-
I had just arrived at work when someone said a plane had struck the WTC. We are on hill in northern NJ and have a view of the Manhattan skyline so we all rushed outside and watched the pitch black smoke billow out... I remember it was an absolutely beautiful day... sky clear and so very blue. As events progressed throughout the day friends, family co-workers was all we could think about.... waiting to hear.
When I drove home later that day, I went by the parking lot of the train station in our town and it was eerily full... I wondered how many people would never come back to get their car. We lost 12 residents that day... family, friends, neighbors... including the father of my DD's friend.
Life does go on but it will never be the same... I think we have all been changed. Today is a time to remember those who died, those who lost loved ones, and also those who survived and still can't really figure out why or get over the guilt of having escaped.
-
I was actually at home that day. My FIL called to ask where my dh was. DH is a pilot for American and often flew trips out of Boston -- eventhough he is based in Miami. Dh happened to be in Costa Rica and I didn't understand my FIL relief. Then he told me what had happened. I turned on the news and couldn't believe it. My dd had turned 2 just days before and I was about 10 weeks pregnant with #2. I became physically ill as I watched the news, and I know it was from that because that was the only time I got sick during that pregnancy.
My dh knew 3 or the 4 AA pilots that perished that day, and one of the flight attendants was in my f/a training class. (I was a flight attendant before having kids.)
I will never forget the sick feeling those images gave me. I used to live in New York and loved those clear Fall days. My dh laid over in NYC weeks later, and he said you could still smell the smoke that lingered in the air and still see all the soot in the streets. It was also eerie flying into LGA and seeing that big hole in the Manhattan skyline.
-
I was at work. I was also pg with my first. I hadn't even heard anything. When I got there, everyone was listening to the radio or looking on their computers. What an awful day. The fire dept is doing an open house tonight and at 7, there will be a service. They are also building a memorial in front of the station. My dad has been a firefighter for 25 years and dh for 6 My dad and mom actually went to Washington DC for the memorial service for the fallen firefighters.
-
Oh I bet that would have been amazing. It is such an honorable job. My husband is going through all the training and stuff right now.
-
It is a sad day here in NY...and everywhere else is the USA today.
I was at school that morning when we got the news. Many of my friends husbands ran to help...NYPD and FDNY. The community I work in is a big blue collar community with many firefighters and police officers. I spent the day covering teachers' classes so they could make phone calls. I dismissed students to parents who signed their kids out and wrote NATIONAL EMERGENCY as their reason. We lost many friends that day...many students' fathers as well...one was not even a rescue worker - just a worker in the buildings.
It was eerie that day going home...I tried to go to the local hospital to donate blood but they wouldn't let us in. They needed roads to be clear for victims if necessary (we are a good 45 minutes from NYC) but they never came. The sky was black for days...it matched our moods.
My daughter was 3.5 months old...I held her a little tighter that day as I prayed for the children who lost parents.
-
We actually had just gotten to the beach the day before for a week's vacation. I think I spent most my whole vacation sitting in the condo, watching TV and crying. When I went down to the beach, I'd have my radio and listen to nothing but news. We were vacationing near an Air Force base and the amount of military planes and helicopters out was very scary.
