Tuesday, September 13, 2011

September 11th, 2001

This past weekend, we all saw a spike in coverage of 9/11 for the tenth anniversary of the events.  I watched a ton of the shows, from documentaries to dramatizations.  I watch them every year and own one particularly moving one on DVD.  I thought I'd share my thoughts about it all here.

Where I was:
Laying in bed, I could hear the phone answering machine click on and could hear Mom, already at her office, telling me to pick up the phone.  Lazily, I rolled out & picked up the phone.  She began telling me of a plane crashing into a building in New York City.  Now, this wasn't unusual for Mom.  Knowing how I feared plane crashes and knowing how the special reports they usually bring give me nightmares, she would always call to warn me of tv coverage of these things.  Yes, even at 28 I'd get a nervous feeling everywhere from these things.  She told me it looked like the planes crashed deliberately.  This was the first time I heard the plural "planes" and replied, "you mean, on purpose?"  It was that foreign a thought to me.  In retrospect, I sounded like a moron, but at that moment, it made so little sense to me.  I still hadn't turned on the tv, so I'm picturing small planes in my mind with only enough room for a maniacal pilot on board.  I heard a concern in Mom's voice that I hadn't heard before and ask if she's okay.  She let me know that she's okay and we hang up.  On my way to the room with the TV, the other phone rings.  My then-fiance of 4 weeks, J.J., called the line in my room.  I picked it up, knowing he was probably calling to help me through my fear of plane crashes, too.  His voice also was in a state I hadn't been familiar with before.  I took the cordless phone into a room with TV and turned on the set.  Not knowing what I was seeing, I was very confused, but as J.J. talked me through it, it all became far too clear for me.  He hung up and I sat, motionless, on the bed changing channels for different coverage, but seeing the same thing everywhere.  Channels that could give me something else on a regular day were giving updates as well.  VH1 was carrying CBS broadcasts instead of pacifying me with music videos.  This was huge.  I knew I'd have to start getting ready to go into work for my day that was to begin at 10:30 (a late day for me) but had troubles tearing myself away to take my shower.  J.J. would call every so often to let me know what he'd found out.  Since his office building had a local cable channel headquartered in it, he had access to watching TV there, too.  During one of his calls, the news broke about fire on the Mall in Washington, D.C.  I let him know of the update and he asked, "The Mall? Really?"  He said he'd call me back later & hung up as if in a hurry.  I thought that he just wanted to see the updates on the TV they had, but when he called back, he told me his folks were in Washington and they were staying near the Mall.  My heart skipped a beat.  I asked him what I could do to help him out.  He gave me the phone number of where his folks were staying, so I began to call, leaving messages requesting that they return the calls to J.J. so he knows all is okay with them.  As this is happening, NBC is now scrolling government agencies that are evacuating in downtown Chicago.  At the time, I was working for government, so I called my office to see if this was happening there, too.  The clerical staff I spoke with huffed and puffed, thinking I was trying to get out of work.  "Of course you have to come in!  We aren't closing!"  Okay...okay!  Didn't need any attitude, but thought everyone was a bit emotional.  I was now ready to leave for work when I saw what I had thought was impossible.  I was on the phone with J.J. for the last talk before I was to leave when all I could get out of my mouth was, "Oh, wow!  It's gone!"  "What's gone?"  "The tower.  It's just plain gone!"  My jaw dropped as I watched the tower drop into a fog of debris covering everything and everybody.  I had to leave this coverage and get to work, not knowing hat was happening there.  As I walked into the ofiice, I remember seeing my then-manager, Judy, give me a weak "hi" from the corner of the office hovering over a radio she was listening to everything on.  My co-workers were asking what coverage was like and some were letting me know that the conference rooms down in our basement were showing the news, too.  I was relaying all I was seeing while keeping my ears open to Judy's radio.  The audio wasn't doing it justice.  It was too unbelievable to be conveyed that way.  About 30 minutes into my workday, the order was given: evacuate the building and make sure that before you do, you have an emergency phone tree for further notices.    What?  We were really evacuating?  Just being sent home?  Now, my heart is racing.  After all, do they know of a threat to this place specifically?  I was put in charge of the phone tree as everyone was leaving, but people were out so fast, it was tough to make sure all had phone numbers.  I got into my car, but took my time getting to it.  Looking up, I saw the pale blue sky with nothing in it.  Not a cloud.  not a plane.  This was a rarity.  After all, we aren't far at all from O'Hare Airport, one of the busiest in the nation.  There were ALWAYS planes.
As I drive away from work, I wondered what I was to do.  I drove through downtown Wheaton on m way home, which wasn't unusual.  What WAS unusual was the amount of passengers getting off of the trains!  Huge crowds coming home so early.  I recognized a face as someone who used to work at the Health Department with me and asked what was going on.  She, too, was evacuated as were most skyscrapers in Chicago.  This crowd was the result of that.  I continued on after finding out she had a ride home.  When I made it to Roosevelt Road, I looked through the clear sky.  It was such a pale blue that it was almost white.  There is one elevated section of road that, on a clear enough day, one can see the skyline of Chicago from.  I was terrified as my eyes fixed on the Sears Tower.  After all, was I to be witness to another attack? No one knew.

Sorry, but I need to take a break from this.  To Be Continued...