nmah4396.xml

nmah4396.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

When a coworker told me that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center, I thought he was joking. Then I learned that a second plane had hit. We were all gathered in the conference room, watching the news on TV, when we learned that a plane had just hit the Pentagon. Some people said they were leaving and I decided to join them. I work two blocks from the White House.

I walked home. I lived in DC at the time. When I reached Thomas Circle, I saw people watching something from a hotel roof. I turned around and saw the smoke from the Pentagon.

All that morning from my apartment I could see people walking up 16th Street. Most of them were talking on cell phones. I called my husband at work and urged him to come home. Finally he did. We were glued to the TV for the next 12 hours, when we weren't trying to call people.

I had all the typical thoughts--this is like a disaster movie, this is war. No one knew what would happen next. I still remember Peter Jennings saying that the second tower was peeling like a banana--only there were people inside. It was such a stupid thing to say.

We were very lucky. We didn't lose anyone we knew. My father's neighbor lost 25 coworkers at the Pentagon.

The next day I went to work as usual. Everyone came but it was very quiet.

It was strange, seeing the tanks in the street and snipers on the roof of the White House. They cleared all the homeless people out of Lafayette Square. Some of them had lived there for years.

Then there was the anthrax. For a while it was one thing after another. Mail would disappear for months. When it finally was delivered it was baked in a plastic bag.

At first, strangers were kind to one another. Drivers would let people merge in front of them. It went back to normal after a few weeks.

I'm more aware of how things can change but I try not to think about it.

We actually bid on a house near DC the day after the attacks. We had been planning to do it anyway. I had no intention of leaving; this is my home. I have tried to keep my life as normal as possible. I want to appreciate the life that I have now.

The people who suffered and died, and those who were left behind.

If the flag makes some people feel better, great. I don't think it changes a thing. The worst is when flags are pasted all over a big SUV. It's such a contradiction, only people don't see it. I had a bumper sticker made that says "Be patriotic, conserve gas." There is a small flag on that sticker.