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greatbearSeven years ago I was getting set to take Mom to the airport for one of her many trips to Europe. This time it would be centered mostly around Amsterdam, a place she had never been to before, and after hearing about all the goings-on, her adventuresome streak made her that much more excited.
Then she saw something on the television she had on in the background while finishing up packing.
"I think you should see this. A plane crashed into the World Trade Center".
I walk in just in time to see the second plane hit. Any thoughts I had on this being a very bad accident (I remembered the bomber that had crashed into the Empire State Building from history as I was watching) was pushed down in some of the greatest fear I had ever felt. One might have been an accident. Two was an attack. I sat there transfixed and cold, staring at the images on that television. Mom stared in disbelief. Then the scene switched over to the Pentagon.
Mom kept on packing. She did not know what else to do.
Eventually it came down that all commercial flights were canceled. Mom still wanted me to take her to the airport, which I frustratingly did. We were turned away at the terminal.
I did not want her anywhere but home during this time. No one knew what was going on. In the days to come, I felt the same unease that my friends and coworkers were feeling. I was desperately trying to find out if my friends and their families were okay. And the days were punctuated with an eerie silence. As I work adjacent to an airport, sandwiched between two runways, the silence in the vicinity was unreal. The stepped-up security at work was annoying but I supposed necessary. And living around several other potential 'ground zeros', the quiet of the days and nights were occasionally slashed by the sounds of military aircraft.
Fear was the order of the day. But the cooperation and concern of just about everyone to one another was comfort. And the outpouring of concern and support of the nations of the world was reassuring.
I will never forget that day.
Seven years later, well, I will not get into that right now. Maybe later.
Then she saw something on the television she had on in the background while finishing up packing.
"I think you should see this. A plane crashed into the World Trade Center".
I walk in just in time to see the second plane hit. Any thoughts I had on this being a very bad accident (I remembered the bomber that had crashed into the Empire State Building from history as I was watching) was pushed down in some of the greatest fear I had ever felt. One might have been an accident. Two was an attack. I sat there transfixed and cold, staring at the images on that television. Mom stared in disbelief. Then the scene switched over to the Pentagon.
Mom kept on packing. She did not know what else to do.
Eventually it came down that all commercial flights were canceled. Mom still wanted me to take her to the airport, which I frustratingly did. We were turned away at the terminal.
I did not want her anywhere but home during this time. No one knew what was going on. In the days to come, I felt the same unease that my friends and coworkers were feeling. I was desperately trying to find out if my friends and their families were okay. And the days were punctuated with an eerie silence. As I work adjacent to an airport, sandwiched between two runways, the silence in the vicinity was unreal. The stepped-up security at work was annoying but I supposed necessary. And living around several other potential 'ground zeros', the quiet of the days and nights were occasionally slashed by the sounds of military aircraft.
Fear was the order of the day. But the cooperation and concern of just about everyone to one another was comfort. And the outpouring of concern and support of the nations of the world was reassuring.
I will never forget that day.
Seven years later, well, I will not get into that right now. Maybe later.
