My 9/11 experience and why I'm worried about the new threats

[Michelle67]

Aisling, thank you for sharing your experience and your feelings. Reading your post made me cry. You mentioned some things I never knew about...the firefighters alarms, and the kids being sent out of the schools to go home or to their nearest church, for example. How terrible it must have been for parents to not be sure where exactly their children were, you included. Bless you for gathering up the children you were able to, and keeping them safe and as sheltered as possible from what was happening. I'm sure your friends and neighbors will never forget what you did for them. I know I wouldn't, if they were my babies.

I'm here on the opposite side of the country. The first I knew of what was happening was when my phone rang way too early for anybody I know to be calling me, and it was my mother. I picked up the phone and she said, "Michelle, turn on the television. I think we are at war." I woke up my husband and we went downstairs to turn on the television, and barely moved away from it for weeks afterward. We were watching the live news when the second plane hit. It was all so shocking and surreal. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. We couldn't stand to watch, but we couldn't turn away.

We will never forget. I do agree with jlewisinsyr, though, that we have to do our best to continue to live our lives and refuse to live in fear. If we live in fear, they win. We can't let that happen.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Thank you so much - I cried while reading your post. I feel like I was very far removed from everything that happened that day. I was in college in Tallahassee and I was doing homework in the hallway listening to the Irish fiddle ensemble practice, when a couple of professors ran by and said something about another one just hit and they think there are more still out there. I had no idea what they were talking about and just went to my World Music class that started at 9:15. Some of the other students were talking about airplanes and a crash and I still had no idea what was going on. Then the professor quieted everyone and said something about even though there was violence going on we should concentrate on the universal language of music (or something like that). A few students started heckling him - I still had no idea what was going on. Suddenly another professor threw open the door and said classes were cancelled and everyone needed to evacuate the music buildings NOW. As we were all packing up our stuff and leaving people were talking about a suspicious car parked in front of the Florida state capitol building with a photo of Osama bin Laden taped to the window (the music buildings were about a block or two away from the capitol building). I walked back to my dorm, trying to call DH (we were dating, he lived off campus and had a car, I lived on campus and did not have a car). Couldn't get him. My mom called asking if I was ok and if I was scared. I still didn't know what was going on. She said she and my brother (11 at the time) had been running late for work/school, and had put the news on, and my brother had seen the plane hit the second tower live. I still had no idea what she was talking about. I got home and turned on the news. All my roommates had cars and they were going home. My computer was in the shop, so I just sat and watched the replays. DH finally got through to me, he hadn't even made it on to campus, he was turned away. Our political activism group had a big lecture planned for that evening, and he was on the phone with the rep for our speaker trying to ensure that she was still safely on the ground (she was). News footage that has always stuck in my head was of people running away from the towers covered in ash. It was so surreal to me, almost like a movie.

 

[Aisling]

I was thinking, in a way, the fear may have been worse for those who lived no where near NYC or D.C. because at least we KNEW it had been done to us here, we saw rescuers, we saw the fighter-jets overhead. For those of you who lived elsewhere, I can imaagine your fear "is it going to happen here, what should we do, is the whole country going to be bombed" etc. You were living with the UNCERTAINTY and that makes the situation very scary.

 

[golfgal]

I was thinking, in a way, the fear may have been worse for those who lived no where near NYC or D.C. because at least we KNEW it had been done to us here, we saw rescuers, we saw the fighter-jets overhead. For those of you who lived elsewhere, I can imaagine your fear "is it going to happen here, what should we do, is the whole country going to be bombed" etc. You were living with the UNCERTAINTY and that makes the situation very scary.

I think there is a lot of truth to this. The "closest" we got on a personal level with 9/11 was one of DH's coworker's brothers was the police officer that was "in charge" of a temporary morgue in NY somewhere (maybe NJ??). I didn't know anyone personally that died in the tower crashes, at the Pentagon or in the PA crash. One of the people on the plane that went down in PA went to the same college I did though, but not at the same time I was there. It's impossible to imagine just what people went through, unless you grew up in a war zone or something.

 

[zurgswife]

Thanks for posting your story. I remember that day vividly not because I was in NYC but I was in Disney and there were so many at the Yacht and Beach club hotel that obviously worked in the towers....when the closed the parks they sent us all to our hotels and the only thing todo was sit by the pool...it was a very visual transformation that I saw with these men(it was mostly men)...who where in a panic trying to get calls to go through and pacing and talking about what happened.

My dd currently lives in Manhattan and last night she texted me that her flight or fight responses was clearly on flight for this weekend but she wasn't sure her busy schedule would allow her to get home from Manhattan for a few days. She said the credible threat has put her on the edge...

You talk about living 5 miles away. I have a friend who's family apartment was 5 blocks away I think. He told us it took like 4-6 months to get back into the apartment. It took forever to clean all the white dust that got into absolutely everything.

Prayers for all that experienced the tragedy no matter where they were and that this weekend will be a non event related to more threats...

 

[joyjoy]

Aisling,

There was a lovely story on NPR this morning about Fr. Judge. The priest that did the homily at the funeral mass retells the story of the service.

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/09/140293993/slain-priest-bury-his-heart-but-not-his-love

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family and all those living so close to the horror that day.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I was thinking, in a way, the fear may have been worse for those who lived no where near NYC or D.C. because at least we KNEW it had been done to us here, we saw rescuers, we saw the fighter-jets overhead. For those of you who lived elsewhere, I can imaagine your fear "is it going to happen here, what should we do, is the whole country going to be bombed" etc. You were living with the UNCERTAINTY and that makes the situation very scary.

I remember that feeling. It was just happening one after another. There's no reason that I could think of that our city would be a target, but then I guess the people in Pennsylvania thought that, too. I wanted to get my son out of school, but my husband said he'd probably be safer there. I did call the school and ask if the kids were being told about it. The secretary said only in 5th grade. I'll never forget when I picked him up at the end of the day. Everyone remembers that bright blue sky with no contrails in it, but what was so strange was all the parents were standing outside waiting for their kids and no one was saying a word. Usually we all chatted, but that day it was totally silent.


That you for posting that. I'm sure it was difficult to write and it completely broke my heart reading it. I think I'll have my son read it. He had just turned 8 when it happened and I still have a picture he drew of the towers afterwards. He was trying to sort things out as best as an 8 year old can. After that, he started becoming more aware of politics and justice and he now is planning on going to law school. I wonder if he would have turned out the same way, had 9-11 not happened.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend. He looks so peaceful, though, sitting in that chair.

 

[Michelle67]

I was thinking, in a way, the fear may have been worse for those who lived no where near NYC or D.C. because at least we KNEW it had been done to us here, we saw rescuers, we saw the fighter-jets overhead. For those of you who lived elsewhere, I can imaagine your fear "is it going to happen here, what should we do, is the whole country going to be bombed" etc. You were living with the UNCERTAINTY and that makes the situation very scary.

In the days following the attack, my daughter had a class trip to the Space Needle in Seattle. There was so much speculation on the television about whether there would be more attacks, and people saying that any major city could be a target, and any symbol of that city would be prime. There IS no more major symbol of Washington State than the Space Needle. Many parents kept their children home that day rather than sending them on that trip, and my husband and I agonized over what we should do. In the end we decided that we would not give in and be ruled by fear, and we let her go. Then we spent the entire day feeling sick and hoping that we would not regret that decision. I don't think I was ever more relieved to see one of my children in my life, than I was to see her at the end of that day.

 

[golfgal]

In the days following the attack, my daughter had a class trip to the Space Needle in Seattle. There was so much speculation on the television about whether there would be more attacks, and people saying that any major city could be a target, and any symbol of that city would be prime. There IS no more major symbol of Washington State than the Space Needle. Many parents kept their children home that day rather than sending them on that trip, and my husband and I agonized over what we should do. In the end we decided that we would not give in and be ruled by fear, and we let her go. Then we spent the entire day feeling sick and hoping that we would not regret that decision. I don't think I was ever more relieved to see one of my children in my life, than I was to see her at the end of that day.

Hindsight, there were supposed to be more attacks but the grounding of flights stopped those. I don't remember where they were but Seattle was probably one of them.

 

[luvmythree]

Aisling thank you so much for sharing that story. I cannot imagine how frightening that had to be for those of you living in NYC. I was/am so humbled by those of you in NYC and the heroic stories I have heard and am still hearing.

We were in Disneyland on 9-11 and I remember the panic of being away from home. I wondered how we would get home and how long it would take and I certainly did not want to get on an airplane.

 

[auntie]

I don't think anyone who works or lives in "the city" as we New Yorkers call it, ever really moved past 9-11. It's something you live with..it becomes a part of who you are. Ten years later..I don't know anyone who leaves the their home without a cell phone. You don't live in fear..but you live having experienced a very harsh reality that is difficult to articulate to people who didn't smell the fires or see the ash, or witness the reality of their city being ATTACKED. It was a day that life changed forever. Up until then, this was something that happened in other countries. Not in America..and certainly not in NYC. Remember how we read daily of another funeral for yet another body found in the pit..or on the pile? Now, all these years later. Insult to injury, the first responders suffering with cancer and other diseases from having inhaled the air during those the first months, as they worked so tirelessly to bring closure (as if there is such a thing) to grieving families. The funerals that went on for how long?...at least a year..maybe longer.

10 years later..and my son is NYPD in Manhattan...because of the events of 9-11-01. He was 20 years old at the time and went, like many abled bodied men, into the city to see what he could do to help. When he came back home he knew what he wanted to do with his life. It changes you.
There isn't a day that I don't worry. I know many of the plots in the past that have been uncovered in the last ten years, reveal striking the first responders with secondary devices.
*******s.

 

[Princess_Meghan <3]

Thank you so much for posting this- I know it must have been hard. I cried reading your post.

I was in fourth grade when 9/11 happened, and I remember being ushered into the school cafeteria, and they wouldn't tell us why. All kinds of wild rumors were spreading through the different grades, and it was terrifying. So many of my friends parents worked in the pentagon, and when were told someone had attacked the pentagon and the twin towers in new york, I remember sitting in a circle with my friends, crying, because we were all so scared for their parents.

I can't imagine being so close to NYC when it happened.

 

[Michelle67]

Hindsight, there were supposed to be more attacks but the grounding of flights stopped those. I don't remember where they were but Seattle was probably one of them.

They were certainly saying so here. Seattle is the home of Microsoft and Boeing, after all, two more symbols of America (among the very many). But the needle would have been a much flashier target.

 

[Aisling]

10 years later..and my son is NYPD in Manhattan...because of the events of 9-11-01. He was 20 years old at the time and went, like many abled bodied men, into the city to see what he could do to help. When he came back home he knew what he wanted to do with his life.

God bless him.

Aisling,

There was a lovely story on NPR this morning about Fr. Judge. The priest that did the homily at the funeral mass retells the story of the service.

I watched a documentary just last night about Father Judge; he sounded like an extraordinary man, I would have liked to know him.

I just wanted to share one of the last pictures I took of him and a memory.

When I was about 16 years old, he taught me (and my siblings) to play songs with a comb and tissue and every time he came over, my mom would say "hide the combs!"

 

[Aisling]

But the needle would have been a much flashier target.

Do you remember if they closed the needle when all that was going on?

 

[golfgal]

They were certainly saying so here. Seattle is the home of Microsoft and Boeing, after all, two more symbols of America (among the very many). But the needle would have been a much flashier target.

How many people does the needle hold? It's flashy but I think the targets were more about killing a lot of people at once--and taking out the government.

 

[Michelle67]

Do you remember if they closed the needle when all that was going on?

Yes, they did.

 

[Robmom]

I feel the same way, Aisling. I work not too far from there, and watched everything through my office window. I will never forget it. I do feel nervous still being in the area every 9/11. I also was one of the people that walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to get home. We weren't allowed to leave our building until around 12:30, because they didn't think it was safe earlier.

 

[Michelle67]

How many people does the needle hold? It's flashy but I think the targets were more about killing a lot of people at once--and taking out the government.

I was thinking the same thing as I posted. The target coming to most people's minds at the time was the Space Needle because it is symbolic. But it holds few people, really. There is an observatory deck and restaurant at the top, but that is all. Microsoft or Boeing would have taken out a huge number of people. Practically everyone in the Puget Sound area knows someone who works in one or the other, if they don't themselves. I don't know if those were evacuated, I just don't remember anything about that, but I wouldn't doubt it at all. We also have three major military installations around the Sound, including a nuclear sub base, all of which were big concerns.

 

[Aisling]

I feel the same way, Aisling. I work not too far from there, and watched everything through my office window. I will never forget it. I do feel nervous still being in the area every 9/11. I also was one of the people that walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to get home. We weren't allowed to leave our building until around 12:30, because they didn't think it was safe earlier.

Pauline, remember the smell and the black/red cloud?

And OMG I didn't realize you walked over the bridge, but of course you did, you had to get home. You must have many memories being in lower manhattan. Have you thought of writing them down to save for your kids and grandkids?

Jesse's leaving for Florida later today to see his gf and coming back on 9/11. I feel comfortable with that. It's the bridges and tunnels I'm worried about.