story970.xml

story970.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-05

My name is Lindsay, I'm 25 years old and I work as a nanny for a little boy named Sam who lives in Boxford. The morning of Sept 11th, I was watching Sam (who was then 8 months old) and we were doing as we normally did...playing, singing, and having fun. Oddly enough the phone that morning was ringing off the hook. I wasn't answering it because I usually let it go to the machine, but I also wasn't paying attention to the people who were calling and leaving messages. After about 6 messages, I heard Sam's grandfather on the line saying, "We haven't heard from John yet, call me when you get this." I had no idea what he meant, but I knew that John was Sam's uncle, his father's brother. The phone immediately rang again, and it was Sam's mother, Cathy. She asked if I had seen the news, to which I replied no, and she said to turn on the tv and have her husband call her the minute he got in. I hung up the phone and turned on the tv, not knowing what I was going to see. And there it was, both of the Twin Towers on fire, with headlines saying airplanes had just crashed into them. I was absolutely appalled. I honestly didn't understand what was going on, so I called my father. As he was explaining that they thought it was a terrorist attack, we both watched as the first tower fell to the ground. Neither of us expected that, and all I remember saying was..."Oh my God!" I hung up with him after a bit, and sat glued to the tv. I didn't know what to do. Finally, Sam's father came home and I found out that the reason they were worried and were looking for his brother John was because he worked on the 27th floor of one of the towers. The did eventually hear from him. He had gotten out very early when everything began to happen that morning, but he couldn't find any other way home but to walk. Not to mention that his cell phone wouldn't work, so he was finally able to call later that afternoon when he made it home. My day at work ended very soon thereafter because Sam's mom came home, she needed to be with her family, and they didn't want to keep me there.
I just remember driving home, completely blank. It was like my head was spinning with the images and the thoughts of what I had seen and heard, but that it wasn't really happening. That it couldn't have happened. I think a lot of people felt that way. There was a dead feeling everywhere you went. And everyone seemed to just be moving and working in a monotonous fashion, only because they had to.
I remember several years ago my parents telling me how they remembered exactly where they were and what they were doing when President Kennedy was shot, I know now what that feels like. I will never forget that day, the things I saw, and heard, and the way I felt in the midst of all of it.