9/11 story

September 11, 2002

I had just put Wyatt on the school bus and came into the house. I needed to

go grocery shopping, but decided to read the newspaper first. I got halfway

through the first page when the first plane hit. I was frozen. I had never

seen anything like it before. My first thought was Wyatt. He was fine. I

wanted desperately to talk to my mother. I called her office, which is on

the same block as the county courthouse. She was still on her way, so I

talked to one of the attorneys for a while and then said that I would call

back. I just wanted her home. Away from the courthouse. I kept her updated

by phone most of the day. She stayed at work and was ok. I was glued to the

TV. I was horrified, panicked, and scared. Especially when the last plane

crashed in Somerset county. This is only an hour away from me. The plane

flew directly over my house 2 minutes before it crashed. TWO MINUTES!!!!!

I worried about my cousins who live in Brooklyn and especially my cousin

who is a NYC firefighter. We had a phone chain going, but the darned

phone didn't ring. Nobody could get a phone line to NYC. Cousins Debbie and

work in offices a couple of blocks away from the WTC. No word from

them either. When the buildings collapsed, I thought my heart would just

stop. All of those firefighters. I just kept looking at the TV, trying to

spot somewhere. I didn't see him anywhere. I went to the photo album

and grabbed the pictures we took in NYC at our family reunion. Bill arranged

for the firetrucks to be at the picnic and take the kids for rides. I wanted

to compare pictures of the trucks, but still didn't see anything familiar. I

was home by myself and thought I would go crazy. I spoke to my mother many

times and she convinced me to leave Wyatt in school, that he was safe, and

that if anything did happen, he was only 5 minutes away. Everything was

happening so fast. Before I knew it, Wyatt was home from school and we

talked for a while and then went to gather at mom's house. We finally heard

that everyone in NYC was ok at around 5:00. Debbie and were trapped in

town. All transportation systems were shut down. They were together in

Debbie's office and were ok. Bill was at the towers and was ok. They lost

at least one of their trucks, and were missing some of the guys from his

station, but he was ok. Then building 7 collapsed. That's where was!

Everyone was looking at the TV, trying to see a familiar face again. It was

too much to comprehend at once. A little while later, the phone rang. My

sister got an e-mail that was ok. He was still at the site. Relief.

That's how the night went. Debbie and finally made it home late that

night and Bill worked at the site for about a month. He described it to me,

but I won't repeat it. They lost 10 firefighters from his station and a

truck.

I remember the panic of the day very well. Especially today. Around noon,

the president's helicopter flew the same route over my house to the Somerset

memorial service. Along with it was a fighter jet. Seeing it just made my

heart race all over again. But it also made me feel good, proud. It is hard

to describe the feelings.

I am glad the day is over. I think that I have disaster overload. I know

that I will always remember, but I just want to get on with it, if you know

what I mean. I keep saying that I am going to make that drive up into the

mountains to the crash site here, but I just haven't made it yet. My sister

and her husband just visited New York and went to ground zero, but it is not

the same. It is all cleaned up now.

I could go on and on, but I have babbled enough. That was my day, 9-11-01.

May God bless the victims and their families, the emergency personnel and the

volunteers.

Stacey in PA

September 12, 2002

Hi Stacey,

I'm so glad that your family members were all fine. It must have been scary

to wait and wait for news about them.

That's really something that the one flight went directly over your house.

That would give me the shivers to think about, too.

Much love and prayers for a smoke free day,

Carol

Re: [ ] 9/11 Story

I had just put Wyatt on the school bus and came into the house. I needed to

go grocery shopping, but decided to read the newspaper first. I got halfway

through the first page when the first plane hit. I was frozen. I had never

seen anything like it before. My first thought was Wyatt. He was fine. I

wanted desperately to talk to my mother. I called her office, which is on

the same block as the county courthouse. She was still on her way, so I

talked to one of the attorneys for a while and then said that I would call

back. I just wanted her home. Away from the courthouse. I kept her

updated

by phone most of the day. She stayed at work and was ok. I was glued to

the

TV. I was horrified, panicked, and scared. Especially when the last plane

crashed in Somerset county. This is only an hour away from me. The plane

flew directly over my house 2 minutes before it crashed. TWO MINUTES!!!!!

I worried about my cousins who live in Brooklyn and especially my cousin

who is a NYC firefighter. We had a phone chain going, but the darned

phone didn't ring. Nobody could get a phone line to NYC. Cousins Debbie

and

work in offices a couple of blocks away from the WTC. No word from

them either. When the buildings collapsed, I thought my heart would just

stop. All of those firefighters. I just kept looking at the TV, trying to

spot somewhere. I didn't see him anywhere. I went to the photo album

and grabbed the pictures we took in NYC at our family reunion. Bill

arranged

for the firetrucks to be at the picnic and take the kids for rides. I

wanted

to compare pictures of the trucks, but still didn't see anything familiar.

I

was home by myself and thought I would go crazy. I spoke to my mother many

times and she convinced me to leave Wyatt in school, that he was safe, and

that if anything did happen, he was only 5 minutes away. Everything was

happening so fast. Before I knew it, Wyatt was home from school and we

talked for a while and then went to gather at mom's house. We finally heard

that everyone in NYC was ok at around 5:00. Debbie and were trapped

in