I’m deviating from both Blog-Tember activities because I wanted to take today to remember the happenings of September 11th 2001. I’m pretty sure I wrote about this in previous blogs, but I wanted to document it on this one as well.
On 9/11/01 I had just started my senior year in high school and I was couple of weeks short of turning 17. My mom would always come wake me up at 6am because I had to get to the bus stop by 6:40 (I was quick at getting ready!). This particular morning she came in a few minutes before 6am. I grumbled as I looked at the clock, it wasn’t time to get up yet. Then she told me:
“Un avion choco a un edificio en Nueva York”. You can imagine what that means.
I got up to get to my computer and turned on the TV. As I was bringing up my e-mail, I looked toward the TV and saw the 2nd plane fly into the tower. In my sleepy state I still didn’t quite comprehend what was going on until that moment. I think that at that point I rushed to get dressed and ran downstairs to continue watching the news. My mom wouldn’t let me stay home, but I grabbed my walk-man (remember those?) and continued to listen on the radio.
When my (school) bus arrived my driver greeted me with a smile and I knew she hadn’t heard. I usually sat in the back of the bus except the days that either she or I were particularly talkative. I immediately took the very front seat and told her what happened. She immediately (with her long acrylic nails – I mean it, they were like an inch long!) turned to a news station on the bus’ radio.
Once at school the talk was about what was happening. The classrooms all had televisions in them but they told us we couldn’t turn them. I went to a school that had 4th through 12th graders in it. The administration was afraid of the younger kids seeing what was going on. I was upset because they kept telling us that soon we would be in the “real world” but they wouldn’t let the older kids see what was happening in that “world”. Regardless, they let us listen to our own personal radios to hear what was going on.
Like many, if not most, Americans I was glued to the TV in the hours, days, weeks, and even months that followed. I wanted to see what was going on. I wanted to know all the updates. I wanted to be informed. I didn’t mind that the TV stations played 9/11 programs or the news on a constant loop. I was drawn to it.
As the anniversary neared this year I still was drawn to it and I’ve set my DVR to record as many shows I could find.
A month or so later my school set up a blood drive with the American Red Cross where I donated blood for the first time. I now, as I mentioned before, help to organized the blood donations at my office 2 to 3 times a year.
Where were you?
