I Still Remember September 11
Yet those first moments remains as crystal clear in my mind as though it was yesterday.
I was 21 years old. I lived in a small house in Burleson, TX with my boyfriend and his 2 small children. I worked for a small bank, as a bank teller. I hated my job, not really the job, but the small-town hicks I worked for, more specifically. So, that particular day, I had pretty much decided I was going to call in and be "sick", a fairly regular occurance. I had already seen my boyfriend's son off to kindergarten, and was trying to muster up motivation to get ready for work... since I hadn't called yet.
The tv was on, which was completely normal for the morning. What was not normal is that it was on a news channel, and not the normal pbs cartoons that the kids liked to watch. I glanced over at the tv and saw the breaking news story. I have never been to NY, and honestly didn't even know what the World Trade Center buildings were. However, I remember being instantly struck with a "this is big" feeling. I woke my boyfriend up. "Hey babe! Come look at this, a plane flew into a big building in New York. Do you know what the World Trade Center is?"
He leaped out of bed. "Oh my God! Those buildings are huge! I gotta see this..." While we're watching, the commentators are speculating, at this point they're still wondering if it was a small plane. "That was no small plane, look at the hole in that building... you have no idea how huge those buildings are babe, I've seen them." My boyfriend says.
Of course, along with so many others on that day. I witnessed the second plane fly into the second building. Live.
"That was no accident" "Oh my God, we're under attack" "This is an attack" "We're going to have a war on our own soil" These are just a number of things I'm thinking.
At one point I had called my parents. They live in Colorado, and were one hour behind us. They were still sleeping. Groggily, my mother turns the tv on while I'm on the phone with her. "OK dear, I'm watching. I'll talk to you later." I don't remember what we talked about later that day. But I'm sure we did.
Oh yeah, and I called in to work. I spent the rest of the day glued to my tv. Waiting for word, waiting for more attacks. Once all 4 planes had been identified and had crashed... well...
May their souls rest in peace. There is absolutely nothing I can say that would convey my feelings from that day. There is nothing I can say that could possibly convey how I feel for those poor people who lost their lives to such senseless violence.
Still remembering...
