I posted the following last year on September 11th, 2007.
It was a Tuesday.
It was a beautiful morning, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, dew on the grass, a nice comfortable temperature….a great day for a walk. I put the dog on his leash and took my almost 4 yr olds hand. We loved our walks. While we walked I kept thinking about how beautiful the morning was. I started hearing sirens and thought nothing…these were common sounds on our walks. The sirens kept coming. Once we reach the park I don’t hear a break in the sirens. They are continuous…over and over and over…they come and come and come they keep coming. They don’t stop. It is eerie. A lady came out of her apartment, comes to me and says”2 planes just hit the World Trade Center.” I am in disbelief. I don’t believe her. It sounds too wrong… too unreal…I thought “No way that would never happen what is this crazy lady talking about?!” She points to the sky. There is big grey cloud…there were NO clouds in the sky that day…now that cloud was the only one and it would grow.
I forced my almost 4 yr old son to come home with me. He protested, I felt bad, but I needed to know, I needed some sort of proof…the lone cloud was not enough.
We get home, turn on the TV and there it was 2 towers, 2 plums of smoke rising from the towers. I am in shock and disbelief. I take my son up to the roof of our 6 floor high rise building. We are 7 miles from the towers…I can see them from up there…I need to see them with my own eyes…I don’t believe what I see on the TV screen.
“Oh my god! It IS real. I see it. Oh my god! What is going on? How is this happening? This is happening in front of me…I see this with my eyes.....”Mommy, what’s wrong?” I can’t answer him. I don’t know what to tell him…how to tell him. I don’t even know how to explain it to myself…I can’t wrap my brain around it…how can I explain it to my almost 4yr old? I can’t…I don’t know how.”
I had my camera with me. I took 2 photos…eerily I snapped the 2 right after the first tower fell…I did not realize until I had the roll developed what I captured. Right before I put my eye to the viewfinder to take the picture I could still see both towers…that is what I thought I was taking a picture of.
Today is a Tuesday…6 years ago that was my morning. It is forever etched in my brain and in my heart. My thoughts and love go out to all who lost a loved one that Tuesday 6 years ago today…
7 years later and I still cry, I still mourn the innocent lives lost and the day our world changed forever.
11 comments:
Amazing to think that that morning was 2/3 of your child's life ago. A very moving tribute and a reminder to hold tight.
7 years later I still can't read this post and I still changed the radio station in the car when "Where Were You..." by Alan Jackson came on. Someone on my homeschool board is wanting to find the posts from that board that day. I don't want to read them. I can't do it. At least not on *the* day and not all together:o(
I needed to read this post today and remember...it still has so much power for me. Thanks for posting this.
Seven years. I was watching the Today Show and saw the images and then as we watched the second plane hit the second Tower. It was so shocking to realize that this was no accident. How moving for you to actually been so close with your child. Do you have that photo?
Like Junebug, I witnessed everything on the Today Show as well that morning. I remember walking in my bedroom to wake my (then) husband and tell him about it and I was shaking from head to toe.
this is a stunning post. thank you for rerunning it.
Thankfully, 7 years ago, my husband was late getting to work at the Pentagon. He was about 10 minutes out on I-95. We just saw a documentary about it the other night and I hugged him tightly.
Beautiful post.
did you notice the time on Jenni's comment?
I know what you mean about trying to wrap your brain around it all...I didn't even know how to explain it to my daughter who was in the 2nd grade at the time.
I still can't believe it was seven years ago...it seems so fresh. Thanks for sharing your story.
Seven years went by quick. I am glad you remember. It is important to remember.
What a moving post. I will never, ever forget that day. I was watching Good Morning Ameica with my then 5 year old son, and as I said in another blog comment, I truly believe that was the end of his little boy innocence. We both look at the world differently now.
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