Maybe we should relate where we were and what we were doing.
I was teaching a group of Catholic high school girls when the television was turned on (the main office could control this) and an announcement from the Principal stated that there was an apparant attack and a plane struck one of the towers. We all saw the second tower get hit.
My thoughts and prayers are also with Hills-Bro and his family on behalf of his nephew Brett Baily.
I was reading in the chat room, my tv was on behind me, muted.
Typical of the time, there was new turmoil and drama in chat, but that morning's was especially urgent.
A plane hit one of the towers. "Sabotage," and a lot of who, what, wheres and chicken little-ing was going on in print. I thought, "sheesh...don't these guys ever let up on conspiracy theories?" Surely, it had to have been a terrible, horrible, unfortuante and certainly unplanned accident...like the plane that hit the Empire State Bldg. so many years before...
I turned around, unmuted the tv, and the surreal reality froze my brain. Watching the history unfold in real time, like a stupid Bruce Willis action movie or something...the horror was not being able to click the remote and escape.
The chatty spoonsters were right. It was an attack. It was unreal. It was happening...
I was at a university in a class room when all the sirens in the city went off then as I watched out the window the city streets began to choke up with cars no one was moving.
so he released the class and tv were in the hallways and we could not get through because people stood in gobs and watxched in horror as it all happened.
i could barely drive, it was an hour drive for a ten minute route, my daughter was working in a federal building with children and they went underground to some place even they didnt know where to keep the fbi's and govt kids safe.
i picked up my youngest she was waiting at the door of her high school and that was without a cell phone.
we went home and sat in front of the tv and i said to her so afraid we are all gonna die today.
...the feeling (and this is/was all a kind of selfish projection) was the same as when I was a kidlet, and "we" were on the brink of total annihilation with the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis...or Saigon '75...or the real time TV broadcast of the Challenger...or the pronouncement of declared war in the Gulf...or when the USS Cole with a hole ripped thru her side was wedged between two idiot commercials on daytime television...
frozen action
The boys were both safe at school, Holly was already with Miss Lulu, I was preparing to go teach at FSUS and how to best serve the student body who I felt, no doubt, was confused and scared, at best.
When I got to school, it was controlled mayhem. Freaked parents were coming to get their kids and such...the thing is, the older students knew more and better what REALLY was happening becuz they were watching CNN in their classrooms. Our leadership watch phrase directive was "don't talk about it unless they ask." Silly. In my classes, we talked about it as we learned about it that day. We dealt with it for a few days, as it applied to circumstance. The kids got saturated with it pretty quickly and, in the way kids do, they "clicked the remote" to the safer waters of Sponge Bob. Survival denial, I think.
At the other college where I taught, my classes were small...theatre, y'know...but we still needed to deal with these events, and did.
How big and yet how small is this freakin' world, anyway?
Two out of my 19 students in that acting class suffered close family loss in the attack. Jesus (hay-sues) and Chris both lost family members...was hard cuz they couldn't get a flight into NY right away. Imagine the irony of having your first lines of total emotional upheaval and uncertainty spent with your Theatre professor.
And, for real...this very day, earlier this morning...I met my new neighbor. He and his brother just bought the place behind mine. They take September 11th off each year to "celebrate" the life of their older sister (who was 28 then) who died there.
That ubiquitous Disney tune takes on a macabre tone as it swirls in my head.
I was getting ready for an early work day. Just separated from the ex a month ago and it was her turn with the kids. Phone rang and it was the Navy at the Norfolk NLMOC office requesting help with some software I wrote and quickly informing me of the situation. I got out the secure laptop they had provided me, logged in remotely and turned on CNN. NLMOC coordinated with the Pentagon METOC center. While we were just getting started the second plane hit. Just a bit later the plane hit the Pentagon, into the offices of the people we were on the phone with... Everyone stayed professional and to the credit of a young LT named Christine; Norfolk got something like 28 ships in three battle groups out in under 8 hours. While I stayed on the line with Norfolk I called up some key work people at home (it was still pretty early here in CA). Most of them had already heard and were following. We put together a support staff that could arrive early. The damage had been done by then so I told the LT that I would call back from our operations center in 15 minutes. Got a quick phone call off to the soon to be ex letting her know what was happening and giving her some instructions about the kids (San Diego was considered a high risk area immediately because of the large naval presence).
When I got to work there were already half a dozen people in ops. We got back going with Norfolk and SPAWAR and so they day wore on.
Surreal is all that comes to mind.
I posted this for your consideration of the response of the Navy, the Pentagon, SPAWAR, and those people who reported to me at the time. Many had family and friends at risk...and for the METOC community at NLMOC and SPAWAR also lost friends in those few moments.
My respects for those that died. My equal respect for those who stayed professional and kept things going. My best to all of those who lost loved ones.
I remembered hearing about the first crash on the radio before I left for work. My first thought was that is was an a accident because I remembered how a plane had crashed into the empire state building (back in the late 40's, I think). Listening to the radio on the way to work I heard about the second crash and at that point I knew something was up. I didn't get to see TV 'till that evening and I just watched in stunned silence when I saw those buildings go down. A few days later our town had this public memorial and at the time I didn't know if a family friend was alive or not. He's an NYC fireman whose unit was the first to respond ( they were the subject of that documentary made by the french film maker) and I was so relieved to hear he was ok.
There was a 9-11 thread as it was happening on the old version of the Greasespot. I wonder if it can be reprinted here.
I was flying from Buffalo NY to Salt Lake City (via Dallas Fort Worth) to present at a meeting of patient educators. I love to fly and the morning was perfect. At app 0850, the steward came to the cabin and announced that we would need to "bring the plane down in Little Rock AK"
My friend and co-worker pressed him for more information and all that he would say was that we were being instructed to land - there was no trouble with the plane. I asked my friend if the president was in Texas at the time. Could not help but believe it involved a high level threat.
When we landed on the tarmac, they informed us that the WTC was hit, and while we waited we got word that the second plane crashed. When we walked through the airport approximately an hour later, it was like a tomb. Totally vacated. The walkway was cordoned off and all of the phones were hanging off the hook. I'll never forget the detail of the phones hanging.
We were able to get a motel room. The people of Little Rock are very gracious. I walked in the evening by myself to a downtown church that was open for prayer. One of the church members recognized I was a newcomer and drove me to my motel when the service concluded.
There was no way home for two days. We finally spotted a U-Haul and the three of us (middle aged women) drove a U-Haul from Little Rock to Buffalo. One ticket along the way in TN for speeding - I drive as fast as I talk and we talked alot.... When we arrived in Buffalo - pulled into the lot with our U-Haul at the Olive Garden near the airport, they locked the doors out of fear - everyone expected another bomb in a rented truck. They unlocked them when the three of us piled out.
I was thankful to be home, thankful that before I left that I had made a special point to kiss each kid and my husband. I remain thankful for each day of my life.
I feel the same way Excathy. I know that since that day, I have never really felt safe - there is no real safety - - and maybe we were crazy to have ever thought there was in the first place.
I had just dropped the kids off at school and daycare. By the time I got to work both the second tower and the Pentagon had been hit. The T.V. was on (highly unusual.)
I was panicky because T.O.D. was on a field trip 50 miles away and no parents had any of the teachers' cell numbers.
Later on in the day I called my family in NYC to see if everyone was okay. (They were, thank goodness.)
I spent a large part of the day crying. I didn't lose anyone, but that day a great loss was felt just the same.
Even now, when I hear or read about the police and firefighters that died while refusing to give up, I tear up.
I can't elaborate too much, but I had gone in to work, and when the first plane hit one of my coworkers told me. I thought it was just a terrible accident. Later on, the second plane struck, and we knew that it was no accident, and that all of the news websites were too busy to function so we didn't know what was going on. Fortunately one woman had a radio so that helped, but they still didn't know anything either. We then found out about the other planes.
I still remember being amazed by how horrific this was. I couldn't really comprehend all the death and destruction, and it didn't make sense at first why someone would do this. Later on, we found out, and I think it affected all of us, although at the time I was working with a few guys from the middle east, and I think it hurt them emotionally the hardest of anyone I knew. They were afraid to be out in public at all, and had a sense of shame about it even though they had nothing to do with it. Since these were my friends, I saw firsthand how tough it was to be them. Imagine a group of obviously arab men going to lunch together after 9/11.
Anyway, after that day, I found out that a few of my friends from college were either there or en route there. One woman was injured and burned, but survived and is ok now. The other was on the subway, preparing to go for an interview at the WTC. I think she said she was running late due to getting her hair done or something.
I had the day off. My mother-in-law was down for an appointment with the doctor at the hospital where I worked, so I was elected to take her. When we got in the building she couldn't walk without running out of breath, so I found her a place to sit and headed to my department for a wheelchair. A friend told me a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. I said it must have been an accident, a small plane, like hit the Empire State Building? She said no, it was a passenger jet and it wasn't an accident.
I went back with the wheelchair and got my mother-in-law and took her to X-ray, and while she had her study done, I went back down to my desk and called my husband. He had been told by a neighbor, came in and turned on the TV in time to see the second plane hit live. He was crying. The rest of the day was a blur, getting mother-in-law through the appointment, where she saw the chief resident since her doctor was in a high level security meeting, and then driving her back. She was on some weird medications and didn't have a clue what I was talking about, then or later.
The next day at work an Iranian physicist told me that America is an evil country and got exactly what it deserves. To my credit, I just looked at her and said "that golden door swings both ways. Maybe you are on the wrong side of it."
Our son was in boot camp in Chicago at that time. For weeks we had no idea what would happen with him.
One year later, one of the women I worked with, whose husband is a firefighter, opined that she was heartily sick of hearing about 9/11 and wished everyone would just forget about it so "we can get on with our lives."
Me? Well, I spent a lot of time sobbing in front of the TV set that month, comforted by Sophie, my lab. The Sprout never did go to war.
On 9/11 I had an early morning flight from DC (Reagan National Arpt.) to Cincinnati, OH. I can remember my cabbie was about 30 minutes late picking me up, but made it to the airport in plenty of time.
Landed in Cincy & arrived at my conference location sometime around 8:30 am.
While waiting with others at the conference location, chatting and sipping coffee, the confernence coordinators (with a sense of seriousness) called everyone inside to watch some developing news on the tv. For the next hour or so we all sat there transfixed/dazed, as hell broke loose in the NYC, Washington, DC, and that field in PA. Finally, we had to shut off the tv coverage and try to focus/divert our attention to our work.
We voted on whether to continue the conference or cancel and go home . . .but as there was no easy way home, those who could, stayed and we continued.
It was several hours before I was able to call home (phone lines were jammed up) to let my wife know I was alive and well, and to hear that they were also.
I got home later that week, getting a ride back with others from the conference. My family then drove up to a friend's wedding in Cape Cod. Driving up the Jersey Tpk and Pallisades parkway, we could see the eerie dusty glow at ground zero - at probably midnight, timewise.
It was an odd feeling, seeing those massive towers missing - the same towers where I attended a conference a year previously, same conference group that met in Cincy.
-two funerals for a man with 7 children, hundreds of his Port Authority colleagues with ashen faces (too many funerals attended)
-burials of boxes with a few pieces found - many, months later
-a conversation with a future victim that Sunday. he told me "I just took my [two little] girls to see my new office on the 83rd floor of the north tower on Friday."
-watching the towers fall on TV live, sitting next to his wife.
-my funeral home director friends rounding up 100s of body bags that would never be used.
-parents of my kid's school mates literally crying on my shoulder
- a clergy colleague who told his son, and then quoted himself at a big memorial service (he dropped out of ministry a few years ago -thank God), "The Muslims did this." It shamed me to be his colleague.
-visiting the Roman Catholic mother of a 22 year old Muslim victim (through his father)... his best friend walked out of above-mentioned service for the above mentioned reason.
-Fund-raisers for months for families.
-the smell at ground zero -actually all the way up past 14th street
-ministers handing out bottles of water etc. to rescue workers
- My friend, a church member, who just barely escaped that day, just to die a year later at 55 from a heart attack. She was beautiful. Her classmates from a private school in the West Indies sang school songs for her at her funeral.
-candlelight vigils held at our church for weeks... people coming in and out silently
-the widow who watched her husband's tower fall from her office window across the river. He had a noon tee-time for that day. I preached at his huge memorial mass. "It may be Good Friday, but Easter is Coming" (actually borrowed from a colleague - too many messages to deliver to overlapping groups too close together to write all new messages).
-a few months ago, this same, bright, beautiful, young 911 widow introduced me to her finance at the grocery store. This was the week after our house was destroyed by fire... new beginnings.
-I never fail to think about 911 as I drive down 7th Avenue and see the towers that aren't there anymore.
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krys
Maybe we should relate where we were and what we were doing.
I was teaching a group of Catholic high school girls when the television was turned on (the main office could control this) and an announcement from the Principal stated that there was an apparant attack and a plane struck one of the towers. We all saw the second tower get hit.
My thoughts and prayers are also with Hills-Bro and his family on behalf of his nephew Brett Baily.
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cheranne
I was at a christain bookstore getting my daughter a gift because she was in a car accident and had a shattered pelvis
and to be flown to a hospital for surgery.
She had to learn to walk again,then someone told me about the towers and the pentegon and the crash in pennsylvania.
Lots of things happening that week in our family and I was just kinda numb,I didn't watch much t.v but it seemed the
world was falling apart.
I thought about Pearl Harbor and what that must of been like in the USA for people at that time. I had just finished
reading a book by Sheila Walsh called Living Fearlessly(about telling the truth,facing your fears and finding His Peace.)
I thought about what I had just read and it helped in the situation of my daughter and my two sons also because they
didn't understand why all this was happening.
God Bless those families of loved ones lost on that tragic day.
Edited by OKLAHOMA CITY WOW 78Link to comment
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MATILDA
I was reading in the chat room, my tv was on behind me, muted.
Typical of the time, there was new turmoil and drama in chat, but that morning's was especially urgent.
A plane hit one of the towers. "Sabotage," and a lot of who, what, wheres and chicken little-ing was going on in print. I thought, "sheesh...don't these guys ever let up on conspiracy theories?" Surely, it had to have been a terrible, horrible, unfortuante and certainly unplanned accident...like the plane that hit the Empire State Bldg. so many years before...
I turned around, unmuted the tv, and the surreal reality froze my brain. Watching the history unfold in real time, like a stupid Bruce Willis action movie or something...the horror was not being able to click the remote and escape.
The chatty spoonsters were right. It was an attack. It was unreal. It was happening...
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pond
I will never forget.
I was at a university in a class room when all the sirens in the city went off then as I watched out the window the city streets began to choke up with cars no one was moving.
so he released the class and tv were in the hallways and we could not get through because people stood in gobs and watxched in horror as it all happened.
i could barely drive, it was an hour drive for a ten minute route, my daughter was working in a federal building with children and they went underground to some place even they didnt know where to keep the fbi's and govt kids safe.
i picked up my youngest she was waiting at the door of her high school and that was without a cell phone.
we went home and sat in front of the tv and i said to her so afraid we are all gonna die today.
i will never forget , ever.
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MATILDA
...the feeling (and this is/was all a kind of selfish projection) was the same as when I was a kidlet, and "we" were on the brink of total annihilation with the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis...or Saigon '75...or the real time TV broadcast of the Challenger...or the pronouncement of declared war in the Gulf...or when the USS Cole with a hole ripped thru her side was wedged between two idiot commercials on daytime television...
frozen action
The boys were both safe at school, Holly was already with Miss Lulu, I was preparing to go teach at FSUS and how to best serve the student body who I felt, no doubt, was confused and scared, at best.
When I got to school, it was controlled mayhem. Freaked parents were coming to get their kids and such...the thing is, the older students knew more and better what REALLY was happening becuz they were watching CNN in their classrooms. Our leadership watch phrase directive was "don't talk about it unless they ask." Silly. In my classes, we talked about it as we learned about it that day. We dealt with it for a few days, as it applied to circumstance. The kids got saturated with it pretty quickly and, in the way kids do, they "clicked the remote" to the safer waters of Sponge Bob. Survival denial, I think.
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MATILDA
oink oink...hit a nerve...
At the other college where I taught, my classes were small...theatre, y'know...but we still needed to deal with these events, and did.
How big and yet how small is this freakin' world, anyway?
Two out of my 19 students in that acting class suffered close family loss in the attack. Jesus (hay-sues) and Chris both lost family members...was hard cuz they couldn't get a flight into NY right away. Imagine the irony of having your first lines of total emotional upheaval and uncertainty spent with your Theatre professor.
And, for real...this very day, earlier this morning...I met my new neighbor. He and his brother just bought the place behind mine. They take September 11th off each year to "celebrate" the life of their older sister (who was 28 then) who died there.
That ubiquitous Disney tune takes on a macabre tone as it swirls in my head.
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RumRunner
I was getting ready for an early work day. Just separated from the ex a month ago and it was her turn with the kids. Phone rang and it was the Navy at the Norfolk NLMOC office requesting help with some software I wrote and quickly informing me of the situation. I got out the secure laptop they had provided me, logged in remotely and turned on CNN. NLMOC coordinated with the Pentagon METOC center. While we were just getting started the second plane hit. Just a bit later the plane hit the Pentagon, into the offices of the people we were on the phone with... Everyone stayed professional and to the credit of a young LT named Christine; Norfolk got something like 28 ships in three battle groups out in under 8 hours. While I stayed on the line with Norfolk I called up some key work people at home (it was still pretty early here in CA). Most of them had already heard and were following. We put together a support staff that could arrive early. The damage had been done by then so I told the LT that I would call back from our operations center in 15 minutes. Got a quick phone call off to the soon to be ex letting her know what was happening and giving her some instructions about the kids (San Diego was considered a high risk area immediately because of the large naval presence).
When I got to work there were already half a dozen people in ops. We got back going with Norfolk and SPAWAR and so they day wore on.
Surreal is all that comes to mind.
I posted this for your consideration of the response of the Navy, the Pentagon, SPAWAR, and those people who reported to me at the time. Many had family and friends at risk...and for the METOC community at NLMOC and SPAWAR also lost friends in those few moments.
My respects for those that died. My equal respect for those who stayed professional and kept things going. My best to all of those who lost loved ones.
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TOMMYZ
I remembered hearing about the first crash on the radio before I left for work. My first thought was that is was an a accident because I remembered how a plane had crashed into the empire state building (back in the late 40's, I think). Listening to the radio on the way to work I heard about the second crash and at that point I knew something was up. I didn't get to see TV 'till that evening and I just watched in stunned silence when I saw those buildings go down. A few days later our town had this public memorial and at the time I didn't know if a family friend was alive or not. He's an NYC fireman whose unit was the first to respond ( they were the subject of that documentary made by the french film maker) and I was so relieved to hear he was ok.
There was a 9-11 thread as it was happening on the old version of the Greasespot. I wonder if it can be reprinted here.
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ebn1957
I was flying from Buffalo NY to Salt Lake City (via Dallas Fort Worth) to present at a meeting of patient educators. I love to fly and the morning was perfect. At app 0850, the steward came to the cabin and announced that we would need to "bring the plane down in Little Rock AK"
My friend and co-worker pressed him for more information and all that he would say was that we were being instructed to land - there was no trouble with the plane. I asked my friend if the president was in Texas at the time. Could not help but believe it involved a high level threat.
When we landed on the tarmac, they informed us that the WTC was hit, and while we waited we got word that the second plane crashed. When we walked through the airport approximately an hour later, it was like a tomb. Totally vacated. The walkway was cordoned off and all of the phones were hanging off the hook. I'll never forget the detail of the phones hanging.
We were able to get a motel room. The people of Little Rock are very gracious. I walked in the evening by myself to a downtown church that was open for prayer. One of the church members recognized I was a newcomer and drove me to my motel when the service concluded.
There was no way home for two days. We finally spotted a U-Haul and the three of us (middle aged women) drove a U-Haul from Little Rock to Buffalo. One ticket along the way in TN for speeding - I drive as fast as I talk and we talked alot.... When we arrived in Buffalo - pulled into the lot with our U-Haul at the Olive Garden near the airport, they locked the doors out of fear - everyone expected another bomb in a rented truck. They unlocked them when the three of us piled out.
I was thankful to be home, thankful that before I left that I had made a special point to kiss each kid and my husband. I remain thankful for each day of my life.
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excathedra
it hits me in the "gut" in the heart like it did that very day
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krys
I feel the same way Excathy. I know that since that day, I have never really felt safe - there is no real safety - - and maybe we were crazy to have ever thought there was in the first place.
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doojable
I had just dropped the kids off at school and daycare. By the time I got to work both the second tower and the Pentagon had been hit. The T.V. was on (highly unusual.)
I was panicky because T.O.D. was on a field trip 50 miles away and no parents had any of the teachers' cell numbers.
Later on in the day I called my family in NYC to see if everyone was okay. (They were, thank goodness.)
I spent a large part of the day crying. I didn't lose anyone, but that day a great loss was felt just the same.
Even now, when I hear or read about the police and firefighters that died while refusing to give up, I tear up.
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Mister P-Mosh
I can't elaborate too much, but I had gone in to work, and when the first plane hit one of my coworkers told me. I thought it was just a terrible accident. Later on, the second plane struck, and we knew that it was no accident, and that all of the news websites were too busy to function so we didn't know what was going on. Fortunately one woman had a radio so that helped, but they still didn't know anything either. We then found out about the other planes.
I still remember being amazed by how horrific this was. I couldn't really comprehend all the death and destruction, and it didn't make sense at first why someone would do this. Later on, we found out, and I think it affected all of us, although at the time I was working with a few guys from the middle east, and I think it hurt them emotionally the hardest of anyone I knew. They were afraid to be out in public at all, and had a sense of shame about it even though they had nothing to do with it. Since these were my friends, I saw firsthand how tough it was to be them. Imagine a group of obviously arab men going to lunch together after 9/11.
Anyway, after that day, I found out that a few of my friends from college were either there or en route there. One woman was injured and burned, but survived and is ok now. The other was on the subway, preparing to go for an interview at the WTC. I think she said she was running late due to getting her hair done or something.
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Watered Garden
I had the day off. My mother-in-law was down for an appointment with the doctor at the hospital where I worked, so I was elected to take her. When we got in the building she couldn't walk without running out of breath, so I found her a place to sit and headed to my department for a wheelchair. A friend told me a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. I said it must have been an accident, a small plane, like hit the Empire State Building? She said no, it was a passenger jet and it wasn't an accident.
I went back with the wheelchair and got my mother-in-law and took her to X-ray, and while she had her study done, I went back down to my desk and called my husband. He had been told by a neighbor, came in and turned on the TV in time to see the second plane hit live. He was crying. The rest of the day was a blur, getting mother-in-law through the appointment, where she saw the chief resident since her doctor was in a high level security meeting, and then driving her back. She was on some weird medications and didn't have a clue what I was talking about, then or later.
The next day at work an Iranian physicist told me that America is an evil country and got exactly what it deserves. To my credit, I just looked at her and said "that golden door swings both ways. Maybe you are on the wrong side of it."
Our son was in boot camp in Chicago at that time. For weeks we had no idea what would happen with him.
One year later, one of the women I worked with, whose husband is a firefighter, opined that she was heartily sick of hearing about 9/11 and wished everyone would just forget about it so "we can get on with our lives."
Me? Well, I spent a lot of time sobbing in front of the TV set that month, comforted by Sophie, my lab. The Sprout never did go to war.
And I will never forget. Ever.
WG
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Peruser
On 9/11 I had an early morning flight from DC (Reagan National Arpt.) to Cincinnati, OH. I can remember my cabbie was about 30 minutes late picking me up, but made it to the airport in plenty of time.
Landed in Cincy & arrived at my conference location sometime around 8:30 am.
While waiting with others at the conference location, chatting and sipping coffee, the confernence coordinators (with a sense of seriousness) called everyone inside to watch some developing news on the tv. For the next hour or so we all sat there transfixed/dazed, as hell broke loose in the NYC, Washington, DC, and that field in PA. Finally, we had to shut off the tv coverage and try to focus/divert our attention to our work.
We voted on whether to continue the conference or cancel and go home . . .but as there was no easy way home, those who could, stayed and we continued.
It was several hours before I was able to call home (phone lines were jammed up) to let my wife know I was alive and well, and to hear that they were also.
I got home later that week, getting a ride back with others from the conference. My family then drove up to a friend's wedding in Cape Cod. Driving up the Jersey Tpk and Pallisades parkway, we could see the eerie dusty glow at ground zero - at probably midnight, timewise.
It was an odd feeling, seeing those massive towers missing - the same towers where I attended a conference a year previously, same conference group that met in Cincy.
Per
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Juan Cruz
I did eight services for 911 victims
I remember:
-two funerals for a man with 7 children, hundreds of his Port Authority colleagues with ashen faces (too many funerals attended)
-burials of boxes with a few pieces found - many, months later
-a conversation with a future victim that Sunday. he told me "I just took my [two little] girls to see my new office on the 83rd floor of the north tower on Friday."
-watching the towers fall on TV live, sitting next to his wife.
-my funeral home director friends rounding up 100s of body bags that would never be used.
-parents of my kid's school mates literally crying on my shoulder
- a clergy colleague who told his son, and then quoted himself at a big memorial service (he dropped out of ministry a few years ago -thank God), "The Muslims did this." It shamed me to be his colleague.
-visiting the Roman Catholic mother of a 22 year old Muslim victim (through his father)... his best friend walked out of above-mentioned service for the above mentioned reason.
-Fund-raisers for months for families.
-the smell at ground zero -actually all the way up past 14th street
-ministers handing out bottles of water etc. to rescue workers
- My friend, a church member, who just barely escaped that day, just to die a year later at 55 from a heart attack. She was beautiful. Her classmates from a private school in the West Indies sang school songs for her at her funeral.
-candlelight vigils held at our church for weeks... people coming in and out silently
-the widow who watched her husband's tower fall from her office window across the river. He had a noon tee-time for that day. I preached at his huge memorial mass. "It may be Good Friday, but Easter is Coming" (actually borrowed from a colleague - too many messages to deliver to overlapping groups too close together to write all new messages).
-a few months ago, this same, bright, beautiful, young 911 widow introduced me to her finance at the grocery store. This was the week after our house was destroyed by fire... new beginnings.
-I never fail to think about 911 as I drive down 7th Avenue and see the towers that aren't there anymore.
Juan
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