9/11

Sorry this will be a post without pictures! I have many pictures of the WTC, but they were long before the digital revolution. Just thought I would reminisce for a minute about the day it happened...

I was getting ready for work, a big out-of-town client was coming in that day. I always watched CNN while I got ready (just married 4 months, no kids) and tuned in just after the first tower was hit. I stopped getting ready and sat down in disbelief! I grew up in upstate NY and have been to the WTC many times. The news showed the single smoking building for so long and then out of nowhere the second plane went in! I really felt like my heart stopped at that instant, I will never forget how it felt like the world stopped right then. I immediately went to wake up my DH who was still in bed and we watched in stunned silence. The whole time I was just thinking, "boy, it is going to take so long to fix the towers"! I knew that the Empire State building had been hit by planes before and obviously it is still standing, so nothing could have prepared me for seeing the first tower go down. I remember that we had been listening to people IN the towers talking on their cell phones to the news stations, saying how they were heading to the roof and they were just waiting for help to arrive. Knowing that they were still there when the towers went down... Oh, it just broke my heart.

Then the news that the Pentagon had been hit and started showing the news there, I just kept thinking "what the h*ll is going on"???? I just couldn't process it happening so fast. I knew I was seeing history in the making and that big things were coming. Then the confusion when the last flight crashed in a field and we didn't know why. To know now that those brave people sacrificed their own lives to take down that plane... Just ordinary people doing something extraordinary when I'm sure they were so scared.

Well, but this time I was 2 hours late for work and I couldn't stay home to watch any longer. I had clients coming in and I could think of nothing except that I couldn't get a hold of my brother in Albany or my parents in Binghamton. The phone lines were so jammed that I couldn't get through. I got to work and our client's plane had been grounded in TX when they were on the tarmac, so we all watched the news and I kept trying to reach my family. I was terrified that my Dad might have been in NYC for business and worried about my brother who is in the Navy. What would this mean for him? Would he be deployed instantly? Would he be safe?

I finally got a hold of my SIL and she said that my brother had been called in to the base, and that my parents were actually driving up to see them! So my family was safe and I felt like I could breathe a little again. After watching the news for hours they finally sent everyone home. I was able to talk to my parents and knew that my family was all safe (for now), but I (like everyone else) knew that this was just the beginning. I pray every day for the safety of those who are trying to protect us and keep us safe.

Now I need to go hug my kids and call my mom...

Cat