I decided to post my memories of 9/11/2001 as I read others stories. Mine is similar but it has meaning to me. I had been married for about 10 months. We were living in our first apartment. My mom and dad were living in an apartment not to far away because thier house had burned down in May of that year. I was on my way to work at a payroll company. I was a shipping clerk. I made sure payrolls left the building packaged and headed to the right destination. I was listening to the local Christian station. I strolled into work and my coworkers greeted me with the words. "We have the TV on, dont worry we are watching." I just stared at them. Ok, why was the TV on? They looked at me dumbstruck. Well a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center Tower. "Oh." I heard nothing on the radio. I scurried over to the TV where I saw a replay of the first plane hit. The station kept cutting back and forth between the replay and footage of the tower smoking. I saw the second plane hit. My coworkers tried to convince me it was the replay. I remember screaming at them that a second plane had just hit the other tower and it was not an accident. All of a sudden our whole building got really quiet. I emailed my husband begging him to call me. I called my mom frantic. We dont have many tall buildings were I live and she worked in one of the tallest down town. "Mommy, you have to leave!" A little while later she did leave. There was a bomb threat. All I wanted was for my family to be in one place together. We heard the news reports of the Pentagon, then the plane in Pennsylvania. I remember all the rumors of other planes and car bombs and people dressed in bombs entering schools. We were not getting a lot of work done. Until....well until I realized that planes were grounded and well...people were not going to get thier paychecks because FedEx was not going to be flying for who knew how long. We then shifted into overdrive. Contacting couriers. Contacting our offices in busy states as we prepared to remote print payrolls. I wanted to be with my family. I was at work until 9pm making sure people got thier paychecks. We ended up with fast food at my mom and dad's apartment that night. Even my brother stayed home and we watched the replays and listened to the commentaries into the night. I called a few friends with relatives in NY. I got nothing but good news. The head coach of our NFL had a son in the WTC towers. We heard he was ok. We cried. We wept. We prayed. I was ready to support our troops that night.
One thing I remember praying over and over was "Thank you God for a real man in the office to lead us."
One more thing I remember and one thing I saw a year later. President Bush had been in our town a few days before. From here he'd gone to Sarasota, FL. I remember watching the newscast when he was told of the planes. When he found out we were under attack. I remember the look on his face. I will never forget it. It was whispered in his ear as he sat in a classroom full of children. I saw him blinking. I saw the dread as he looked at these children. Many criticize what happened next. I applaud. He did not panic as he stared at these children. He did not jump up and leave. He stayed. He thought. He reveled in the children, the innocence for a few more minutes. He knew when he walked out of that school his whole world was going to be different. He prayed. Oh and another thing I remember the things he was called because he did not rush right back to Washington. That made me mad/laugh. This man LOVES his wife. Its obvious in everything he does and says to her and about her. I really think had the Secret Service asked him where he wanted to go he would have said straight back to Laura.
The thing I noticed a year later will always endear me to Donald Rumsfield. Say what you want about Rummy but dont ever say it to me because I am the man's staunch defender. We were watching anniversary footage of 9/11. Who ran out into a sea of injured people at the Pentagon? My boy Rummy. I was so pround as I saw him out there limping with his sleeves rolled up, helping people.
These are some of the memories I cherish of that awful day. Memories I will pass down to my children.
Tomorrow I will tell you all about why we celebrate around here this time of year. There is such sweet joy in the sadness.
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