story10356.xml

story10356.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-21

Australia is about 16 hours ahead of the USA so I first saw the newsflash at 11pm. My God. A plane has hit the WTC. My big brother is on vacation in NY. He called me from the Empire State Building earlier today. I didn't know where to contact him so I stayed up all night watching the news updates and hoping he'd call. At 6am my time he called in tears telling me he'd lost his friend who worked at the Windows restaurant. "Who's responsible for this?", I asked and he said a name that I hadn't heard before but I think everyone in the world now knows. Bin Laden. I called my friends. Some didn't realise what had happened as they'd gone to sleep before it was broadcast. At that time I had 3 children. I felt sick wondering if any small children had lost their lives. My husband, a giant Cook Islander was moved to tears as we watched people holding up signs showing photos of their loved ones. Photos of happy, smiling faces. People who didn't realise the awful fate that lay ahead of them. Innocent victims in a hateful act of terrorism. On the first anniversary of the attacks my brother was on a local talk show (he's a psychiatrist) offering advice and encouragement to those in need when he announced that his sister in Australia (me!) had delivered a beautiful baby boy. A little bit of happiness on a sad, sad day. People cheered and cried. On the second anniversary of September 11 I delivered another baby, this time a delightful little girl. The lives of my babies can never replace those that were lost but I will teach them the significance of their birthdate and encourage them to lead good, caring lives. In memory of those we will never forget.