Where were you when…
It's the anniversary of 9/11 and Mike at Unraveling Mysteries posted his, so I'm going to post mine.
I was downstairs, and like Mike, I was a victim of the tech bubble burst. Unlike him, I was not enjoying it. At that point, I had already secured a temp-to-perm job at Educational Testing Services (yes, the SAT people), but another recruiter had been able to get me in to see the NBA. Yes, the National Basketball Association. Their IT department was expanding and looking for a person who knew Powerbuilder to learn Java and rewrite all of their apps. Picture perfect job for me, even if I do hate Bball. So I had a final interview with the CIO in Secaucus that morning and I was getting ready for it. I had pushed back my start date at ETS so I could get this interview - more money, cooler benefits, etc.
"MATT!!!!" she yelled from upstairs. I forget where the kids were, they must have been around because Gilli would only have been a month shy of 2, which means Aidan was probably home as well.
"What's up, I have to get ready to leave"
"Someone just flew a plane into the Twin Towers" At this point, I thought it was just a plane crash. I ran upstairs and watched in horror as I saw smoke pouring out of the building. I was calling my recruiter when the second plane slammed into the other tower. He picked up, said they were evacuating, and hung up.
We sat there and watched the coverage on TV for hours, getting a little more insight from my brother who is a Volunteer Fireman on the North Shore of Long Island. He wanted to run into the city, but his company had to cover a much larger area of Nassau County, Brooklyn & Queens because B&Q depts all went into Manhattan. He and his buddies were chomping at the bit to get in, but were under strict orders to stay put. I am very thankful that he couldn't go in because of all of the problems both mental and physical that the surviving fire fighters are going through right now.
To see all of that and realize that it all happened less than 30-45 min from my house brought a different and horrifying reality down around us all. It was SO close. Hearing about the other two planes in DC and PA was just another shot in the arm.
I remember for months afterwards, NY'ers (and that includes the tri-state area of NY, NJ and CT) were all changed. For a while there, everyone was nice, they went out of their way to help, to see what they could do, to make a difference. I just wish it had lasted more than a few months. It'd be nice for people to go through that kind of transformation for no reason but to be good, decent and nice to one another.
Mike mentioned that our Grandparents had a where were you moment for WWII ending, our parents for JFK being shot. Ours is this. Lets hope that there isn't one for our kids generation.
September 11th, 2009 - 12:07
My friend Russ over at http://dadswhomocktheworld.blogspot.com commented at my site that “While this definitely is a “where were you when” moment, it does seem like too many are forgetting already.
Let’s hope not…
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Where Were You When…. =-.
September 11th, 2009 - 12:22
I was just doing ordinary Tuesday stuff….PTA meeting, haircut…..my husband got sent home at noon because he works near a federal building. It was particularly hard on him, as he worked for 2 semesters in customs at the WTC.
.-= Cocotte´s last blog ..This B*tch Has Got To Be Stopped =-.
September 11th, 2009 - 12:28
I was at work and I was at NSUH awaiting a patient. I received a phone call and was told to turn on the news, that a plane had flown into the WTC. I grabbed the remote from the person who was watching Clifford the big red dog and turned on the news, just in time to watch the other plane slam into the other building. My partner and I told the RNs that we needed to go because of what we had just witnessed, we were getting messages from our dispatcher that we needed to move and move fast. We got to our ambulance and started into the city via the LIE and traffic was at a standstill. People were barely tring to get out of the way so it was very frustrating. We finally got to a point on the LIE that the NYPD had opened a lane of traffic just for emergency vehicles and we made some good time getting to the midtown tuunnel. As we approached the tunnel, I looked to the south and watched as the the first tower started to ocrumle and fall, I was amazed at what I was seeing and shocked at what it meant. We made it through the tunnel and started downtown hoping that we wouuld be arriving and able to help someone, anyone because that is what we do. We arrived downtown about ten blocks from the WTC site and became engulfed in the cloud of dust and smoke and noise of the other tower falling. It is a day that I will never forget, a day that will always haunt me. I have several good friends that lost their lives that day, I will never forget them and I will always miss them. As you say this is our time in history that we will always have. I hope as well that our children don’t have a moment in history like ours. God Bless and be safe everyone.
September 11th, 2009 - 12:41
Thanks for sharing. I saw it on TV, I can’t even imagine what it was like seeing it come down like that.
September 11th, 2009 - 15:24
I was stuck reading ultrasounds at Cornell. I had very little idea what was happening. Lucky for me because my mom was in the building, second tower hit, 88th floor. She barely escaped. 66 of her colleagues died.
September 11th, 2009 - 17:31
Matt you can find my answer to your question in my latest blog post. There are so many facets to this that I don’t cover. Sometimes I think I could write a book on the heart strings alone. Thanks for asking!
September 13th, 2009 - 09:03
I was working at my kids’ school back then. I had just driven myself and them to school and heard it on the radio. There were two of us in the office that day. Someone wheeled in a t.v. and we spent the day watching the coverage in stunned silence.
.-= terri´s last blog ..Will I ever get past this? =-.
September 15th, 2009 - 20:51
Matt, just stumbled onto your blog and digging it. I posted about 9/11 as well . . . a little bit of “where were you” but more about the lingering aftermath. Check it out if you’re interested. Back on the “where were you” topic, my friend and his wife were in the delivery room at a hospital in Atlanta while everything was unfolding. Can you imagine? It’s like, “Hey, where’d everybody go? Doc? Nurse? Baby coming . . . helloooo? Anybody there?!?”
.-= mike´s last blog ..9/11 . . . eight years later =-.
September 15th, 2009 - 21:03
I was at work at a comunity mental health center. I went back to the CEO’s office between patients because the had a TV on, just in time to see the secind tower collapse. I was astounded that so many of my patients that day were aware of what was happeneing, but didn’t really talk about it. I didn’t see how we could be talking about anything else. I think I was just in a daze through that day.