story10745.xml
Title
story10745.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-08-10
911DA Story: Story
The towers had been hit by the time I was leaving for work, three time zones and a continent away. I'd not set my clock radio the night before, so I heard no news and was scrambling to get ready to go to work - a 30-minute commute by bus.
When I boarded my bus, I notice something very strange - only two passengers. Usually, the bus was full at that time. The driver and both passengers were grim-faced and silent. I arrived at my office building in downtown Portland still oblivious to what was happening in New York, the nation's capital and Pennsylvania.
When I got to my office, I ducked into the men's room to put on my necktie. I encountered a co-worker, who said, "Man, isn't this all terrible?" I said, "What's so terrible?"
"You haven't heard?" he said incredulously. "Planes hit the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, and another plane is missing over Pennsylvania."
That was all I needed to hear. My younger sister is a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, and I knew she was flying on the East Coast that day. Her fiancee, a musician, was living in New York and playing in the orchestra of "The Producers." I didn't know where he worked in relation to the Twin Towers. So I went straight to the telephone and called my parents in Eugene, Oregon.
Lord be thanked, both my sister and brother-in-law were safe. My sister was stranded in Cincinnati, as all planes were grounded. She did not fly for United, so she had not lost any colleagues on the hijacked planes. But she was still badly shaken by the awful events of the morning, and of course, regardless of airline, all who make their living in the sky feel a special bond with each another.
Her fiancee was stuck at home with no subway to get him from the Bronx to the theatre district - a moot point, since Broadway went dark that night for the first time since President Kennedy's assasination.
Via e-mail, I hunted down other close friends in New York and learned that they were safe. One, a Columbia University doctoral candidate, described the atmosphere as "incredibly surreal."
That evening, the bus was full for the trip home. There was a real sense of community aboard the bus, unlike most days when people shut off from others. We talked about the tragedy, about how sad and broken a city New York must be at that moment. A New Yorker in the group, an Italian-American from Brooklyn, suddenly spoke up.
"Don't any of you worry about New York," he said, grimly but proudly and defiantly. "She's been through disasters before, and picked herself up and carried on, and she'll do it again. Don't worry. You'll see. New York's tough!"
That lifted all of our spirits. One woman in the group had a boyfriend from Brooklyn, and it turned out that our staunch newcomer from the Big Apple knew they boyfriend's family. The talk drifted away from the tragedy to a small-world, "who knows who"" gabfest, and it was wonderful to be part of a community drawn together - in adversity, yes, but together - and bringing comfort and cheer to one another. Despite a heavy heart for the attack on our country and the lives lost, that helped end that terrible 9-11-2001 with a small bright hope for the future.
When I boarded my bus, I notice something very strange - only two passengers. Usually, the bus was full at that time. The driver and both passengers were grim-faced and silent. I arrived at my office building in downtown Portland still oblivious to what was happening in New York, the nation's capital and Pennsylvania.
When I got to my office, I ducked into the men's room to put on my necktie. I encountered a co-worker, who said, "Man, isn't this all terrible?" I said, "What's so terrible?"
"You haven't heard?" he said incredulously. "Planes hit the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, and another plane is missing over Pennsylvania."
That was all I needed to hear. My younger sister is a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, and I knew she was flying on the East Coast that day. Her fiancee, a musician, was living in New York and playing in the orchestra of "The Producers." I didn't know where he worked in relation to the Twin Towers. So I went straight to the telephone and called my parents in Eugene, Oregon.
Lord be thanked, both my sister and brother-in-law were safe. My sister was stranded in Cincinnati, as all planes were grounded. She did not fly for United, so she had not lost any colleagues on the hijacked planes. But she was still badly shaken by the awful events of the morning, and of course, regardless of airline, all who make their living in the sky feel a special bond with each another.
Her fiancee was stuck at home with no subway to get him from the Bronx to the theatre district - a moot point, since Broadway went dark that night for the first time since President Kennedy's assasination.
Via e-mail, I hunted down other close friends in New York and learned that they were safe. One, a Columbia University doctoral candidate, described the atmosphere as "incredibly surreal."
That evening, the bus was full for the trip home. There was a real sense of community aboard the bus, unlike most days when people shut off from others. We talked about the tragedy, about how sad and broken a city New York must be at that moment. A New Yorker in the group, an Italian-American from Brooklyn, suddenly spoke up.
"Don't any of you worry about New York," he said, grimly but proudly and defiantly. "She's been through disasters before, and picked herself up and carried on, and she'll do it again. Don't worry. You'll see. New York's tough!"
That lifted all of our spirits. One woman in the group had a boyfriend from Brooklyn, and it turned out that our staunch newcomer from the Big Apple knew they boyfriend's family. The talk drifted away from the tragedy to a small-world, "who knows who"" gabfest, and it was wonderful to be part of a community drawn together - in adversity, yes, but together - and bringing comfort and cheer to one another. Despite a heavy heart for the attack on our country and the lives lost, that helped end that terrible 9-11-2001 with a small bright hope for the future.
Collection
Citation
“story10745.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed April 16, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/5352.