nmah6198.xml

nmah6198.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-11

September 11, 2001, started just like any other weekday in my home, alarm goes off, get the kids up and ready for school, get myself ready and then drive myself to work. I remember that it was another, beautiful sunny morning here in Ocala, Florida. I got to work that morning a little after 8:00 a.m. since it was my job to get the mail in the morning and I remember turning on the radio to listen to some music, because after all why would this day be any differnt than any other day. Boy was I wrong. I remember that I was listening to a song on the radio when the DJ cut in and said that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York. I immediately ran out of my office and ran into a co-workers office and asked her if she heard what I heard, she said yes. We then went around the office asking the other ladies if they heard it too. During that time the attorney's wife had called in and was confirming what I had heard. I couldn't belive it. I called my parents who live in Miami, Florida and told them what I had heard. I remember that my father immediately turned on the TV and there it was, he started to give me a play by play of what the newscaster was saying. I was in shock, I grew up in New York and had visited the Twin Towers many times during my years of living in the Big Apple. I hung up with my father and told my co-workers that since I lived 5 minutes from the office I would run home and get a T.V. I ran home, picked up a TV and hurried back to work never dreaming that we would witness the second plane crashing into the other tower. I remember that my co-workers and I were having a discussion about whether this was a terrosit attack or not. We were split at that time, and then I turned towards the TV and saw the other plane crash and I remember screaming "Oh my god, another plane just crashed, another plane just crashed into the other tower, what the hell is going on." It got very quiet in the office. I remember looking at my co-worker and both her and I had tears in our eyes. Of course no one worked much the rest of the day, the phones stopped ringing, parents were going to the school across the street from the office and pulling their kids out of school for fear of another attack. We were glued to the TV, no one budged, we were all in shock that this could happen here in the United States of America. Finally around 1:00p.m. the attorney called in and told us to close the office and go home. I remember going home only to turn on the TV and watch the replay of events over and over again and wondering "why". When my children came home that afternoon I tried to explain to them what had happended, but how do you explain something so horrible to a 1st grader and a 4th grader. I remember my youngest daughter asking me why I was crying and I told her mommy grew up in New York and I had visited the twin towers many times and the view from the observatory in the towers was breath taking and that is something that I would never be able to see again. She just looked at me, so I asked her if she would like to see some pictures of the twin towers that her grandpa (my father) had taken when we visited there as children. My daughters and I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening going through old photo albums and looking at pictures of my old home town of New York City.

I realized that your life can change in a heartbeat through no fault of your own and that you should live your life to the fullest and cherish your love ones for as long as you can, and alway remember to let them know how much you love them, even if they don't want to hear it sometimes.

We need to remember all the passengers on those ill fated flight that lost their lifes, the fireman, policemen, policewomen,harbor patrol, civilians, the workers at the towers, the workers at the Pentagon,the volounteers, search and rescue teams, and everyone else that lost their lives or helped in the search and rescue missions that followed September 11. In short we need to remember the American Spirit, and how on that one day America came together and truly became One Nation Under God.

It took me until September 12, 2001 at 4:45 p.m. to find a store that was not sold out of American flag. Ever since that evening that same flag has flown in my home in Florida and when my husband, children, and I relocated to Georgia, that flag came with us and it flies over my new home proudly today as it will for years to come. As far as my feelings having changed about the American flag, the only thing that has changed is that I will now proudly display the flag on my home, which was something that as a family we never thought of doing and by displaying the American flag we feel that we are showing our support for America.