(Me, Todd and a forever changed skyline.)
Do you remember where you were when you heard about the 9-11-01 attack?
NY’s brother Gary phoned and told us to turn on the TV. When Gary said an American Airlines plane had hit the tower in NYC many things went through my head including “how could a plane possibly hit the traffic control tower”. I never could have dreamed the “tower” was one of the twin towers or the course of events that would unfold before us. We had now joined most of the nation and as we watched in shock, United flight 175 hit the second tower. For the next several hours I paced the bedroom not wanting to believe what was happening. We watched the doomed plight of American Flight 77 as it flew into the Pentagon. We watched while the Nation wondered the fate of United Flight 93 which seemed to be heading towards the White House. We watched as the news of this tragic flight was reported to have gone down in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It would be later that we would learn of the brave Americans on board who were determined to fight the terrorist and ultimately gave their life’s for those who may have been in or around the intended target. There was a continuous ringing of the phone as family and friends rang in hopes that it would be NY’s voice they heard answering the phone.
NY works for American Airlines. His flights are usually LAX to JFK. (Los Angeles to New York City) Occasionally when I fly with him, he’ll pick up a flight to Boston or Washington DC. This is why NY’s voice was the sound everyone wanted to hear when they phoned. If by chance I answered, the voice on the other end would try to calmly ask if NY was home. No one wanted to be the one to inform me of the events unfolding if NY was in the air. One dear sweet friend actually told me later, “I’m so sorry but if NY was on any of the flights, I was hoping you were with him”. I wasn’t offended by her words. I wasn’t hurt. I knew she loved me and understood my deep love for NY
September 11, 2001 has in some way effected everyone in our nation and the world. I honestly do not believe there has been any other single event that has had a deeper and more intense effect on the world. It’s not over yet. Everyday we turn on the TV, we witness repercussions of 9-11. I am grateful I have been blessed to live in America. I’m grateful I have had the blessing to raise strong, upstanding children in America. I’m thankful my grandchildren can go to school without the everyday worry some children in the world have of encountering a bomb before they return home.
My most heart felt prayers will always be with those who lost loved ones on this horrific day. I pray they will always be comforted and will always feel the spirit of our Lord as he comforts them.
Of the many people walking the streets looking for loved ones,I’ll never forget the father carrying a photo of his daughter hoping somebody may had seen her. She would have been getting off the subway under the towers to start her day in the city. Wrong time, wrong place. I saw him interviewed on a street corner. I saw him again on the Today Show. I wanted to write him a letter to tell him I knew what he was feeling. I wanted to tell him that I had lost my daughter and I missed her terribly. I don’t know what happened to this sad man. I don’t think he found his daughter. I think if he had, I would have once again seen him on the Today Show telling his story with his sweet daughter beside him.
The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street two weeks after 9/11
It was surreal to see the streets once packed with vehicles now filled with pedestrians.
A few of NY’s crew downtown on layover his first flight back after 9-11
(Jill, Linda, Ann and me)
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