story685.xml

story685.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-05-29

It was about 7:48am (Central time)when I got off the elevator onto the 22nd floor of the office building where I work. There were some people from my floor who were in the conference room next to my office suite who heard me and yelled at me to come into the room and see the TV---they were saying that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I ran into the room and just then the second plane hit, and I thought it was a replay of the first plane...the other people were yelling and saying, no it wasn't a replay, another plane just hit the WTC! I immediately thought that this was no accident. I went into my office and pulled out the TV and watched the events that were unfolding. Then my boss called and told me to go home. It was about 8:30am by then, and I looked out my office window and saw that the building across the river was being evacuated. I turned on the radio and heard that most of downtown Chicago was evacuating. I checked the Metra commuter train schedule and learned that the next train out was at 10:30 am, not even thinking that the trains would not be running a regular schedule due to the fact that thousands and thousands of people were leaving the city at the same time. Nevertheless, I stayed in the office long enough to watch as the WTC towers imploded. When I went outside, there were hordes of people headed to the train station. Incredibly, I found a friend who lives near me and also rides the same train. We made our way to the station and down to the tracks. There was a train sitting there and scores of people were getting on it. My friend wanted to wait for the next train, but I insisted on getting on this one. We were some of the last to get on and had to stand most of the way home.
Earlier, while still at the office, I called my son who is an aviation student at a local university. I woke him up and asked if he'd pick me up at the train station. He said he had a flight lesson, and I told him he would not be flying any time soon. I told him about the WTC attacks, and he was still sure that he'd be flying. But I told him to pick me up at the station, and that was that. He later told me that when I hung up, his flight instructor called and said there would be no flight lessons until further notice.

I got off the train and my son was waiting to pick me up. The first thing he said to me was that the attack was orchestrated by Osama bin Laden. I didn't even know who bin Laden was. He said OBL had said several weeks ago that there would be an attack on America.

By this time, it was about 12:30 and we were both hungry. We stopped at a small restaurant along the way home to grab a bite. There were a lot of people there, mostly older ladies and men in their 60s and 70s. There was also a TV hanging from the ceiling. The TV was showing the attack, but strangely, all of the people were sitting at their tables, eating and talking as if a boring movie was on. America was being attacked, but they couldn't be bothered.

When I got home, the first thing I did was grab the American flag and hang it outside. I spent most of the next 8 hours glued to the TV set.

That evening, my husband and I went to our church for an impromptu prayer service. While walking to the church, we looked up to the sky. It was an eerie feeling, not seeing nor hearing any planes. We live in flight paths of two major airports, O'Hare and Chicago Midway, so it was especially noticeable.

Fast-forward to today, May 29, 2002:
My son is still an aviation student. I pray that nothing happens to him.

I pray for all who have been touched by the terrible tragedy of 9/11/01.