother?s family prior to going to upstate New York for mother?s funeral. We briefly drove through New York on the return trip. So in 2001 when our 40th high school reunion was planned for August 30th in upstate New York [Seneca Falls] it was an opportunity to show Charles the New York state that I had grown up with. The date we had to be in Seneca Falls was in the middle of the time that we could be gone, so we had a few days on each side of the reunion. There were a variety of ways we could drive up from southern Virginia but as the days grew closer it was decided to visit West Point at the head of the Hudson River that runs past Manhattan. As we approached New York City on the New Jersey Turnpike I was overwhelmed with the need to see it. We had not planned it ahead of time but as we saw the exit for Liberty Island Park we took it. We parked and walked to the water?s edge. From there I could see the Statue of Liberty as it stood just as it had so many years ago when I was a young girl walking around inside of it. Off to the left was the foot of Manhattan. The twin towers of the World Trade Center stood like stalwart columns tall against the horizon that I have known my entire life. Who could have imagined that Saturday August 25th as I lifted my video camera and then my still camera to capture the moments that I would never be able to take these same pictures again. Who could have conceived that in 17 days the landscape of New York would be changed forever as would be the landscape of our hearts as a nation. I am so glad we visited that day. The pictures of the World Trade Center from Liberty Park are stunning, especially the one with the statue in the foreground of the soldier carrying his wounded buddy. How unknowingly prophetic.
Fast forward to Sept 2001. Washington D.C. had always seemed secure for me, after all the President of the United States lived there. It was home for me from 1982-1986 when I was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Again, it was home during 1995-1998 when my husband, Charles, and I lived in nearby Virginia and both worked in the heart of downtown D.C. not far from the White House. As a nurse and Quality Assurance professional I had helped to write and carry out scenarios for disaster preparedness- scenarios that we fabricated while not believing they could actually become reality. The years spent in D.C. were busy ones dedicated to our Navy commitments. So when Charles was to selected to attend the CAPSTONE course in D.C. at Walter Reed September 10-14 it seemed a great opportunity for me to go with him and take the time to see some of the historical sites that I had not visited before as well as see some familiar ones that I enjoy seeing from time to time. This week was to be an opportunity for me to explore places that I had either had not had the opportunity to see in the past or some special places that I wanted to visit again. It was a time that I dedicated to the Lord for Him to lead me to do and be wherever He wanted me to be -- to be used as He saw fit.
On Monday September 10th I took the Walter Reed Hospital shuttle bus to the Tacoma metro station and from there got off at the Reagan World Trade Center. The metro empties into a lovely tree lined courtyard in the midst of this magnificent building. It was the first time I had seen it since it was finished. This day I spent seeing some of the Smithsonian museums. One art gallery had a traveling display on the history of the piano which was fascinating. It even included a rhinestone studded piano belonging to Liberace. This first day was also an opportunity to buy an all day metro rail pass that I could use for the day when I would do the most traveling from location to location. I planned that for either Tuesday or Wednesday for going to the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery. So on Monday evening I was deciding between the Pentagon/Arlington or the White House. On Tuesday morning I felt led to choose the White House. In the copy of the letter to David to follow which was written on Wednesday September 12th I share more of that planning process and the choices that I felt led to make.
The emotional innocence of Tuesday, 9-11, evaporated slowly for me that day. Perhaps because without a cell phone or a television information was slow in coming and it was coming from people surrounding me who were hearing it third hand and also not seeing it. For even later who could fathom what it would look like. If seeing in on TV is not the same as seeing it in person, then hearing it is not the same as seeing it. I did not feel afraid.
On Tuesday I was standing in line waiting to go into the White House from 8:30 AM until 9:40 when all of a sudden Secret Service agents started running past our line of people outside on the sidewalk next to the White House screaming for us to leave, to clear the area, to MOVE, MOVE, MOVE. With no explanation and no knowledge of what was happening in New York we were astonished to be told so forcefully to leave. It would not be until Wednesday afternoon that we would learn that the White House may have been the intended target of the attack instead of the Pentagon. Had that been the case I am certain I would have been standing before my Saviour instead of seated now at this computer.
For His grace and mercy I am indeed thankful, all the while knowing that although the area I was in was spared, so many others have suffered great loss and many families remain in uncertainty concerning their loved one.
On Thursday I returned to the White House and it was an opportunity to witness for the Lord. A chance to talk to staff in the White House about America's need to return to the righteousness that God desires us to demonstrate. All over the city I encountered roving reporters gathering news. As soon as they knew that I had been there first hand on Tuesday the camera man was instructed to begin taping while they asked questions. It was a marvelous opportunity to be a source of light and a testimony. One question was regarding my presence on Thursday after Tuesday's experience. The reporter wanted to know if I was afraid. When I replied that I was not afraid, it opened the door to tell why. The two of them listened as I shared that God was not surprised about Tuesday. That as far as I was concerned He already knew the number of my days and that nothing could happen to me that He had not already allowed to happen. That even if something happened to me that man would see as a tragic thing, God could even use that for good because I love Him and want to follow His purpose.
Collection
Citation
“story6947.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/4175.