I was driving a fork lift at LLBean. One of the most fun jobs I ever had by the way. Anyways we had been told about the first plane and the control clerk turned the radio over to the all news channel. No one really thought too much of it after all NYC was so far away to us that it could have been on another planet.
When the second plane hit we were terrified. OMG, we are under attack. I just wanted to go home. It felt like it was happening right where I stood. Gone were the miles between us and NYC. I knew no one was going to bomb the LLBean distribution center but still I felt the only safe place on Earth was home. I wanted to see my husband and kids. I just wanted to feel safe again.
When I got home at about noon, I had heard on the radio that the towers had collapsed. I couldn't imagine what that looked like. I was thinking of 2 really tall buildings tipping over sideways. How horrible is that?
To walk in the house and immediately see on the TV screen this picture was breathtaking.
Watching the coverage, seeing the black smoke against the blue sky was surreal. That color blue will forever remind me of that day. The perfect day. A warm Fall day. 9/11 Blue
I didn't know anyone down there or anyone who died there but there was such a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Imagining the horror of the passengers on the planes as they watched their fate unfold. The papers and splintering glass flying through the air in lower Manhatten. People covered in soot. People with pictures of their loved ones, looking. Forever searching. Never to find. Never to see them again. Babies without parents. Innocent people just trying to make a living. Brave firefighters and policemen giving their all because that's what they do.
No, just like other days in history when the world stopped turning, we won't forget. Whether is was 66 years ago in Pearl Harbor or 6 years ago on 9/11/01, we won't forget. Harsh lessons learned, innocence lost. The eternal flame of memories will never go out.
2 comments:
I woke to a phone call from my SIL telling us to turn on the TV. That is where we stayed the remainder of the day. Then the silence of the skies became apparent and that brought it all into a weird state of reality.
It seems like a long while back and just yesterday all at the same time.
9/11 was before I retired. I was in my office and the messenger came in to put mail in my inbox. She told me that "terrorist had flown a plane into one of the twin towers."
I didn't believe her of course. How silly she was, I thought. I knew that some small plane had accidentally crashed into one of the buildings.
I started scanning the web for news to show her. There it was! It was on-line fast! It really happened. I could not believe that it had happened. Couldn't believe that such a thing could happen to us, to the United States.
I worked for the state of PA and we were sent home as soon as the two other planes were known to crash. My daughters and I contacted each other and we talked for hours in disbelief. I hated watching it on tv and I could NOT stop watching it. It was so so strange.
My only living first cousin lives in Manhattan and it was days before I heard from him. A horrible time.
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