I know I said I was going to finish Sophia's birth story but I heard some old sound bites from 9/11 this morning on our way to school and it brought everything that happened that day rushing back to me.
The morning of 9/11 Lilly was sitting on my bed watching cartoons (Disney Channel) she was only just 2 at the time. I was packing for our trip later that day. We were due to fly out of Louisville International Airport later that afternoon. That's when Kale called. His first question "Are you watching tv?" I told him that yeah, Lilly was watching Disney, "Turn on one of the news channels." He informed me. I did so, just in time to watch the second airplane crash into the other tower. I am pretty sure I screamed. He then said to me "I don't think you are going anywhere today." He was right, at least I wasn't going by plane. I stayed glued to the tv not knowing what I should do and then the towers started falling, one then the other. I cried. I cried for all those people who were scrambling to get out, for all the people who had loved ones still trapped inside, for all the people on the planes at the time of the crashes, and finally for myself. I knew my life as I knew it would never be the same.
At the time we were living on Fort Knox, where the gold depository is, they felt it was a target. I knew if I didn't leave within a few hours I would be trapped for days. I told Kale I still wanted to go to my parents as planned, but I would drive instead of fly. But we had a problem, we only had one car and since he had planned on getting off to take me to the airport he drove it to work instead of getting a ride. And he was on lock down in the jail and we had no idea when he would be able to leave. I asked one of my neighbors to drive us over to the jail to retrieve the car and she very kindly did so. We did have to do it illegally though, I only had one car seat and it was in our car. Kale and I both worried that I wouldn't be able to find gas or that it would be very highly priced, but I didn't want to be there in case terrorists had plans for other places in the country. Not to mention I would have been very claustrophobic having to stay on post for who knew how long. Turns out it was a good idea to leave, they were on lock down for quite a few days.
Lilly and I loaded up and headed out just before lunch that day. We sat, listening to the radio, listening to all the stats, listening to people talk about their missing loved ones, listening to reporters discuss who could have done it, we just rode the whole way as if in a cloud. No one was on the road, nothing was in the sky, it was just us. I was able to make really good time that day, I hardly remember the drive at all. We only stopped for gas twice, peed at the station, and just took snacks to eat. When we arrived at my parents house my mom was there to greet us. I collapsed into her arms and we cried.
During the next few weeks all I watched was the news. I drown myself in the statistics, I prayed they would find more people alive, and I waited on baited breath hoping they would. It consumed me for days until I finally had to say enough is enough and walk away from the tv.
Now, 7 years later, life for most is not effected daily by this. My life is, every time I have to stop at the front gates to my home and show my ID. And then there are the times when I fly and I swear to you every single time we have flown since 9/11 I have been "randomly selected" for additional screening. Once they even patted Sophia down, at the time she was only 7mths old. I am infuriated they do this to me every time. I know they can't profile, but please....I am a woman, a military wife, with four children, I am hardly a terroristic risk. They are "just doing their jobs" but that doesn't explain why it's always me. I am probably their "look we don't profile, look we picked her!"
Today my kids are doing their annual National Anthem Project walk for freedom. They have done it every year for three years and last year Fort Leavenworth was awarded with the "All Star City" award, even though we aren't technically a city. It's a gloomy day, I hope it doesn't rain on them too much. They are having a picnic afterwards and I don't want it to get rained out.
So, Where were you on 9/11/01?
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3 comments:
You can read my blog to see my story.
And yeah, I totally agree with you on the airport screenings! I mean, I am like 100 lbs yet they still pat me down. I think it would be obvious if I were wearing a belt full of explosives.
They gave me the special pat-down down at the airport when I was pregnant with Max, and two guys with turbans got on no problem. Everyone was looking at the screeners like "WTF???:
i've been crying all morning today. i was watching the news, of them reading the names of the people who lost their lives in the planes and towers on 9.11 in NYC.
i'm still so heart broken and wonder all the time if I made the wrong choice to bring children into this world... sure things are looking up... thanks to all the men and women that scarfice to make our country safer, and I thank you and all the other military families that give their loved ones so selflessly for our freedom and I thank the men and women like Kale that give themselves every day for our freedom... but i still worry. i love my kids and wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, but i just wonder what kind of future they have ahead of them. i worry how far this war will go and if we will have to suffer any more than we already are. there are still losses every. single. day from 9.11... it breaks my heart, there are people are dying every day in Iraq to fight for us.
on September 11th 2001 I was at work in a dental office in NY, not the city but only a few hours away... my husband who was my BF at the time, was working in Yonkers, NY close to the city, i was so affraid that something would happeen to him or that he would get stuck there... they left work and headed north pretty quicky after hearing of the attacks.
i remember the Dr's daughter calling to tell us about the horrible accident... that a plane had crashed into the tower, we were all so upset and thinking how tragic it was... having no idea just what was going on. Then we heard on the news that another plane had crashed into the second tower. we then learned quickly what was going on. a lot of our patients cancelled that day. we all just tried to stay as pulled together as possible. got through the day and went home to our families for comfort and to tell them how much we loved them... we had no idea how much further this would go or what would happen next.
i remember i was glued to the news... i would sit and watch horrified and broken.... usually just sobbing and sobbing. (similar to today).
i still pray for all the families and the victims of 9.11 and for the men and women serving in our Armed Forces, thank God for them.
I hope that one day this will all be a peadceful world but that is a little unrealistic I guess, so I just continue to pray and hope for freedom and safety for USA and all our people.
xoxoxo love ya!
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