nmah5657.xml

nmah5657.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-07

My husband works at home in northern Virginia and that morning, I was going into work later after picking my old car up from the body shop. He starts his coffee and turns on CNN every morning while checking newsgroups online. He told me right away when the first plane hit the World Trade Center when it first came on CNN. We were in disbelief like everyone else and just mesmerized by the footage we were seeing. After the second plane hit, we put the volume on mute while we started trying to call relatives. It was then we heard the crash at the Pentagon--it was so clear what it was--and it just sent chills down our spines. I ended up not even going into work at American University--the university closed that morning so everyone could be home with their families.

Reality really set in when I called my one sister in our area to find out if she had heard from my other sister who works at Deutsche Bank across from the South Tower in New York. She did talk to her immediately after the first plane hit but then the phone lines jammed up. She ended up getting out after the first plane hit and her coworkers and her got out and on the ferry to Staten Island as it all unfolded. Because the phones were jammed in New York and DC, she couldn't get in touch with us in the DC area nor her husband in midtown Manhatten. We found out she was okay when around noon she was able to get in touch with her mother-in-law in Richmond who then was able to get in touch with us and her husband.

When my neighbors started coming home that afternoon early, it seemed everyone had a 9/11 story. One works for the State Department and they were evacuated because of a supposed bomb threat. Another was heading on a metro bus from an early morning meeting to his work at the Pentagon and saw the plane hit the Pentagon from the bus. He's in the military and had just moved here a month earlier. Even American University received bomb threats later that week and we were sent home. Everyone was on edge. There was just that sense of fear throughout.

Because I drive along and across the Potomac River every day, a lot of planes follow the river down to National Airport to land. That was the first time I really became aware of the planes and heard them flying overhead and a fear would rush over me especially being in the DC area. Also, my coworkers and I got used to hearing the fighter jets flying around the city daily. We'd hear them around lunchtime come by American University.

I am not sure that my life has directly changed but I think there is a feeling of paranoia of waiting for what might happened next. And I don't think that feeling will ever go away.

Besides the victims and their families who will be remembered that day, we have to remember our basic liberties that were attacked that day and we should look to the future for better ways to protect our freedom.

I did not fly a flag after 9/11 but choosing not to fly the flag does not mean I am not patriotic. I celebrate my patriotism by my words.