September 11, 2001
At the time, I was working for a credit card company called Providian and I, just so happened, to have Tuesday's off. I awoke to the sounds of my sister coming down into my room and yelling "Mom says you have to turn on the news!" Groggily, I thought to myself "Whatever it is, it isn't worth giving up my chance to sleep in". I decided to see what all the commotion was about and turned on my little 10" TV. I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing and, honestly, I thought I was watching a bad movie. You see, I had just gotten back from a trip to New York. My cousin, Brandy, and I took our very first real venture (by ourselves!) out into the world from August 28th, 2001 until September 4th, 2001 and we decided it would be fun to visit Manhattan. We had to plan our trip around Tuesday's because I had them off. So, we left on a Tuesday and came back on a Tuesday. Little did I know, if we had planned our trip out even a week later, we could've been caught in a catastrophic situation. Either we would've arrived on the day it happened, or we would've had to deal with the problems of leaving NY on a flight that probably would've been cancelled. Either way, it would've put a damper on our trip. I'm glad we went when we did because we had a blast! Anyway, I came upstairs to watch the news coverage with my Mom. My Mom had heard on the radio about the first plane striking the tower. She was able to see the second one hit after turning on the TV. That's when she told my sister to go and wake me up. I was glued to the TV the entire day. I didn't even change out of my pajamas. I was afraid of going anywhere because I was afraid I'd miss an update! All kinds of questions were going through my head...Who would do such a thing?...Why? I cried for a better part of the day because I couldn't stop thinking about all of the people in those buildings. How helpless they must've felt. On our visit to NY we were able to visit the twin towers and take a tour that took us to the very top of one of the towers. While there, we were able to mingle with some of the employees because they served us cheesecake and champagne (well, I didn't get champagne because I was underage at the time), but I did get a bit of Sprite in a champagne glass! Anyway, I kept thinking about the employees we met and the possibility of them losing their life that day. It absolutely overwhelmed me. I was sad, angry, scared, and confused all in one. That's a frustrating way to feel.
The American flag took on a whole new meaning to me after this. People were displaying them everywhere I went. On homes, cars, in stores...everywhere. I even bought a little American flag magnet to put on my car. Our flag stood for something. Well, it always has, but I guess I had just taken it for granted all my life. I looked at it in an entirely different way. I was proud of it and proud to be a part of this country where our freedom is something that can't be taken from us."This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world." - George Bush
1 comment:
Oh my word, how SCARY your trip to New York would have been if you hadn't gone when you did! It's really chilling to read how you happened to come home before this entire tragedy occurred. This is one day that I will never forget, that's for sure.
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