Seven years ago today I reached over to turn off the alarm and fumbled for the TV remote control. Blindly, I aimed it at the TV and clicked.Instantly, I grabbed my glasses and sat up - stunned.
Images of the World Trade Center filled the screen. Sirens were screaming. People were screaming. TV reporters were screaming. Thick smoke and panic filled the air.
And as I sat there wondering if this were really happening, another plane hit the second tower.
What the h*ll is happening?
Armageddon?
I realise that all this is taped, that it has just happened within the previous half hour.
Then reality struck as the events of the day continue on in real time.
The first tower begins to fall. I stare transfixed as people panic, scream, run, fall, run, cry, run, yell, run, trying to get away from the blocks of cements and metal and glass and smoke from the fires that ensue.
Twenty-three minutes later, I'm still sitting in bed - in shock - as I watch the second tower collapse.
I am seeing death happening.
Suddenly, I wonder what's happening here in my own city thousands of miles from New York! Some unidentified airplanes are approaching Vancouver!
The phone rings. My daughter is frightened to go to work in her downtown Vancouver highrise. I tell her to stay put until we know more.
I scramble out of bed, forgo the shower, and get ready for school. Arriving early, I find the principal dragging one of the large TVs into the library area and getting all the staff together to watch, pray, and prepare for what to say to the children when they arrive.
The entire Western World was terrified that day and for many many days to come. That terror has subsided somewhat, but the legacy of that day continues seven years later.
What were you doing when...
14 comments:
We had the same thoughts today, remembering 9-11 and what we were doing.
I wasnt in NYC that morning and I never felt so far away and useless...
:-Daryl
Ironing...watching the news...it was a tragic day for all.....today for me I am in rememberance of my mom....it is 3 years today that she passed....but you know...today for the first time...I have cried....just smiled with fond memories....
It was unbelievable. I was cleaning my kitchen cupboards when I heard an announcement about it on the radio and put Sky News on and saw the second tower being attacked.
I'll write about mine on my blog later today. Impossible to forget....
Peace - D
I have a little remembrance on my blog also today.
Being on the west coast and having left my TV on when I went to bed, I woke up just before the 2nd tower was hit also. I couldn't move. I wasn't working that day and I watched TV all day long, almost too frozen to move.
Yes, I will never forget the horror and disbelief of that day .. the feeling that this couldn't be "real" bur knowing that it was.
I remember the day well and have been thinking about it today, it was just after lunch, I was at work, and I was looking at a BBC news video, I couldn't believe what was happening. I guess we will never forget.
Leslie
I think everyone today is remembering where they were and what they were doing on that day seven years ago.
SEVEN years, it seems like yesterday.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments on my "Highway of Heroes" post.
I do appreciate them.
Bear((( )))
I was at work. I will never forget it. I was dealing with my own sense of panic and helplessness at the same time as having to deal with the patients' illnesses, panic and sense of helplessness. I never before or since needed to get home to my children so much. Not even with 7/7 in London for some strange reason. I just wanted to hug them.
Great post .
Somewhere along the line I lost connection with this blog and your wonderful writings. Glad to have found you again though your previous post moved me to tears (I lost a friend to cancer, too, and it hurts, doesn't it?). Your tears will come and they will help ease the missing...
It did feel like Armageddon, didn't it? I have never felt so frightened. There is a wonderful memorial at the Pentagon, which I would like to see sometime. People forget what happened there too.
I was in Easington in County Durham in England, running a training programme for managers. I got a mobile message from a customer to tell me to find a tv. We went downstairs in the conference centre and they had installed a small screen in the hallway and everyone was watching absolutely transfixed with horror. No-one could take it in- when the second tower came down it was hard to believe it was real. A truly appalling day.
I saw on the news that someone has put together a tribute centre in NYC, and there is a picture of all the victims of the attacks all over the walls. Seeing all those faces really brings the reality of it all back
One of the days that is forever seared in my memory.
I was in England, at work, so it was our lunchtime. I was on the phone and my colleague who shared the office was whispering and gesticulating at me to look at her computer screen. At first I couldn't make it out, then realisation dawned. We did no more work that day as we watched and listened to the full horror.
I remember too when they bombed the transport systems in London on a day when several colleagues were due at a meeting there, frantically trying to make contact with them.
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