Monday, September 11, 2006

911 Memories

I didn’t have to be in the office until late that Tuesday, having worked late the night before. Mrs. Sage had just left for work; I was sitting at the table reading and drinking my second cup of coffee. It think it was around 7:30 AM, Mountain Time. My daughter, just three and a half, was still asleep. Mrs. Sage couldn’t have gotten very far down the road when she called from her cell phone, yelling frantically for me to turn on the TV, saying something about an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. Immediately I went into the living room and turned the TV on and saw a picture of the building burning and then the second plane flying into the second tower. Nothing made sense. Soon, the news outlets were breaking from New York with reports from Washington of an attack on the Pentagon. There were rumors of other attacks. I heard something about a bomb at the State Department, but nothing more was said about it and it turned out to be a rumor. The morning developed into a fog. I got on the internet to see if I could find out more, but the news only had a line or two about the attacks. I checked my mail and a friend who lived in New York City emailed everyone on his list to say that he was okay. I went back to the TV, heard about the plane crash in Pennsylvania and how all airplanes were being grounded. Through all of this, my daughter who was normally up early in the morning slept. After about an hour of watching in horror, I went up to her room and sat by her bed and watched her sleeping, afraid of waking her into this world we found ourselves living. Running through my head as a desperate prayer all that day were the words of the Psalmist, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46)

8 comments:

  1. It's one of those moments we will always remember in horror. It was night here & I was meant to be up early in the morning for a job interview - for some reason I thought I'd watch the late news and that's when the story broke.

    The thing I remember most is the local commentator who usually is so eloquent, stumbling over her words with 'uh, uh, uh' & I felt so far away from home.

    Thank you for sharing your memories. The best way we can honor the victims is never to forget.

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  2. How weird. I was just thinking of Daydreamer last night and how we use to gang up on you, Sage. Ahh...the good ol' days.

    Similar to your thoughts, I was glad that my parents weren't around for it.

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  3. I remember that morning too. A very surreal feeling.

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  4. I was at work at a scratch bakery in a local grocery store in Pennsylvania when it happened. I remember being somewhat in shock. This isn't possible! What's going on? We brought out radios to keep us updated as we continued to work. Besides work and bewilderment, I mostly remember just extreme sadness.

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  5. I don't think any of us will forget that day and the feeling of helplessness and shock. I was in the office and everyone in the building was standing up trying to here from the speakers above.
    Our elderly president, a man I normally adored, got upset and said for everyone to turn off that mess and get back to work.."It has nothing to do with us."....his son said "Dad, you can't say that....our country is under attack." A lot of folks almost quit that day because of his awful attitude. I remember most all of us took these 2 hour lunches to try to drive home and watch our tvs....it is as confused as I have ever been.

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  6. I have never prayed so much in my life as I did that day and in the days that followed.

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  7. I watched the news for a month straight, and then, at the end of the month, I turned off my television for good.

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  8. Daydreamer, welcome back!

    Murf, you do quite well holding your own without any help from others

    Spider Girl, welcome to my site, your site "Spiders in the bathtub" reminds me of the Granddaddy Long-legs that keep trying to make a home above my bathtub.

    Tim, a scratch bakery--there's probably something theparatic about kneading bread

    Deana, your boss sounds like a real jerk, yet from what I've heard, 911 was one of the most unproductive days ever in America as we were all in shock

    Kenju, there wasn't really anything more most of us could do, was there

    ing, yes, I too OD on news, and although I have TVs now, I could go back to the years I didn't have one

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