story9877.xml

story9877.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-11

It was a beautiful September day. I left for work at 8:25 am like always. This departure time would force me to be fashionably late but this was nothing new either. My mornings were always routine and I certainly wouldn?t want to throw someone else off in his or her day by my being on time.

Shortly after starting my computer and opening my email program, I received a ?Breaking News? email. The email stated that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. My first thoughts were, ?What an idiot, he must have flown too close.? I then felt guilty as I realized that the pilot might have suffered a heart attack or something. I opened MSNBC?s web site and saw an early picture of what was happening there. What a large whole for a small plane. I shrugged and made a mental note to follow the story when I got home. I then quickly settled into my work.

A short while later, a co-worker entered the room and asked if anyone saw that two planes had hit the WTC. I corrected him by saying I had read the article and it was only one plane. He said, ?No, there has been another one. They think they are hijacked commercial jets.? My stomach sank, my jaw dropped and I felt myself go numb. As the realization of terrorism washed over me, I frantically tried to get into MSNBC?s web page and couldn?t. My God, this was it. It was really happening.

I called my husband and he was watching on a TV someone had wheeled into his lab. He kept asking me if I was ok, as it was obvious I was in distress. After we hung up my baby sister called in tears. She told me the Pentagon had been hit. I started to panic. Our country was under attack! Suddenly, I felt completely vulnerable in a four-story building. I remember turning without thought to look out the window. ?Could there be a plane coming to destroy my office building?? I thought. Next, she told me that people were jumping to their death. She screamed as the first building crumbled.

In shock, I looked around. My co-workers were working like there was nothing going on. I wanted to run. I needed to find my girls and make sure they were ok. However, no one else was leaving. My manager returned to his morning meeting and life was going on, as usual. How strange was that? Were they all oblivious?

I walked to the ladies room as I began to hyperventilate. At the window, I gazed up at the sky and said a prayer for all of those in the midst of this chaos. My mind swirled as I tried to make sense of something that would never make any sense to me. How could anyone do such a thing? As I cried there alone in that window, I knew our lives were changed forever.