It is said that our brain may not remember what we did yesterday, but it will remember a traumatic
event that happened years before and easily recall what we were doing at that moment.
On September 11, 2001, I was getting ready to take my daughter to school before I left for work.
I was listening to the news on the television while I was rushing around and heard that a plane
had crashed into a building in New York. I mentioned it to my daughter as we were walking out
the door to leave. We both thought it was very sad. We had no idea how sad it would be!
By the time I had dropped her off at school and made it to work,
I totally knew that this was not just some small plane crashing into a building.
Because of where I worked, the phones were ringing off the hook with frightened questions.
All I wanted to do was go home to be with my family! Unfortunately, I couldn't do that and could
only catch small glimpses from the television about what was happening. It was heartbreaking!
My office was on the 8th floor of the building and it was scary to feel so vulnerable.
My coworkers and I watched out the window as there eventually were no planes in the air.
In a city like Las Vegas, there are always planes in the air.
When I finally got home, I was numb and exhausted with worry.
I wrote in my journal that day and again a couple days later:
What a horrible day! Four planes were
hijacked and all of them were deliberately crashed. Two flew into the
World Trade Center in downtown New York,
another crashed into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in
Pittsburgh. Thousands have been killed and
many more injured. It was horrifying to see the replay of one of
the planes flying straight into the tower.
After about an hour of it burning, one tower collapsed and then the
other one did. It was unbelievable. The
smoke and dust were totally consuming the downtown area. All planes
were ordered to land at their closest
airport. No planes are allowed to fly until tomorrow. [My daughter] called
from Salt Lake and was a little weepy. I think she was scared and felt so far from us.
[My son] called because
they closed his mall and he was going home. Most of us felt like we just wanted to go home
and be with our
families. Tomorrow may bring more or who knows what!
It's been a long week of not feeling anything
normal. The attack on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon
have totally consumed the television viewing and the talk among
everybody. There are still over 4,700 people
buried & missing in the
1.5 million tons of debris in New York. It has been unbelievable! There
is such sadness, yet a unity of the
American people. Millions of dollars have been donated to help the people
there. Over 200 firemen and about 80
policemen died while trying to save the people in the towers. It still feels
like we're watching a movie when we see
the planes crash into the towers and then see the towers fall a few
hours later. So far there have been five
other buildings that have falling because of the WTC falling. It looks
like little ants crawling over the debris.
Thousands of people are wandering around with pictures of their loved
ones just hoping that they are still
alive. Some of the victims called their families from cell phones either from
the planes or from the buildings. One man
didn't hear the phone so his wife left a message on the answer
machine. She told him how much she loved
him and that there wasn't anyway out of where she was. She is still
missing in the rubble. Terrible!
I can still remember this day and the horror I felt.
Where were you on 9/11?
I will NEVER forget!
