nmah6364.xml

nmah6364.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-11-18

I had just turned 18 and moved out of our house with my boyfriend. I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. I woke the morning of september the 11th to the phone ringing. It was my mother. She was telling me to get over to her house ASAP. So i got up and got in the car, drove across town and when i got there, i couldn't believe what i was seeing on the tv screen. Replay over and over again of the first plane hitting the trade center. I flopped down in my chair unable to take my eyes away from the screen. She also had our home scanner on and we could hear the police and other rescue departments in our area discussing what was going on. You have to understand that we live in Illinois, and New York although in the united states seemed so far away at that moment. Then we began to hear things like, "they are locking down the Byron Nuclear Plant". They think it could be a target. At that moment my mother and myself started to really worry, because my stepfather was a management member at the nuclear plant. At that exact moment in time reality hit and it wasn't that New York was far away, it was like it was the next state over. Although worried we still could take our eyes off of the television. We then see the second plane hit the other tower. It was like disbelief had set in. You could see people running for their lives on television, and you could feel the threat that they were feeling. It was one of the scariest moments in my life. But it was almost like watching a tv show, one with a fake plot. You found yourself thinking that the show was going to be over and you were going to get a to be continued message on the screen. but we didn't then came across that a plane had crashed in a pennsylvanian field, then into the pentagon, and we really started to worry about an attack closer to us. I worked at a convenience store at the time. People were coming in and buying us out of everything, a man came in and said if you don't have much gas in your cars you better get to the gas station because our gas sources are going to run out. I looked down the street to the gas station and there were cars lined up for a mile and a half trying to get in. I just remember praying that i didn't go into labor on such a horrendous day. That I didn't want my daughters birthday to be a remembrance of something so bad. Now I think that it would have been ok for that to be her birthday, instead of remembering the terror, she could have remembered the heros and all the brave people inside the planes and buildings that were fighting for everyones lives. I will never forget this day, I will only try to forget the cowards who drove the planes into the buildings throwing away peoples lives like they meant nothing.

Everyone that was there, the scared, the small, the weak, the fireman, EMS, and Police who risked and some even lost thier lives to save someone that they didn't even know. Who didn't think twice about their actions.

We flew an american flag before and after the attacks. We have always loved the flag and our country.