September 11, 2001 First anniversary
Created | Updated Sep 8, 2002
Where I was on September 11, 2001
*Louisiana is in the Central U.S. time zone and one hour behind New York which is in the Eastern U.S. time zone*.
At 7:10 a.m. I left home to drive to work. It was a beautiful day, and I was feeling a bit bummed about having to work indoors while the sun was so bright and the weather so nice. Traffic caused me to be a bit later than I like(I have the key to open the door at 8:00 a.m.). The car that I was driving then did not have a radio. I arrived at work, opened the door and everyone filed into the building. One of the bakers told us about her dream the night before about planes falling out of the sky..."Like what was predicted for Y2K".
Then in the space of the two minutes it takes to walk into the bakery, punch a timecard then walk into the main building of our store the first plane hit the first WTC tower. The kitchen staff has a radio that is on most of the time. As I was answering the phone one of my friends who works in the kitchen leaned over the counter and waved to get my attention and said just loud enough for me to hear "A plane has just crashed into(and here is the part that was echoed across the room by another employee on another phone) the World Trade Center?..." We had two customers in the store within a few minutes...one shopped paid and left. The other said as he was paying "Did you hear about the hijacking yet?". Another message from the kitchen radio which had been turned up so we could hear it on the sales floor "A second plane has just hit the other tower..."
Instantly all five of us looked at each other and said various wordings of "Dear God that was planned!" I knew my brother who lives in New York did not work in the WTC. However, I did not know how close his office or apartment was to the WTC. My friend and I ran out to her car to get a portable television she carries. While we were rummaging for batteries and the television, members of the bakery staff came out to tell us what they had heard. Television in hand we went inside. I was told to call home immediately(Mike had just called). That was scary... I called home. As the phone was ringing reports of the Pentagon attack and the crash in Pennsylvania were broadcast. So, at that point it wasn't just my brother who might have been involved, but possibly, my nephew and my cousin in D.C as well. Mike answered the phone. He asked me if I had heard anything at all on the news. He had been driving to work(same store where I work) heard the news on the car radio, turned around went home, picked up his television, called me at work, waited for me to return his call. Then he left for work again.
I had to call my other brother to find out if he had heard from our relatives. Since he was doing some paperwork for the store, and expected to see me in just an hour or so he thought it a bit strange that I would call him to ask such a thing. I told him to turn on the television, doesn't matter which channel, two planes have hit the World Trade Center on purpose, the Pentagon has been attacked, and another hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
We all watched in shock and horror as the towers pancaked to the ground. We stared at the tiny two inch television screen not saying a word. Two icons of the New York skyline gone in just a few minutes taking an unfathomable number of lives with them.
It was three hours before my brother managed to get an outgoing long distance telephone line from New York to call me at work. First thing he said was "I am okay, that is four miles away, across the bridge. Don't know how long this connection will last as it took three hours to get it in the first place. Don't bother calling me, phone lines are down all over the place. There are people who need them more." The first thing I said to him was "Glad you're okay, I'll tell everyone. And, um, Happy Birthday".
We watched the news all day at work. Co workers would drift in and sit for a while, watch the news a bit, swear a bit, sniffle a little and drift out again. I drove home past a totally empty air port. Emails and IMs arrived later that evening to let me know that everyone else was okay.
My interests have changed. My priorities have changed. During a search for news on the BBC site h2g2.co.uk showed up in the results. I thought the site had been closed since it didn't show up when I tried h2g2.com a few months before. I returned and registered for a post Rupert account since it wouldn't let me back into my old account.
The first anniversary memorial services don't bother me. I disagree with this becoming an enduring holiday. In my opinion, the site should be a park instead of another office building.
