9/11 from a survivor

[rascalmom]

I wasn't touched directly by 9/11, but I watched with memories of Oklahoma City's own tragedy still very fresh in my mind. Until something like that hits your own community (and with God's blessing I hope it never does), it is hard to understand. The Murrah bombing effected far fewer people and yet you seldom run across someone in our small city who wasn't affected in some way. I know the tragedy experienced by our country on that awful day in September is multiplied 1000-fold. To each of the victims and survivors .

9/11.

I won't ever forget and I know there are so many unsung or unknown heroes out there.

I wish all who lived through that tragic day or lost a loved one peace.

Thank you for sharing your story LIDisneyFan.

 

[Princess Dolly]

Also I watched "I Surived...9/11 Special" on the Biography channel Sunday night. WOW. So the survivors and ordinary heroes are not being forgotten, you just need to look in some different places. There are clips from the show on its website. Maybe it will be replayed.

 

[marcemc]

Our school will be planting a tree on Friday morning to honor all victims of 9/11. They explain to the kids that all victims include not only the ones that lost their lives but survivors & their families & friends.

LIDisney Fan, your story of survival, strength & hope has moved me deeply. God bless you & your family.

We will never forget.

 

[wvjules]

LIDisney, your post brought a tear to my eye.

None of us will ever forget that day. I can't imagine the pain and horror you witnessed on that fateful morning. It's weird how the DIS, and virtual strangers, can become a place of comfort in a time of need. I know there are many times I've come here for a laugh, or to vent, or even be snarky because I'm in a mood. I've been feeling down lately and honestly, your post made me feel like I made a small, but positive, difference in someone's life. I know this post was for you and how you feel, but thank you for making me feel a little better about myself today.

We will never forget.

 

[Tinker Bell Fan]

I don't think we could ever forget that day! I know I won't ever forget. I was working in DC when it all happened. I worked across the river from the Pentagon and the lady on my floor scrreamed when she saw/heard the plane crash into the Pentagon. I remember going to her office and she had this huge window that overlooked the Pentagon and the first thing I saw was the thick, black smoke. And then driving home, passing the Pentagon - the smell was horrible!

I'm glad you made it out LiDis. My heart goes out to those who didn't make it and to their families.

 

[Buckalew11]

My feelings are the sames as WV Jules.

It is sweet to know that while hundreds of miles away, I and so many others here on the DIS could support you in some way on that terrible, tragic day. The DIS is good like that... it definitely makes our world a smaller place. My thoughts and prayers are with you...I can hardly believe it has been a whole ten years. All I can say is I send you love and hugs through my tears...you make me realize that some time spent here is a good thing and we are ALL real people behind the screen names.

 

[Buckeye Princess]

Thank you OP for posting. I am very grateful to you and others like you who help everyone remember what happened. Too often it is forgotten. The best thing to come out of all the loss of life that day was how much it brought so many together. I wish more people remembered the spirit we all felt then.

I am convinced that I and loved ones are alive only because of Flight 93, the plane that went down in Shanksville PA.

agnes!

Where were you that day if you don't mind sharing?

 

[ccgirl]

Princessdolly

I did just watch-and it is a little painful. But that is exactly what I am talking about. Big heroes-fire wardens in office buildings (who more tha likely signed up to volunteer just to 'get the hat') all of a sudden being the last to leave. People carrying others out, waiting with disabled. Little heroes-people who threw themselves on top of others so they wouldn't be trampled (NY's finest day in my opinion). Modells sporting goods staff who gave sneakers to people who ran out of their shoes. the stranger who gave me $10 (because my wallet was in my office) because I had no money.

Thanks----that was a great video.

This post just sent chills down my spine. I am so sorry for what you had to go thru. I lost a co worker on AA flight 11. People felt guilty they should have been on that flight and not her. I can't even imagine the feelings you are experiencing. I can only offer a little prayer (if you don't mind).

 

[Beachbumpirates]

We have spent a lot of time talking about it now with DD16 and DD12. They were so young when it happened and each year they seem to grasp a bit more of it.

We had a neighbor's DS05 drown on Sept 8, 2011 (10 yrs ago today) and I often think of them as well as they a huge personal loss just days before 9/11. It seemed like so much to absorb at once.

Saying a prayer for all the survivors and their families.

 

[tigercat]

Your post made me cry. I have seen some of the survivor stories on TV lately and they are hard to watch in some ways but good as well that you can see that they are still there. I didn't know anyone who died that day and we were leaving our hotel to go camping in the middle of no where. We had thought of staying at the hotel but planes had to land and they needed places for people to stay. We were okay so left. It seems that all the hotels opened their doors to the stranded. We didn't have a computer or tv so had to go to the camp store to see what happened (we were at the hotel when the towers fell so saw that) but it was hard as they only would get it for a short time. My husband had a shortwave radio that we listened to. Our neighbours at the camp were 3 guys who were US reservists. They were so desperate to get home but couldn't cross the border. I am sure their Mum was so worried about them. My nephew did have connections to people at the trade centre. He was on the phone with a company when the planes hit. He kept telling them to leave the building but over the intercom someone was telling them to stay. He lost a lot of friends that day and then spent a lot of time helping get the banking system back up. I was really glad to see you post and if there is anything I can do please let me know. They say I listen real good.
tigercat your neighbour in the north

 

[MrsDuck]

 

[NikitaZee]

I can't imagine living thru what you did. Thank God you made it out safely.
I remember going down to Jones Beach that night and seeing the smoke. DH and I lost 3 friends that day - one was a carpenter, one a firefighter and one a financial analyst at her first 'real' job. Matt (carpenter), was there by chance, filling in for someone else that day. Less than a year after 9/11, his wife died from breast cancer, leaving 2 small boys. Thank God they had their grandparents to step in and give them a loving home.
DH spent some time at 'Ground Zero' removing debris. At the end of each day, his (and everyone else's) boots were washed down to remove the thick white dust. The remains of all those lost.

 

[Michelle67]

I'm so glad you are still here with us, so sorry for the friends and coworkers that you lost, and for all of those who lost loved ones that terrible day.

 

[shortbun]

I'll be thinking about you and the others.

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

Thanks for posting, I will definitely be thinking of everyone who was affected.

I've also been talking with my teenagers who were just young children at that time. We were all touched in some way all around the country.

I was a Girl Scout leader at the time, and I remember talking with my 2nd graders, they wanted to help in whatever small way we could, we sent a box of stuffed animals to a Red Cross unit in NYC.

 

[lilmissdisney216]

LIDisneyFan it was so touching to read your post. Very thankful that you made it out alive and for those that were around you that made it out alive. I was only 12 years old when 9/11 happend and I still have intense emotions each year when the anniversary comes around. I wish you a very wonderful day on Sunday and thank goodness you're alive. :hugs:

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Some of you who have been around here for (too long) a long time may remember that I was in the WTC 9/11. The first place I posted about my experiences was the DIS-it was cathartic to talk to my electronic famlily. Living the horror, and aftermath, the terror - watching people jump, feeling the towers fall, walking the dark stairwells feeling panic and hope at hitting the bottom. Feeling everyone you worked with was dead. Not believing this was happening.

Knowing so many heroes who were not NYPD, NYFD or EMT- regualar people who went to work one day and faced a terror they never thought they would. Working to get thr banking systems back up, rather than going home with family for weeks. Then, slowly, trying to put your life back together.


10 years later, I am still annoyed at the media focus on easy heroes. I am angry that this happened and stole my city from me. I am blessed to have survived, and to have emerged a little stronger.

To the DIS family- 10 years later - thank you for being there. I got more support from this forum than I could ever imagine - some I could not get from family in shock or co-workers in pain. Dan, Buckalew, WVJules, MaryAnnDVC, BriarRose are some of the people I remember being supportive. I know there were many many more-oddly it is one of my strongest memories-trying to get an internet connection to talk to my DIS family.

Please remember all of the victims, survivors and their famililes this weekend. It is a much wider net than you can imagine.

Thank you again,
LIDIS

I had a long post just about completed when our power went out (again), but only for an hour and a half. I was more concerned about finishing and posting a response than anything else. So I will start over...

Your post brought me to tears, and when I pulled myself together to tell my husband about it, I burst into sobs. I had just returned from my hairdressers, and had read an article in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar about a 9/11 widow...her story full of love, pain and loss, and in the end, hope and love again...and was already feeling contemplative. I'm glad that I and some of my favorite DISers could give you some small bit of comfort during that most dreadful time.

I guess that was the defining day in many of our lives, the "life before..." and "life after..." event. On so many different levels. I know, as someone who lost no one close (closest was a sibling of an acquaintance), the effect it's had on my life; I just can't even begin to imagine what those closer to it...the one's who lost friends or family members, or experienced the horror of that day first hand...live with every day of their lives.

I grew up in NJ miles from the George Washington Bridge, and have had family living in NYC for over 40 years. NJ and NY still feel like "home" to me.

There are so many things that ALWAYS remind me of 9/11; I cannot EVER see Logan airport from the highway without thinking of those hijacked planes leaving from there. We just took my son to school in NYC, so I'm thinking back to that day in 2001 with a whole different perspective, of a parent with a child away in a city in the midst of a terrorist attack.

You, along with other NYers and those who experienced this tragedy first hand, are in my thoughts and prayers on this 10th anniversary.

My feelings are the sames as WV Jules.

It is sweet to know that while hundreds of miles away, I and so many others here on the DIS could support you in some way on that terrible, tragic day. The DIS is good like that... it definitely makes our world a smaller place. My thoughts and prayers are with you...I can hardly believe it has been a whole ten years. All I can say is I send you love and hugs through my tears...you make me realize that some time spent here is a good thing and we are ALL real people behind the screen names.

I think people forget that sometimes.

 

[crz4mm2]

I, too, was very affected, even from several thousand miles away.

to you and all the survivors and families and everyone.

 

[ilovejack02]

I can't even begin to know what to say about what you and many others experienced that day . I think about that day frequently and pray to God that we never have to experience anything like it again. I am so sorry for your pain.

What I can say , is that I am so happy to hear that some people from this board were a true help to you . There may be much madness here, but there are also some very real people , who are very caring and can become dear friends in real life. I know this first hand.

I keep you and the thousands others that experienced this tragedy in my prayers.

 

[quentina]

Just visited yesterday........some photo's....It was very sad and touching.