11.9.11

September 11, 2001

We were living in Toronto.  Dr. J had been accepted to medical school and we were hanging out basking in the glory of our new baby while preparing for our move to another country.  
This particular morning instead of the three of us sleeping in as we usually did- I woke up early to get ready for my first Mommy and Baby Yoga class.  I put on The Howard Stern Radio show and putzed around the kitchen.  I don’t remember his exact words but I heard it from Howard first- A plane hit the World Trade Center in New York.  I remember walking to the TV and turning it on.  I was still standing in front of the TV listening to the confusion and conflicting reports when I watch, live, as the second plane hit.  I woke Dr J up.  We watched.  How can the buildings not fall I remember asking out loud.  
I went to my yoga class.  By the time I got back everything was down.  
I watched the replay of the buildings collapse hundreds of times over and over. 
Despite Toronto not even being in the same country, our city shut down.  
Our subways shut down.  Our Airspace shut down. Our finical sector shut down. Our city was solemn.  
I feel pain for the people who lost loved ones- People who wanted to believe with every fiber of their being- but knowing. 
Those last phone calls- they get to me.  
The decisions- so many hard decisions- decisions to go up, decisions to jump down- brave decisions.  
The emptiness of seeing empty stretchers, an over abundance of donated blood and rescue dogs laying idly- 
It gets to me.
Where were you? 
Please feel free to share links about your experiences.

8 comments:

Jacqui said...

I am reflecting too from Scotland
I was working in a Health Centre at the time. One of the secretaries always went home for lunch and she phoned from there telling us to put the TV on - something had happened in new York.
We did, and staff, medics and patients all watched opened mouthed. I don't remember if we saw the 2nd plane crash live, or if it was the endless replay. I went to my parents after I finished my shift an hour later and we just sat and watched and watched, not quite believing it was happening. Those texts and messages - those poor people. it is just still so unbelievably sad after all this time.
Sending love and peace to all. xx

Sara said...

I was in a doctors office waiting room. I saw something "bizarre" on the tv and then went in for an MRI. I then drove home and walked to work. There was an unusual quietness on the street. At work, I became more informed. The boss, my dad, said something meaningful and understanding and supportive ... he is great with words and understanding ... and employees had the option to go home or stay and work. Some students left, most stayed, they didnt want to be walking around not knowing what to do. We were in Syracuse NY at the university, so many people had connections to NYC and Washington.

Laura said...

http://www.art4littlehands.com/2011/09/i-wont-forget.html

I watched those towers fall a million times too. It never seemed real did it? Such a sad day in human history.

nunu said...

it was my first year teaching first grade (any grade), i woke up and watched it all on the news before going to work. when i got to school one of my little first graders, robert chang, ran up to me saying, "i know what happened! i know what happened! a plane flew into the pentagon!" me acknowledging this truth and not sure how to talk about, if to talk about this with my 6 year old students during class that day. of course it came up. it was a very sad day with very sad little children in my classroom. some were crying. some had no idea and the story was told. the kids talked of bad guys and good guys. the whole school was somber and i was a little bewildered as to how we were all going to go on but of course the children were the perfect antidote in their ever present mindsets. it wasn't easy, but it was probably a lot harder for teachers to deal with this in older students' classrooms.

Getrealmommy said...

I was in early at the office, and a coworker, than my husband told me. We had minimal access to tv, and it was frustrating. The whole thing is a crazy blur....I wrote a post about it today as well, because the anniversary, as always got me thinking.

Ren- Lady Of The Arts said...

thanks so much for sharing-

Unknown said...

i was a chief concierge at a hotel here in Puerto Vallarta. I arrived to work and was having my coffee when a guest came running to tell me, I was socked for a while. Most of the tourists that visit Puerto Vallarta are from the US so I felt terrible!, I called my boyfriend (who was still sleeping) and told him the sad news. It was a very gray day in paradise :(

Brissa said...

it's amazing to see where everyone was on this day and how it affected them. we were all in different walks of life, some in school, others with families but it impacted our lives the same.
thank you so much for sharing this story.

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