September 11, 2001
.
I was sitting on the living room floor, playing with yet-to-be-Bookworm (who’d just turned one) and cuddling Jessie for her morning bottle. (Jessie was a baby that I cared for during the first year I was home.) I usually had The Today Show on in the background, so I could watch the news in the morning during breakfast time with the girls. I was 9 weeks pregnant with Silly Sally.
.
So, that morning started just like the others, Jessie had just arrived and the three of us were on the floor. I had the tv on mute but I noticed that the shot on the screen wasn’t changing. I looked up and realized that a building was burning in a big city. I turned up the volume and realized I was looking at a picture of the World Trade Center. I sat there and asked Bookworm how the building had caught fire like that when they said there’d been a plane crash. I wondered how a pilot managed to crash right into t skyscraper on a day that weather didn’t seem to be an issue. Was the plane on autopilot and it had gone greatly askew?
.
As I sat there, my eyes glued to the screen, my arms weighted by two babies, I watched in shock as they showed footage of the plane hitting the tower. Then I realized that what I’d been watching wasn’t a "replay" of the original crash. I had just watched live as a second plane hit the other tower. I was horrified! My mind was racing, wondering what was happening that these planes were crashing into these prominent buildings. .
I had no idea what would come later in the morning. I tried to call my husband, but couldn’t get through. I called my mother-in-law to make sure they knew what was going on. I found out my father-in-law had gone to make the final payment on his daughter’s wedding reception that was to be held that Saturday at my husband’s hotel. I know they watched together, standing in the hotel lounge as one of the towers collapsed.
.
Then came the view of the Pentagon, after a third plane crashed into a section of that building. And then the news that a fourth plane had also been hijacked. At the time, we were living near a major military base and Husband worked near a major airport, even closer to the base than where we lived. I was panicked about what was happening in our country. We were clearly being attacked. Noone seemed to know why or where the next target may be.
.
The phone lines were jammed, so I couldn’t reach anyone, though I finally got hold of Jessie’s mom and told her not to worry about her daughter. Thoughts of my sister-in-law’s impending wedding ran through my head. Would they be able to come for their own wedding? Would the other guests be able to travel?
.
I worried about my daughter and the child within me. If these were the things that were happening in our country today, were we even safe anymore?
.
It was an emotionally wretched day for me, and I had noone in those buildings that I knew personally or loved. I continue to pray for those families affected by the events of September 11, 2001. I think Shannon said it well when she referred to the unity of our country following this tragedy.
.
I was sitting on the living room floor, playing with yet-to-be-Bookworm (who’d just turned one) and cuddling Jessie for her morning bottle. (Jessie was a baby that I cared for during the first year I was home.) I usually had The Today Show on in the background, so I could watch the news in the morning during breakfast time with the girls. I was 9 weeks pregnant with Silly Sally.
.
So, that morning started just like the others, Jessie had just arrived and the three of us were on the floor. I had the tv on mute but I noticed that the shot on the screen wasn’t changing. I looked up and realized that a building was burning in a big city. I turned up the volume and realized I was looking at a picture of the World Trade Center. I sat there and asked Bookworm how the building had caught fire like that when they said there’d been a plane crash. I wondered how a pilot managed to crash right into t skyscraper on a day that weather didn’t seem to be an issue. Was the plane on autopilot and it had gone greatly askew?
.
As I sat there, my eyes glued to the screen, my arms weighted by two babies, I watched in shock as they showed footage of the plane hitting the tower. Then I realized that what I’d been watching wasn’t a "replay" of the original crash. I had just watched live as a second plane hit the other tower. I was horrified! My mind was racing, wondering what was happening that these planes were crashing into these prominent buildings. .
I had no idea what would come later in the morning. I tried to call my husband, but couldn’t get through. I called my mother-in-law to make sure they knew what was going on. I found out my father-in-law had gone to make the final payment on his daughter’s wedding reception that was to be held that Saturday at my husband’s hotel. I know they watched together, standing in the hotel lounge as one of the towers collapsed.
.
Then came the view of the Pentagon, after a third plane crashed into a section of that building. And then the news that a fourth plane had also been hijacked. At the time, we were living near a major military base and Husband worked near a major airport, even closer to the base than where we lived. I was panicked about what was happening in our country. We were clearly being attacked. Noone seemed to know why or where the next target may be.
.
The phone lines were jammed, so I couldn’t reach anyone, though I finally got hold of Jessie’s mom and told her not to worry about her daughter. Thoughts of my sister-in-law’s impending wedding ran through my head. Would they be able to come for their own wedding? Would the other guests be able to travel?
.
I worried about my daughter and the child within me. If these were the things that were happening in our country today, were we even safe anymore?
.
It was an emotionally wretched day for me, and I had noone in those buildings that I knew personally or loved. I continue to pray for those families affected by the events of September 11, 2001. I think Shannon said it well when she referred to the unity of our country following this tragedy.
.
It is a day that I will never forget.
It is a day that I will never forget.
