The day of 9/11/01 will be always in our minds and our hearts. For many of us living in the Tri-State area, we were directly affected by the attacks on the World Trade Center as well as the Pentagon. When I was teaching, I would have my students write about their experience of 9/11 because I know how I was affected by it as a 25 year old and felt it was important for teenagers and young 20 somethings to be able to express themselves about this horrible memory either through the written word, the spoken word or through art.
My memory: I was sitting on our couch in Fair Lawn. NJ IM chatting with my brother-in-law who worked by the Pentagon and my mother-in-law called. The day was sunny with a cool breeze in the air. My mother-in-law and I were discussing last minute wedding plans since Aaron and I were set to be married on 9-30-01 at The Rockleigh Country Club.
The TV was on, turned to Fox 5, “Good Day New York,” as the camera panned up and showed the smoke from the first plane that crashed into the first Tower. The reporter wasn’t sure what it was and thought maybe a fire. As the camera was still focused in on the first Tower on fire, the second plane hit and my mother-in-law and I sat in silence and both agreed we were being attacked. And no we weren’t calm. Then we heard about the Pentagon and I assured her I was speaking to my brother-in-law, her son, just a few minutes ago so go and try to reach him and then call us back. Aaron’s oldest brother worked in the Towers and saw the first plane hit and told his entire office to get the hell out NOW! He took off and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back home to be safe.
I got off the phone with my mother-in-law, still sitting on my couch in Fair Lawn, called Aaron and I couldn’t get through to him. He was working in Short HIlls, NJ at the time. Called and woke my mother up telling her to turn on the TV NOW! She did and said, “I have to call Uncle Joey; I’ll call you back.” My cousins worked in the Towers so for hours that day we couldn’t get in touch with either of them. Aaron finally got in touch with me and he was heading home from work early that day.
All day we didn’t hear back from my cousins and finally toward the evening my mother called telling us that they were safe. They just returned from their honeymoon, came out of the NY Subway, looked up, saw the smoke, and ran right back into the Subway to get away. Aaron’s brother in DC was also safe we found out later that day. All we could do was be grateful that all our family members were save from the attacks on 9/11. The fear we all felt that day will never be forgotten as the ones who lost their lives. Please take a few moments of silence today to remember 9/11.
Please share your memories and thoughts with us.
I remember all my children had the day off from school. Usually when they had a holiday like that the rules about TV are relaxed and they were down stairs watching cartoons. I was listening to the radio in the bedroom when I heard the news of the attack. I remember feeling numb, so shocked. I didn’t let the children watch TV or listen to the radio at all that day and for days after, at the time they were far too young to understand and it would have too overwhelming for them to comprehended. I remember when my eldest was in Kindergarten during the first gulf war, we had a Kindergarten teacher who was so into Social Justice that she never edited her thoughts and told the children that they Arabs were going to kill us because of how we treated them. My son hide under his bed for weeks after that, and now this!
I did not tell my children about what happened until many months and for my youngest who were only six at the time, not until years later.
Thank you Lisa for sharing that with us. I am glad to know that your family was fortunate enough to be out of harms way that day.
As I don’t want to take up to much space on your blog, visit this page on my blog to hear my memories.
Lisa-
Thanks for sharing your memories of this day. It’s 7 years ago that this happened, and today was the first day that I wrote down my memories. I’ve always had feelings and thoughts about them, but today I shared them with “the world”. It was difficult because as you can read on my site, I lost a friend. We actually lost more than 1 acquaintance, but this was someone who was a dear, dear friend and the purest soul and nicest person ever.
It’s sad that tragic events help people connect, but this connecting helps us deal with tragic events. Thanks for sharing your memories.
-Matt
Has it really been seven years? None of us will ever forget that day. Living in Pennsylvania, we found ourselves in the middle of it all. Actually, we discontinued cable and the Dishnetwork people were coming for an install on the 12th, so basically we had no cable! The phone rang constantly with people checking in about loved ones who were in NY, the Pentagon and on that flight that fell over PA. One of my consultants had a husband working in the Pentagon. At the time of the attack, he was out of his office in a meeting in another part of the building. (his office was demolished and it took all day to find out that he was okay) One of my husband’s college roommates lost his wife that day who was a flight attendent on 93. Everyone was in shock. We weren’t sure what was going to happen next. And we got to see it on a computer screen since we had no television. ( actually they replayed it so many times when we did get the television the next day that I don’t think that we missed anything.) My husband was working in NJ and he could see it all across the river as it burned.
I think that those days immediately following the attacks many people started to pray that never did before. Many churches lost huge parts of their congregation in NY while others sent church members into the city to help the survivors and pray with them.
I don’t think that we should ever forget the unity that our country exhibited after that fateful day that changed history for us. I know that I won’t.
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