nmah6500.xml

nmah6500.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-04-14

I was running late for work. I am usually in the building by 8:30, but for whatever reason, it was 8:45 and I was just turning the last corner to Frisby. I was listening to the radio, and they broke in with the announcement that CNN was saying that a 767 had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I work for an Aerospace company that makes parts for the 767, and my first thought was "God, I hope it wasn't one of our parts that caused the crash!".

I walked into work and told some of the others about what I had heard, and they had heard it too. There was confusion about what kind of plane it was and all. We were all just going about our normal workday, making mention of it and wondering if anyone had heard anything else. Then, the girl that sat next to me was on the phone with her mother and yelled "What???!!! Oh my God!!! Another plane just hit the other tower!!!"

We all just sat there in disbelief. It was at that very moment that I knew something was wrong. That is wasn't "just an accident". I knew that it was intentional, and I was mortified.

I called my husband at work. They hadn't heard anything. So they did as we all did, and started getting on the Internet and listening to the radio for the latest news. Then it came, and came, and came. There was an hour of just one thing after another. The towers started collapsing...the plane hit the Pentagon...Pennsylvania.

My oldest daughter (13 years old at that time) was home sick from school. I tried for an hour to get her on the phone. She had taken some medication that obviously knocked her out. I didn't want her to wake up and turn the TV or the Radio on and see what we were seeing. I wanted to tell her first. She finally answered the phone and I said "Baby, before you turn the TV on, I need to tell you that there is some bad stuff going on in our country. I need you to understand that you are safe."

She listened, then while I was on the phone with her, she turned on the TV and said "Oh my God". That's all she could say. She watched as one of the towers fell. I hung up with her and we all started taking turns watching TV in our Conference Room.

My daughter would call me with updates ever time she heard something new. The most hysterical call was when the plane in Pennsylvania crashed. She called me and said "Mom!!!! They're coming this way!!!"

I've never felt so violated in my life. Never so mad. Never so scared. I assured her that she was safe, but how did I know? I didn't. I just did what any mother would do and comfort her in her time of need.

I started receiving phone calls from friend asking me if I wanted them to go pick my children up from school. I told them NO. I couldn't leave work, and thought that the safest place for them other than with me and my husband, would be at school. Also telling them that my oldest was already at home. I was very impressed with the teachers at my daughter's school. My child (9 years old) went through the entire school day, and did not know anything. The principal had made the decision to let the parents tell their children of the terrible things that had gone on that morning. After speaking to my 9-year-old, I told my oldest daughter to turn the radio and the TV off and not to turn either of them on until AFTER my husband and I were at home. They'd had enough for one day.

When my husband and I got home, we hugged our children and told them how much we loved them. What a day. One I will never, ever forget.

Yes, drastically. I went to bed on September 10th with the feeling of being safe. I woke up to my worst nightmare. I was, all of a sudden, living in a country where I couldn't tell my children that they were safe from terrorism. I could no longer look at them and know that we were all going to be okay. I can't look at them today and tell them that nothing like this will ever happen in the USA. It already has, and they watched it. I am so angered by that. It's one of those days that will forever be burned into our History.

Of course all of the men, women and children that lost their lives, and their loved ones.

I will always remember the feeling of complete "out of controllness" that I felt.

I will always remember that I was thankful that George W. Bush was our President and that he was willing to stand up for our people and our country. He was willing to tell the world that we would find the people responsible for these acts.

I guess you can say that I wasn't the most patriotic person in the world prior to 9/11. I didn't fly a flag, or where a ribbon, or have a magnet on my car. On 9/12/01, I, along with millions of others became the most patriotic person in America. I got the magnet for my car, I got the ribbon to pin on my shirt everyday. Oh yes, very patriotic.