Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Where were you??

It's 9/11 - wow! Can you believe it's been 6 years since the terrorist attacks? I just can't fathom it. We've been watching some shows on the History Channel tonight about that day. And I remember, so vividly, what it was like. I thought I'd share - and I'd love to hear what you were doing that day...

We lived in St. Paul, MN at the time, and we had 3 children under 5 years old then. When I first became aware of what was happening, I was in our dining room, feeding my children breakfast - it was oatmeal, I remember so clearly! Around 9am, my mom called me, "Have you heard? A plane flew into the World Trade Center in NYC!" I turned on the radio - the big Christian radio station in the Twin Cities - just in time to hear the second plane hit the towers. I listened to the news on the radio, and once the kids were done with breakfast, we went downstairs into our basement, where we kept our only TV. I turned on CNN, and I remember being absolutely hysterical as I watched the news coverage. I vividly remember looking at J1, my oldest, who was just 4.5 at the time (younger than my youngest now!) and I told him, "We have to pray. We have to pray really hard. You need to try to remember this, because this is just terrible and will be remembered forever. We need to pray, there's nothing else we can do." I remember A2, just 2 years old, with his big dark eyes, so aware of my stress, and S1, not quite a year old yet, being his normal, happy self. I called my dh, who at the time was a manager with a large computer firm that did computer back-ups and storage. He knew many people who were either travelling in the air or were in NYC at the time. I talked more with my mom, and called a friend here in Atlanta - her father worked in Washington DC (thankfully, he was fine). I watched the towers fall, and just cried. My husband had had a massive stroke less than 6 months earlier. He was still very sick and very weak. I remember thinking, "If it's really bad, and we have to evacuate or something - what will we do? I can't carry all 3 children by myself, and my husband can't help me - what will I do??" It was so confusing for those first few hours, as a plane hit the Pentagon, and another one went down in PA. Not knowing what would come next...It was a very vulnerable time for me, for all of us, and just such a horrific tragedy. I finally turned off the news, because the kids were so upset...And then I remember, later that day, after my dh came home, and we went outside - how quiet it was. We lived over a flight path to the airport, and with all the planes grounded, it was just so darn quiet, so eerie...

I still can't believe it happened. Can't believe it's been 6 years. My prayers are with all the victims, and the survivors, of that day. May we never forget!

1 comment:

LAA and Family said...

Hi, I remember 9/11 well and am quite haunted by it. My boys were 4 and 3 at the time. We were getting ready to go to the park, only the second time a group of us had gathered there (six years later now a few of us still get together every week). My husband called me to tell me the news. I refused to turn the TV on at first but just couldn't keep myself from doing so, I was too curious. I remained glued to the TV for quite a while. I took my radio to the park and we listened to events unfold there. I couldn't sleep for days afterwards. I live near Washington DC and to this day I don't feel safe going there because of 9/11. I didn't sleep well for weeks afterwards, and then I found out I was pregnant! It was just a very strange surreal few weeks for me. My oldest son, who was 4 then, still remembers that day quite well.