nmah5500.xml

nmah5500.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-04-16

I work at night in Washington, D.C. and get home around 6 a.m., so I was asleep when the first plane hit. I remember I kept having dreams about people coming to my house, all trying to tell me something. The phone was ringing like crazy, but I ignored it because it was only 9 a.m. and everyone who knows me knows I am asleep. Finally, I had a dream where my husband handed me a cell phone and I said "I guess I need to get a cell phone, right?" That's when I woke up and decided I had better answer the phone because my dream was trying to tell me something important. I picked it up but got a busy signal. Upon looking at the caller ID, I saw it was my husband so I knew it had to be something important for him to call me so early. I tried to call him back but could not get through. I keep the TV on while I'm asleep and could hear it in the background, but was not really paying attention. I was more concerned with getting in touch with my husband. Finally, I turned around and saw the first plane hit the tower. I was stunned!!!! At first I thought it was just an accident, a horrible accident. My first thought was how would all the people get rescued from the building and that we would be watching this all day on TV. That's when I saw the second plane hit and realized that this was no accident at all. WE WERE BEING ATTACKED!!!!!!! That's when the phone rang again and my husband's first words were "Wake UP!!!" I told him I was awake and would be for the rest of the day. To see that second plane hit was surreal. Then, as I started flipping through the channels, I heard about the Pentagon being hit also. I sat on my bed for more than an hour just stunned!!!! My husband left his job as soon as he heard the Pentagon was also attacked and was home by 10:30, while most people were still stuck on 395 or walking home. As shocking as it was to see all the news coverage of the planes being hit, I was really unprepared when the first tower fell. It was as if the day couldn't get any worse, yet it kept getting worse and worse as the day wore on. We both just sat there staring at the TV, trying to see if I knew anyone who worked at the Pentagon or who had a loved one there and wondering whether we should get our kids out of school. Well, that didn't take long and they were home by 12:30. I remember trying to explain to my 8 year-old the events of that day and why it was happending and not being able to totally comprehend it myself. Relatives and friends from all over started calling to check on us and we could hear military aircraft flying over our house. We are in Andrews AFB's flight path and normally hear them overhead at least once a day, but that day it was different because they were flying so fast and flying all day. I sat stunned for 3 days watching all of the coverage and not going to work because there was a state of emergency in the city and my job was not important enough to risk going into the city. My route to work takes gives me a spectacular view of the capital as I cross over a bridge and as I went to work that Friday, all I could think about was the people who had to drive past the Pentagon every day and see the destruction.

I took our video camera and drove past the Pentagon about a week later to take a video of the destruction. Strange as it sounds, I had to have this engraved on my brain so that I could NEVER forget the feelings of that day.

My life has changed because I am much more aware of world events than I used to be. My husband was in the Air Force and would always tell me I needed to be more aware of current events. It was on September 11 that I realized how true that was. I also realized what real fear was that day. Not fear of success or failure or any host of things we fear, but real fear of the people on the planes and in the buildings.

The human spirit that was so apparent that day and in the days afterwards. From the firefighters and police who gave their lives doing their jobs, to the people on the side of the roads who held signs and cheered the rescue workers. But especially the workers trapped in the towers who jumped to their deaths and the passengers of Flight 93 who saved countless others on the ground from more death and destruction. The human spirit is amazing.

I never really thought too much about flying the American flag before September 11, but I had a sticker in my car and a flag in my house afterwards.