9/11 Anniversary

[mikenice]

I'm much more removed from NY than Ron is, but I can relate to a lot of what he said. There are tons of commuters in my area and my family.

My stepdad's brother-in-law (step-uncle or whatever) was supposed to start a new job that day in the towers for one of his best friend's company. For some reason it got pushed back a day or two, and luckily he wasn't there. His friend, however, didn't make it. A few months later, I was down at there house in Long Island for one of the kids' birthday parties.

I was in the kids play room watching TV, because all the kids left and were outside doing stuff. The only one left in the room was the little boy (probably about 3) of my "step-uncle's" friend. His mom was popping in and out of the room to check in on him or sit and play with him for a minute. Talk about a heart-wrenching scene watching this little guy playing with his mom.

But Ron's right, there was no way to communicate with people in the city that day. I know we had tons of kids in school who's parents work down in the city, teacher's spouses or kids, etc. It took hours to get a hold of people. There were so many rumors floating around too.

And I'll tell you how this changed me. I think it was the 2003 summer, and that huge black out that wiped out NYC, CT and went like all the way up NY. I was working that day, and I was outside, but all of a sudden everyone inside had no power and they said it was all over the tri-state area. Immediately I thought the worst. Luckily it wasn't what I feared, but I wonder if Ron knows what I'm talking about. There is a great picture of a mass walking across the brooklyn bridge that day. Even now when I get stuck in traffic on the GW, Tappazee or even Whitestone bridge, there's something in the back of my mind that says I'm a sitting duck.


USA

[rimrocka44]

I will never forget I was sitting in the living room of our townhouse reading my Business Policy textbook. My first class wasn't until 1 pm (a military science class no less) and I hadn't turned on the TV yet that morning. About 9:48am I overheard my roommate coming back from class and talking to Cindy the cleaning lady about something, he walked in the door and was like turn on the TV. The rest is history. Both my classes were cancelled that day.

I had family in NYC and found out shortly after they were all ok. My cousin used to work at the WTC but had gotten a new job about 2-3 weeks prior. I had an ex that was working in NYC at that time. She had IM at work and I was talking to her on that, I had to call her mom because there was no cellphone reception and the phone lines were down and let her know her daughter was safe.

[bonniesfan]

I was still in high school at the time. Living about 45 minutes from DC, the Pentagon attack was the big thing for us since a lot of parents worked in DC or at the Pentagon.

I remember not hearing anything about it for awhile. Then sitting in Science class probably around noon and someone saying "Someone bombed the Pentagon." No one really knew how to take it though and none of the teachers would tell us what was going on or turn on the TV. I remember a lot of people's parents that worked at the Pentagon coming to pick them up from school. By the end of the day the place was pretty empty. I still didn't really know the full effect of what had happened and the stuff from NYC until I got home and saw everything.

It was really confusing at first. Trying to understand just the magnitude of the whole thing. One girl's mom from my school was burnt pretty badly in the Pentagon attack. She had months and months of surgeries and rehab and she still looks pretty bad.

What a day that was. Something I'll never forget.

[2ndfal]

I was working at Bonaventure at the time, and taking grad classes at night. Our staff was in a meeting with that fat fuck Carol Ann Pierson who was Dean of the School of Education at the time. So we hadn't heard anything about it until almost 11am or so when the meeting was over. When I went back to my office, there were a ton of emails from college friends on a mass email we were all on. The first one read something like "Why are there planes flying into the WTC?" and as soon as I heard that people from our staff started talking about it in the hallways.

One of my friends was living in Charlotte, and called one of our friends who was working in NYC. My friend in NYC had worked very late the night before, and was still sleeping when the second plane hit. My friend called him and asked "What's up with the Twin Towers?" to which my buddy in NYC replied "Yeah, they're pretty tall, huh?" He had no clue what was going on.

I went to lunch that day and watched the news reports from the Skellar. Took a bit of a longer lunch, maybe close to two hours or so, then went back to work. Tuesdays were my miserable days, as I had back to back classes that night from 4:30pm-7pm and 7:15pm-9:45pm. The first class the professor talked about it for maybe five minutes, and then went about business like normal for the rest of the time. In my second class, the professor talked about how classes should have been cancelled, but we wound up staying for well over an hour and a half. So I really didnt get to sit down and watch the news until well after 9pm that night.

I had a friend from HS on his way to work at the WTC for the second day of his internship. He had heard on the radio that planes had hit them, and thought it was a prank.

[oleanron]

Not to be an asshole, but that post by "Alison" wasn't the smartest thing to do for a serious topic like this. To be honest, I'm getting bored with "Alison" anyway. I have a high threshold for "inappropriate". I'm not offended--just questioning "Alison's" judgement.

Mikenice, I know EXACTLY what you're talking about...and I was one of the masses on a bridge (Triboro). I'll relate my experience on that thread.

Up until the day my son had open-heart surgery, 9/11 was the worst day of my life.

[CosmonautLaunchPad]

oleanron said:

Up until the day my son had open-heart surgery, 9/11 was the worst day of my life.

Olean Ron, if I remember correctly your son is still very young right? Did this happen recently? I hope he is well on his way to recovery.

[oleanron]

Thanks...yes, at six weeks old, my son had to have open heart surgery to repair a defect. We had known about this since Jill was five months pregnant. Originally, we were supposed to have the surgery when he was six months, but then he turned blue and our cardiologist decided to operate now. This was in March. Although the first 24 hours after the surgery were the scariest of my life (he suffered through a lot of complications), I can happily report that he is absolutely fine and is a normal and extremely happy baby. I had originally thought that he might play center for the New York Rangers, but he's so damned flexible, I think he might be a goalie. Henrik Lundqvist should be ready to retire by the time Robby's in the draft.

The only thing he has now is a scar on his chest. When he gets holder, he's going to tell the chicks he got it in a knife fight.