Five Years Later
Where were we when we first heard, saw, or felt on 9/11/01?
I remember that Tuesday morning very well. It was my day off of college at LCCC just like my normal Tuesdays and Thursdays. I usually sleep in until about 9ish and this day was no different. I woke up and it was 8:54am, the first tower had already been hit just 10 minutes before. I made my way up the stairs out of the basement and my mom was up making a cake and asked if I saw what happened on TV yet. I was trying to figure out what was the burning building that was on TV until it flashed at the bottom North Tower of World Trade Center on fire.
I couldn't believe it, I had visited the WTC and went up to the top floor just 3 years before that and I remember as ugly as those buildings were from afar they were absolutely beautiful up close and inside the building. This was THE center of our financial world and it reflected that. Everything metal, the doors, the elevators, the handrails were all in brass. The main lobby was red and blue and 'The Top of the World' as the top floor was called was bright blue and had a spectacular view of all of New York City.
As I had watched what the news was trying to report and that eyewiteness accounts said a plane hit the North Tower and just as that was being described, the South tower was hit.
I was numb.
I was in disbelief that a second plane was an accident as it was first believed. I yelled for my mom and told her that the other tower was hit, it was by a plane, and I saw it on TV. We both just stood there and watched and still couldn't register what was happening. At the time I was dating Kristin and so I hopped on my bike and rode down the street and woke her up (as it was her day off of school, too) and we both just watched the news all day.
It was unbeleivable to see the South tower collapse and at first the news didn't even acknowledged that the tower fell until about 5 minutes after the fact. As all of this happened they switched over to Washington DC to show that another plane had hit the Pentagon. I was confused. I couldn't understand how all this could be happening. We have been so secure at our airports that something like this couldn't possibly been happening. Then news came that a plane crashed in Shanksville, PA and I wasn't sure how many more planes we would be seeing being used as missles.
I was pissed.
It hit me that moment, when we watched on TV that we were being hit in the financial district, our main military complex, and what was thought to be the White House that our world has forever changed. We will be living in a world that two of the tallest buildings in the world were gone, that commercial air flight will never be the same, that there are a group of people out there want us dead.
I had to work that evening at IGA in Oberlin, which happens to be across the street from the FAA building, the FAA that tried to contact flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, PA. It was surreal. Half of our parking lot was filled with vans from many different news outlets. I remember seeing our local news and even national news vans. There was no way that they were getting in to hear from the FAA because of the huge number of police cars, vans, and officers that were sitting at the entrance of the complex. It's nothing that I've never seen before and hopefully will never have to see something like that again.
Working was tough, but I got through it, and many of us that witnessed that day did as well. In their own way. Yet today, we should be remembering those families that lost their loved ones on 9/11/01. The one person on my mind today is Rob Vacarro, who lost his mother that day. While I have not seen him almost 3 years, he is in my prayers today. We must NEVER forget about that day that changed everything.
What were you doing that day?
I remember that Tuesday morning very well. It was my day off of college at LCCC just like my normal Tuesdays and Thursdays. I usually sleep in until about 9ish and this day was no different. I woke up and it was 8:54am, the first tower had already been hit just 10 minutes before. I made my way up the stairs out of the basement and my mom was up making a cake and asked if I saw what happened on TV yet. I was trying to figure out what was the burning building that was on TV until it flashed at the bottom North Tower of World Trade Center on fire.
I couldn't believe it, I had visited the WTC and went up to the top floor just 3 years before that and I remember as ugly as those buildings were from afar they were absolutely beautiful up close and inside the building. This was THE center of our financial world and it reflected that. Everything metal, the doors, the elevators, the handrails were all in brass. The main lobby was red and blue and 'The Top of the World' as the top floor was called was bright blue and had a spectacular view of all of New York City.
As I had watched what the news was trying to report and that eyewiteness accounts said a plane hit the North Tower and just as that was being described, the South tower was hit.
I was numb.
I was in disbelief that a second plane was an accident as it was first believed. I yelled for my mom and told her that the other tower was hit, it was by a plane, and I saw it on TV. We both just stood there and watched and still couldn't register what was happening. At the time I was dating Kristin and so I hopped on my bike and rode down the street and woke her up (as it was her day off of school, too) and we both just watched the news all day.
It was unbeleivable to see the South tower collapse and at first the news didn't even acknowledged that the tower fell until about 5 minutes after the fact. As all of this happened they switched over to Washington DC to show that another plane had hit the Pentagon. I was confused. I couldn't understand how all this could be happening. We have been so secure at our airports that something like this couldn't possibly been happening. Then news came that a plane crashed in Shanksville, PA and I wasn't sure how many more planes we would be seeing being used as missles.
I was pissed.
It hit me that moment, when we watched on TV that we were being hit in the financial district, our main military complex, and what was thought to be the White House that our world has forever changed. We will be living in a world that two of the tallest buildings in the world were gone, that commercial air flight will never be the same, that there are a group of people out there want us dead.
I had to work that evening at IGA in Oberlin, which happens to be across the street from the FAA building, the FAA that tried to contact flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, PA. It was surreal. Half of our parking lot was filled with vans from many different news outlets. I remember seeing our local news and even national news vans. There was no way that they were getting in to hear from the FAA because of the huge number of police cars, vans, and officers that were sitting at the entrance of the complex. It's nothing that I've never seen before and hopefully will never have to see something like that again.
Working was tough, but I got through it, and many of us that witnessed that day did as well. In their own way. Yet today, we should be remembering those families that lost their loved ones on 9/11/01. The one person on my mind today is Rob Vacarro, who lost his mother that day. While I have not seen him almost 3 years, he is in my prayers today. We must NEVER forget about that day that changed everything.
What were you doing that day?