I was sitting at work, a small law firm in Virginia, doing legal secretary things when a client walked in and asked me if I'd heard.
"Heard what?" I inquired.
"That a plane crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center."
Confused, I knitted my brows together and stared at the client. My mind went over certain facts: planes don't fly over that way, do they?
I quickly did a search online and found the story on CNN's website. I watched for the next hour while the second tower got hit, the Pentagon got hit, both towers fell, a plane went down in Pennsylvania, and my sense of security crumbled.
My heart ached and broke for the people trapped in the towers, for those escaping, for the firefighters, for the families of the victims. I just wanted to leave work and get my kids from school and hold them close and watch over them. We lived only an hour and a half from Washington, D.C. The events were unfolding in our backyard.
The attorney I worked for went on with her day nonchalantly. She said we shouldn't be surprised, that the Bible said these things would happen. Yes, but is that cause for unconcern? Does that lessen the tragedy? Of course not. I quit that job not long after.
Where were you?
"Heard what?" I inquired.
"That a plane crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center."
Confused, I knitted my brows together and stared at the client. My mind went over certain facts: planes don't fly over that way, do they?
I quickly did a search online and found the story on CNN's website. I watched for the next hour while the second tower got hit, the Pentagon got hit, both towers fell, a plane went down in Pennsylvania, and my sense of security crumbled.
My heart ached and broke for the people trapped in the towers, for those escaping, for the firefighters, for the families of the victims. I just wanted to leave work and get my kids from school and hold them close and watch over them. We lived only an hour and a half from Washington, D.C. The events were unfolding in our backyard.
The attorney I worked for went on with her day nonchalantly. She said we shouldn't be surprised, that the Bible said these things would happen. Yes, but is that cause for unconcern? Does that lessen the tragedy? Of course not. I quit that job not long after.
Where were you?
2 holla'd back:
i was in bed, my mom called downstairs to wake us up. i sat and watched all morning. and all evening. all day.
it was crazy. my sister in law was visiting family in new jersey. and was supposed to fly home that day. we were worried. my mom and uncle and i sat in the basement watching, with my 3 babies on our laps that evening. we had pizza for dinner.
I'd quit that job too. amazing memory. thanks for sharing.
I've worked night shift for the last 15 years, so that morning I woke up in Austin around 9:30 AM and turned on the TV and just sat there in shock as everything unfolded. I donated plasma for the first time that day and have been doing that ever since. I remember having to go to work that night at Motorola and they said we could go home if we did not feel like working-but since I was the Group Lead, I kind of had to stay and just muddle through work as I checked the internet for any new updates all night long. I did put a tape in my VCR (who uses those anymore these days??) after I woke up and I still have 6 hours of tape from that day with all the news reports...I just knew while it was all happening that day would change our lives forever. In my Mom's lifetime, it was dealing with JFK being assassinated, in our lifetime, it has been 9/11, that and the death of Princess Diana always strike me as huge tragedies (my father's death as well for obvious reasons) that I will always remember what I was doing when they happened. It's like time slows down in those instances and you remember details that are so hard to forget....
Post a Comment
Leave me some words!