story3484.xml
Title
story3484.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
Early morning on September 11th, my husband had just left for work. I was just waking up and turned on the T.V., expecting to see Good Morning America. The image I saw was the World Trade Center tower on fire, with an airplane sticking out from the side. At that time, no one knew that this was not just a tragic accident. Then, while I was watching, the second plane struck the second tower. The shock was tremendous - we now knew this was not an accident, but must be a vicious attack on innocent citizens.
My son, daughter-in-law, and 4 grandchildren (ages 12, 4, 3 and 1) were visiting from Florida. My daughter-in-law received a call on her cell phone from her sister, knowing it was very early on the West coast, but wondering if she had heard the news. They knocked on my bedroom door and we all sat together crying and praying. My husband called from work - afraid I was still sleeping but wanting me to know what was happening. Many phone calls after that - "Do you know...", "Have you heard...", none of us being able to talk clearly or make much sense of things, but needing to reach out and make contact with loved ones. My daughter, who lives in Florida, called just to say that she loved us. A very unusual thing for her to do but in this strange world we now lived in she also felt the need to express her love of family. All she could think about was getting home to her husband and children, ages 4 and 2. I know we all gave our kids a special hug and kiss that day.
My kids were scheduled to head back to Florida from Oregon in a few days. Of course, at that time, no one knew when flights would resume. My son was able to get a flight out the first day service was resumed. We were all very concerned, but knew security would be very tight. His 4 year old son was especially worried, but we were able to keep him occupied all day until his Dad called to let us know that he was home, safe and sound. The rest of the family stayed for an additional week, but then had to go home. A very hard thing to do, especially for the kids, but they wanted to get home to see their Dad. After a long, tense flight everyone was back together.
We are lucky in the fact that we didn't have any friends or family lost in the terror attacks. However, we are all family in a time like this and we weep and grieve for everyone killed or injured. There were so many heroes that day - common people thrust into a situation where they showed how Americans step forward in times of need. I know there were people of many faiths and nationalities involved that day, but, I'm sure in their heart, they were all Americans that tragic day.
God Bless the United States of America
My son, daughter-in-law, and 4 grandchildren (ages 12, 4, 3 and 1) were visiting from Florida. My daughter-in-law received a call on her cell phone from her sister, knowing it was very early on the West coast, but wondering if she had heard the news. They knocked on my bedroom door and we all sat together crying and praying. My husband called from work - afraid I was still sleeping but wanting me to know what was happening. Many phone calls after that - "Do you know...", "Have you heard...", none of us being able to talk clearly or make much sense of things, but needing to reach out and make contact with loved ones. My daughter, who lives in Florida, called just to say that she loved us. A very unusual thing for her to do but in this strange world we now lived in she also felt the need to express her love of family. All she could think about was getting home to her husband and children, ages 4 and 2. I know we all gave our kids a special hug and kiss that day.
My kids were scheduled to head back to Florida from Oregon in a few days. Of course, at that time, no one knew when flights would resume. My son was able to get a flight out the first day service was resumed. We were all very concerned, but knew security would be very tight. His 4 year old son was especially worried, but we were able to keep him occupied all day until his Dad called to let us know that he was home, safe and sound. The rest of the family stayed for an additional week, but then had to go home. A very hard thing to do, especially for the kids, but they wanted to get home to see their Dad. After a long, tense flight everyone was back together.
We are lucky in the fact that we didn't have any friends or family lost in the terror attacks. However, we are all family in a time like this and we weep and grieve for everyone killed or injured. There were so many heroes that day - common people thrust into a situation where they showed how Americans step forward in times of need. I know there were people of many faiths and nationalities involved that day, but, I'm sure in their heart, they were all Americans that tragic day.
God Bless the United States of America
Collection
Citation
“story3484.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed November 22, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/8683.