For America in my lifetime this is a day forever etched into my memory. Often I cannot remember what I was doing an hour ago, but 23 years ago today, I remember every detail.
The sky was blue as could be, not a cloud in the sky. It was a crisp fall day, much like it is here today. Birds were singing about, we were doing our daily morning routine. Getting my coffee, getting my kids ready for the day, feeding them breakfast, and waiting for the bus.
I had to leave to take my other daughter to preschool just up the road from me. I dropped her off with such an uneasy feeling. Waiting in the doorway everyone was talking about the event. But when another mom mentioned that a second plane had hit the South Tower at 9:03 am. I wanted to gather my kids up and go home. But I left them, as I wanted them to not know what was happening. Mainly because I still was not aware of the vastness of the crashes.
A knock at the door from a delivery man, a man that I think about all the time but especially on this day. He came in with my delivery and we stood in the kitchen glued to the TV. This man (I regret never asking his name) was a veteran Marine who had just finished up his time. We just stood there watching the TV in unbelief. I felt so sick. But the worst was yet to come. As a first responder I knew that many brother's and sister's were running towards and into those buildings as everyone was running out. That's what we do.
I look at this photo and wonder what exactly was going through his mind? I'm sure it was unbelief, but also how are we going to attack this fire? Can we get above the fire? Was he also praying? Concerned I'm sure for his men and women inside the towers.
Little did we know that in just under an hour after the second tower was hit it would come down very quickly. No one could ever be prepared for that. I am not sure they even had that scenario in their training.
At 9:37 am a plane struck the pentagon. What on earth was happening?? It was clear that our beloved nation was under attack. It was just my 1, almost 2 year old son at home. I was unsure what I was to do. I really wanted to go pick up my girls from school!!
At 9:59 am the South tower started to collapse. Watching this on TV I was physically sick thinking about all the people in the building and outside the building. Never in my life did I think 343 brothers and sister would perish. Read the names, pray for their families and fellow first responders. So many continue to pass away due to the exposure they received that day.
The rest of the photos I will share are from the FDNY Memorial Wall
10:07 am Flight 93 crashed in a field in PA. The passengers on that flight saved lives that day. They too are heroes!
10:00 am is my son's usual nap time. He was playing quietly next to me so I allowed him to stay up. I needed him to be near me. I knew my girls were safe at their schools. Andrew and I played and read books. Just like any other day. He was unaware of what was happening to our country. I started to worry about the world I was bringing my children up in.
I still had the TV on but turned way down. I remember my son pointing to the screen every time they showed a firefighter or fire truck. He was destine to become a fire fighter.
10:28 am North Tower collapses. The images of people running as the cloud of smoke, debris and dust follows them.
My girls finally arrived home! I hugged them tighter than I ever had before. I wanted to keep watching the news, but knew I wanted to shelter my girls from this horrible day. We went outside to play, I wanted them to just be kids. I needed them to just be kids.
I made sure they knew they were safe. It was impossible to shelter them from this for long. I made their favorite dinner of macaroni and cheese, Kraft of course, with ground beef in it. We sat at the table just talking, mostly silly talk. But like I said I needed it. I would have had my EMT training that evening, which of course was cancelled. I went anyway, because as a team / brothers and sisters, we needed to be together this day.
I went to class and we just sat around talking for hours. We talked about what happened. If something could have been done differently. We were angry and wanted to hop into the trucks to head down to NYC.
Fast forward to 2024. Churches sit empty. Police are often attacked on a daily basis. Even fire and EMS have been attacked. WHY? This country has gone so far backwards. I remember hearing "we will NEVER forget!" Well seems like many have forgotten the events of 9-11-2001.
1 comment:
I well remember that day, we’d dropped our daughter off at school and had just gotten home turned on the tv to see the 2nd tower hit. It was traumatizing. Later that day we learned that one of the firefighters, Angel Juarbe, who we didn’t know personally, but had become familiar with him as he had participated in a reality show set in Maine. He was a wonderful man, unlike the others he wasn’t willing to cheat to win, but he won in spite of it. Anyway he was off duty but when he heard what had happened when the first tower was struck he went to the scene, and entered the 2nd tower. He brought people down, and went up again, he never was seen again. It broke my heart. His name is on the 23rd or 24th down photos you have of the memorial. I believe things are the way they are now is because too many of us were trusting and gullible in electing bad politicians. Communists, socialists wanting to destroy our people and nation. Destroy families and the children.
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