story2668.xml
Title
story2668.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I count myself among those fortunate Americans who does not know any of the Sept. 11 victims. I didn't know anyone on the planes, in the towers, at the Pentagon. Yet we are all brothers and sisters as Americans and I still feel an immense anger and grief over what happened to us. I love America and I feel like I knew everyone who died. I've read every story I can get my hands on. The pilots, the firemen and women, the police, the employees, the passengers, their families. In a sense I needed to feel bonded with them to overcome some of my own grief.
I remember talking to my father about an hour after terror struck our country. I was crying into the phone, "Dad, I don't know what to do. It's horrible. I feel horrible. Should I go get the kids out of school? This is the worst day of my life. It's the worst day in America." He quietly responded, "Terri, I lived through the days of Pearl Harbor and WWII, and this is the worst day of MY life too."
I spent hours in front of the television and reading every newspaper and magazine I could get my hands on.
I still do. I still feel anger that my children are scared and that something has been taken from us forever. I feel sorrow for the families. I feel pride in my President and military. Am I different? You bet. We have flown an American flag at our house daily for 10 years and we will always do so. I've always had a bathroom decorated in patriotic symbols of red, white and blue. My patriotism hasn't wavered but grown. I still love my husband and children as much as ever, yet I hug them a little harder and keep them closer.
I'll never forget sitting on the couch a year ago watching the morning news on CNN when it changed quickly to the towers and one on fire. I'll never forget screaming, "OH MY GOD, it has to be terrorism," as I watched a second plane hit the towers. And, feeling like I had never felt in my life. Real fear.
Thank you for the opportunity to write. I know thousands of storie will be more compelling than mine. I know because I've been reading those stories for a year.
I remember talking to my father about an hour after terror struck our country. I was crying into the phone, "Dad, I don't know what to do. It's horrible. I feel horrible. Should I go get the kids out of school? This is the worst day of my life. It's the worst day in America." He quietly responded, "Terri, I lived through the days of Pearl Harbor and WWII, and this is the worst day of MY life too."
I spent hours in front of the television and reading every newspaper and magazine I could get my hands on.
I still do. I still feel anger that my children are scared and that something has been taken from us forever. I feel sorrow for the families. I feel pride in my President and military. Am I different? You bet. We have flown an American flag at our house daily for 10 years and we will always do so. I've always had a bathroom decorated in patriotic symbols of red, white and blue. My patriotism hasn't wavered but grown. I still love my husband and children as much as ever, yet I hug them a little harder and keep them closer.
I'll never forget sitting on the couch a year ago watching the morning news on CNN when it changed quickly to the towers and one on fire. I'll never forget screaming, "OH MY GOD, it has to be terrorism," as I watched a second plane hit the towers. And, feeling like I had never felt in my life. Real fear.
Thank you for the opportunity to write. I know thousands of storie will be more compelling than mine. I know because I've been reading those stories for a year.
Collection
Citation
“story2668.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 17, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/8892.