story4924.xml

story4924.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

Oregon is in a different time zone (3 hours behind NY) so I was awakened by news broadcasts on my clock radio instead of music. There was such an urgency in the reports that I thought for a moment I must be dreaming and said 'oh, shut up' to the radio. After a few moments, I was able to focus on what was being said and got up to turn on the television. The visions were shocking and I truly thought this must be the end of the world as we know it. My husband was worried about his daughter (Michelle) who was living in New York City - we didn't know exactly where she was at that moment, but we knew she and her husband were expecting their first child in October; we also knew she was on maternity leave. My husband tried to phone her and, of course, all the lines were busy. In desperation, he called Michelle's mom (his ex-wife) in Portland, Oregon and got her message machine. He said he was very worried about Michelle and Chris (her husband) and asked that he be called when the message was received. He left for work, still not knowing anything about Michelle. In about 2 hours Michelle's mother called. She was in New York visiting with Michelle but had called Oregon to check her messages; Michelle was ok and Chris had been in New Jersey on business that day. The bridges into NY were closed so Chris couldn't get back for a day or two, but at least they were both safe. Since then, Michelle and Chris have become parents to Grayson, a most beautiful son and have moved to White Plains. They lived 15 blocks from ground zero.