i ususally try to avoid coverage of 9/11 anniversary activities, at least on the day of. just too hard for me to think of all those that were lost that day, and especially havein such close ties to people who lost friends and/ or family that day. My step brother was living in nyc at that time, working for one of the theaters on broadway. Police had them locked down in the basement of the building for safety for like 3 days after. My best friend from college lost a cousin in the towers. Most disturbing for me, however, is that my s/o lost a friend in the towers, and if not for a well timed power outage in his apartment that caused him to miss his scheduled flight, he would have been there himself, likely on the observation deck at the moment of the attacks. thats why i am posting next day.
Anyway, i divergevfrom the actual topic of this thread. where was i on that day? Well i was actually just waking up as the news came out of the second tower being hit, and it became apparent the events of the day were not accident. The news had not yet broken of the planes that eventually went into the pentagon or the field in shanksville after its passengers heroically tried to take back control. I remember watching all that unfold on tv as i got ready for work. But b my initial first notice of what was going on, was my alarm waking me that morning to the mornig dj that i often listened to back then saying a second plane had just crashed into the wtc in an apparent terrorist attack. i flew out of bed, turned on the tv, and watched in horror as events unfolded, news of the scope of the attacks came trickling in, and worst of all, seeing the second tower collapse live as the reporter i was watching stood on the roof of a nearby building reporting on the first tower falling, then right behind him, down went he second tower. i was horrified! watching that, knowing i was seeing so many people die, live on my tv. probably one of the scariest momoents of my life. as i drove to work, my mother called saying she had been sent home as the building she worked in here in phoenix was closing for the day by police order. as i recall it, at the time that call was made, it was unknown yet how many planes had been hijacked, and there was fear also that key buildings in major cities might be bombed as well. well mom worked in the tallest building here in phoenix, so the fear was that if the attacks were to hit all major cities as was beleived at the moment, then her building would be the one hit here. then i finally got through to my dad and step mom, to ask about if they ha heard anything from my step brother. that was when i learned he had been locked down in the basement of his broadway theater. not much work got done that day at he auto parts store i was working at back then. understandably, we were all spending much of our time watching news coverage. next day we returned to buisness as usual, though with a rather somber tone for several days.
my feelings on the events of that day were of mere reverence for the heroic acts of the nypd, nyfd, and other first responders for a few years after. then i met my s/o, and learned of his story of that day. now each year on the anniversary, i spend the day being thankful for the events that prevented him from being there and becoming one of the victims, while also consoling him as he fondly remembers the friend he lost.
