story4566.xml

story4566.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

This day began the same as every other day in my life. Wake up, take our two sons to school, retun home to get ready for my day. Try to be out the door asap. I had just gotten into my Jeep and headed toward downtown South Bend. I turned up the radio and thought that I had tuned into some modern day version of War of the Worlds. I was so sure that what I was hearing was some sort of joke, or a recording of some type of a play. I remember feeling instantly sick, as the realization of what I was hearing was slowly sinking in. I had such an overwhelming desire to go back and get my children out of school and keep them close to me. I mindlessly drove in the direction that I was headed, completely forgeting about the demands of my day. Then I thought "This is not a large Metropolitan City, We are safe here." Then it hit me like a slap in the face! One of my close friend's youngest son lives and works in New York City, close to the Twin Towers. The twist was that her son had recently sustained a severe leg injury, was on cruches, and had just that week returned to work. I knew that my friend was at home alone and I was afraid that she would have to go through all of this alone, until her husband could get home from work. I drove straight to her house and hurried in through the back door. She took one look at me, held her arms out, said my name, hugged me and began to cry. We remained glued to the television for what felt like days. My friend and her family were one of the lucky ones. Her son managed to meet up with his fiance' a few hours after the first attack. She managed to help him struggle along on his cruches, toward Central Park. Ironically that is where the first met. They could only go a coulpe of blocks and he could not go on. A man on a rickshaw type bicycle had offered his assistance. That man peddled both of them the rest of the way into Central Park. The gentleman refused to take any money for his efforts. This story has a happy ending. If only it were that easy. A few key strokes on my keyboard, and everyone had escaped the disaster. We could take it all back, make it just a bad dream. The helplessness that is still felt by so many people. We all know that life must go on!! It's all very different now. Our son will be 18 years old in October. I know that it's on his mind that on his birthday he will be registering for the draft. The meaning of that was all very different a little over a year ago. We live in the greatest country in the world. I have personally taken so much for granted. NEVER AGAIN!!!! God Bless American and all of her People!
D. Gallippo