Thanks for the encouragement from this morning’s post to choke out my rambling September 11th story guys. As hard as it is to tell, I feel like it’s something I’ll want to look back on – especially when Clara’s older and I’m trying to explain the enormity of that day. It was a terrible day, but such a life-changing one too, and it definitely shaped who I am. And as much as I love having thousands of DIY posts in our archives, sometimes it’s those rare personal posts (like this one or this one or this one) that make me the happiest that I dumped all the jumbled words out of my head and onto the keyboard.
I’ve debated whether or not to write this for six years now, every time this anniversary rolls around. I was a college sophomore living in New York City on September 11th, but the experience of being there and watching everything happen right in front of my eyes is still something I haven’t quite wrapped my head around. So I’ve stayed mum on the topic for all of the years we’ve been blogging. I don’t know what makes this year any different, but I felt like I was ready this time. It’s crazy how something that happened 12 years ago can feel so distant, but when I start talking/typing about it, I remember every sound and smell and sight and it floods back like it was yesterday. Early that morning I had been in Grand Central working on a show house for Country Home magazine (my best friend and I interned there during the morning we didn’t have classes, just lending a hand to unwrap accessories so the rooms could be styled).
I remember hearing from our boss right when we got there that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, but it sounded like it was minor (like some small plane with the wrong coordinates made a mistake). Nothing like “terrorism” or “act of war” was mentioned, so we shrugged and kept unpacking boxes while a few people called relatives who worked in the tower, just to check on them. It sounded like only a few floors were affected, which had us worried for those people but no one was really freaking out. Then a little while later we heard the second tower was hit. The only way I can describe it was immediate panic. Grand Central was evacuated within minutes.
There were guards with guns and people rushing us out and they just sort of explained that this was another “landmark” in NYC, so it wasn’t safe to be here because there were fears that other places in the city were going to be targeted. Thank God my best friend was there with me. I completely panicked and had no idea where to go or what to do. At this point the entire subway system had been shut down (again, because it was a “target” so the city wanted to evacuate any place they thought could be hit next) so we all spilled out into the street in front of Grand Central and my best friend and I just walked towards Penn Station, which is where the train we took to our apartment in Bayside, Queens would be (assuming those were still running).
When we got there we learned it wasn’t. So we just walked around aimlessly and found ourselves sitting on the steps of the New York Public Library. We were terrified that it was another target (should we sit here? should we keep walking around?). I think we were in a state of shock, so we just sat down on the steps anyway. People were rushing by and there were crazy things just laying in the street and on the sidewalk, as if someone abandoned them half-way through running. A man’s shoe. Just one of them. An open briefcase with papers splayed out all around it. Nobody’s cell phones were working, which was especially scary for those trying to reach us (like our parents). I remember saying “we should just conserve our battery and our energy and sit here.” Then people started pointing at the smoldering towers, which we had a clear view of from the library steps (we could see them smoking in the distance since they were such a huge part of the NYC skyline). A large cloud of dust flew up from the first tower and someone shouted “It was hit again!” and someone else said “They’re bombing it!” and the tower fell right in front of us. It just imploded on itself with a giant cloud of dust flying up into the air.
Of course we didn’t know at the time that the heat and damage sustained by the initial impact of the plane had caused the tower to fall, so it felt like a very real possibility that the tower had been hit again, causing it to collapse. I remember someone screaming “we’re at war!” and someone else just closing their eyes and raising their hands and saying the Lord’s prayer over and over again.
At that point we ran. Just sort of scattered like ants and everyone was crying and there was dust billowing up the streets, even though the tower had fallen over three miles away from us. There were police officers and firemen just covered in ash. They were entirely gray with white eyes and white teeth. There were people bleeding who had been close enough to be hurt by debris who were clearly running on foot from downtown since no public transportation was available anymore.
We eventually ended up in the first floor of a hotel in midtown, just hiding in the foyer. There was a TV on with people gathered around and that’s when we saw the second tower fall. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Nobody wanted to talk or move. I think total shock is the perfect description. And fear. We were literally frozen in fear. At some point the hotel offered to let people up into some vacant rooms but we didn’t want to go upstairs even if it was just a level or two up. We had just seen two skyscrapers collapse. Nobody wanted to be anywhere but on the ground floor. So we could run.
Somehow late that night we got back to our apartment in Bayside, Queens. Some of the trains had started running and we got some spotty cell service to reassure family we were okay. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves, and kept finding ourselves drawn to the now completely changed skyline outside, so we went out on the tiny old balcony of our apartment and that’s when the smell hit us. Like something burning, but also rancid. I don’t know if I was stupid or in denial or what, but I asked my best friend “do you think that smell is the burned metal from the building?” and then we looked at each other and realized that the building wasn’t the only thing burning. And we cried.
What haunts me the most were the thousands of missing person posters that were plastered everywhere in the days and weeks afterwards. Fences and scaffolding and subway walls were covered in faces of everyone who was lost – photos of dads smiling with their children. Women hugging their dogs. Christmas cards with the missing person’s face circled with an arrow. It was gut-wrenching. I remember telling my friend Lindsay that I had a dream about a man in a suit and the whole time I was thinking “how do I know him?!” and in the morning I realized he was one of the faces on the fence near my apartment.
A friend of mine’s dad actually got out of the first tower and was safe on the ground when his boss told him they were cleared to go back in for their wallets and belongings, so he went back in and the tower fell, killing him. I just remember crying with her and saying how unfair it was over and over again. It felt even more cruel that he had been outside and then ended up back in there just as it fell. Stories like that seem all too familiar now, especially those of the policemen and fireflighters who ran in just as the towers crumbled. At the time I think we were half devastated and half numb. It felt like too much to process all at one time.
But one amazing thing about being in New York during that time was the love and support. It sounds crazy, but we were all family in that moment of grief. We all wanted everyone to be okay, and we wanted to rebuild and come back stronger. For the weeks following September 11th we’d thank the dusty firemen that we saw on the subway with tears in our eyes and buy drinks for the workers who were downtown digging through the rubble for survivors. It sort of was like a war that we all had lived through together, and we were all on the same side. It was us against the bad guys, and we were stubborn New Yorkers – there’s no way we were going to just lie down and let them win.
My sophomore year of college had only recently started when it happened and classes resumed about a week later, once the subways were up and running again. A lot of my classes were emptier though. That year I’d say about 30% of my friends left the city. September 11th changed everything and some just couldn’t stomach the idea of being there any longer. I completely understood, but nothing in me ever even whispered “leave.” New York City was my home, and I was staying. I think for the people who stayed, it felt like we grew stronger. More bonded. We looked at each other on the subway and on the streets and we all sort of silently encouraged each other. We’d never forget that day, but we weren’t going anywhere.
I lived there for four more years. I finished school. I got a job at an advertising agency right in midtown, less than a block away from Grand Central – the place where my world got turned upside down a few years earlier. It was at that agency that I met John and we started dating. In fact he took this picture of me and my best friend about a month before he and I moved to Virginia to start a life together.
So while I’m a Richmond gal now, I’ll always be a New Yorker at heart. NYC forever, baby.
Donita says
Thank you for share. I’m sure it was difficult remembering. Tears here!! My heart hurts just thinking about all the pain, suffering and loss! I can’t imagine what it was lkke being there!! We will never forget! Praying for all!
Wrenaria says
Thanks for sharing this post, Sherry. It’s left me a feeling rather choked up.
I was sitting outside of my high school with some friends in the morning when another friend who’d just arrived ran up and told us about the towers being hit. The teachers in most of my classes that day just turned on the news and let us watch the events of the day unfold as we sat in silent shock. I remember being grateful for not living in a big landmark city where this kind of stuff was more likely to happen and my heart aching for those going through the trauma.
It’s important not to forget these things.
ashley says
what an amazing story – thanks for sharing!
Lisa says
Probably shouldn’t have read this at work. Had to hold back the tears. Thanks for sharing your story.
Lesley says
Wow. We had such a similar day. I worked at 205 Hudson St. at the time. Saw everything from our south-facing windows. Walked up Hudson to my apartment as the second tower fell, woke up and filled in my roommate, packed a few essentials and decided to go to my boyfriend’s parents’ house on Long Island. Walked to Penn which was dark, walked to Grand Central which was evacuated. Sat on the steps of the NYPL listening to the police talk about what was closed on the bullhorn. Finally walked back to Penn to wait it out. Stood with a bunch of evacuated Amtrak passengers as we all watched the fighter jets fly over. Caught the first LIRR train on my line and rode with a car full of stunned, dusty business people. I had forgotten about that smell. Everything had that smell for such a long time after that day. Thank you for sharing your story!
MJ says
Sherry, thank you so much for sharing your story. I read it yesterday while at work. Yours wasn’t the only story I was seeing posted for the first time – it seems like a lot of people were feeling like they could finally say what that day was like for them. New Yorkers, DC folks, and tons of us out here in the flyovers who lived it in a completely different way. All over the place yesterday, stories.
Thank you, thank you for sharing yours, and for always “keeping it real” here at YHL. This is my favorite blog, hands down, of any stripe, largely because of that. A ton of hugs to you!
Ingrid says
In 12 years I haven’t spoken much about September 11th or publicly acknowledged the date very much. But, like you, for some odd reason this year I thought about writing about it, or publicly acknowledging the day, doing something.
I was in grad school at NYU, living with my parents in their apartment to save money. The apartment was at Washington Sq W and W 4th, facing south with a beautiful view of the towers. The sound of the first plane flying low and fast over Manhattan woke me up. I remember, in my half-asleep haze, thinking “that plane sounds way too low”. And then I heard the sound of impact, more a dull thud due to my distance from the towers. I distinctly remember thinking that I had just heard a plane crash, but dismissed the thought immediately and rolled over to go back to sleep. Within moments my mom came running into my room, telling me that a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. She had been standing at the window in the kitchen and watched the first plane hit. I thought she was talking about a small, double-seater plane. Certainly not a commercial jet. As soon as I got out to the living room, with it’s perfect view of the towers, it became evident that it was much worse than I thought.
My brother was randomly in town visiting – the first time my whole family had been together in quite a few years. My dad was already at work, but my mom, brother and I stood watching, turning on the TV for news. We called my dad to let him know. We all thought it was a terrible, freak accident. Cause for distress and much sadness, but not fear or alarm necessarily.
And then we saw the second plane come into view. We watched as it banked into the second tower. My brother immediately yelled that we needed to get down to the basement, to take cover. We watched in horror for a few more moments and I remember I did the most random thing- I walked into the bathroom and brushed my teeth (having not yet done so since I’d gotten out of bed). All I could think was, if I’m going to be holed up in the basement, waiting for it to be safe, I wanted to have brushed my teeth.
We didn’t end up going to the basement. We stayed in the apartment, watching from the window and on TV. It was the strangest, most surreal day. We got dressed, we ate breakfast, we watched. We watched as the towers fell. I remember thinking, after the first tower came down, that the second looked all wrong by itself. I felt guilty for thinking that, because it came down soon after.
I have a few distinct impressions/memories of that day. First, how eerily and unusually quiet that day was. Streets below 14th were closed to traffic, so you could literally walk in the middle of the road. None of the normal honking and traffic noise you always have in New York. Just the sound of fighter jets overhead.
I also remember the people covered in dust, streaming up from lower Manhattan. And the smell and grit in the air. The missing posters, the ones that stayed up for weeks. And finally, the tremendous thunder storm that hit later that week. I think it was the 12th or 13th? The thunderclaps and lightening that rattled my shaken nerves and sounded like explosions – something that seemed incomprehensibly plausible at that time.
For years after I would stand and pause at the sound of any low flying plane. And I’d occasionally have nightmares about planes crashing in the middle of the city in a huge fireball. But those have eventually faded.
Thanks for the prompt – this is the first time I’ve written all this down.
YoungHouseLove says
There’s just something about this year, right Ingrid? I hope sharing your story is as cathartic as it has been for me this year.
xo
s
Sallie says
Tears streaming…beautifully captured…I was living on Cape Cod and we had just put our 5 year old on the bus for his first day of kindergarten…we got to hug him at the end of that day and watch him grow to be a senior in high school today…our little town of Chatham, MA, lost a beautiful couple who were on flight 11, the Angells, producers of Wings and Frasiers, but more importantly Humanitarians that gave hours of community service for abused children…humble, kind, not hollywood types, at all. Just one of the thousands of stories…they have a scholarship set up for their humanitarian efforts. They were building their dream home and it sat for quite a while after…so very sad and empty. Thank you so much for sharing your story.
Kay says
I’m a firm believer that stories are important and should be shared and that personal histories should be passed along. I think we’ll never forget this experience, as a country, but I think understanding how it affected so many individuals does more to honor the day. Thank you for sharing your story, Sherry. I can’t imagine how hard it was to go through what you did and then to be able to share it.
Ellie says
I agree that it’s important to document what we witnessed that day. I’m a New Yorker, and I was in Brooklyn that morning after dropping my young daughters off at school. They saw the towers come down from their classroom windows, and minutes after that, the dust and debris and ashes blew across the river into our neighborhood. Some of your experiences, Sherry, made me remember mine: being frozen in shock (literally as well as figuratively: although it was a hot day, my hands and feet were like ice)—it felt like my brain had been punched because I couldn’t think of what to do. My husband was evacuated from his building a few blocks from the towers and was on the street when they fell, and I didn’t know he was alive until he came through our front door hours later, covered in gray dust. Despite our terror, we were among the lucky ones that day, as we knew people who did not survive. But I also remember the amazing outpouring of help and love from our fellow New Yorkers and others (my kids brought home letters and teddy bears from school that children in the Midwest had sent them, just trying to make them feel better). I am happy to hear that you were safe that day, too, and have gone on to have a beautiful family and do good work. In addition to many other talents you have, you are an excellent writer, and i thank you for telling your experience.
John says
Listen to “Let the River Run” by Carly Simon on YouTube. She is singing in front of the WTC. It will move you.
Amanda says
What a touching post! I have been blogging for 5 years now and it never occurred to me to write my own “Never Forget” story. I was a junior at NYU heading to my second week of classes when it all happened. You’ve inspired me to share my story!
Jill says
Thank you for sharing your story! September 11, 2001 was supposed to be a great day for me. It was my sweet 16th birthday and I was *finally* old enough to drive! My 2nd period Civics teacher had just let me pick out a small gift from her presents stash when she found out the news. I, like you, assumed it was a small plane and had to be an accident…and went back to testing out my newly acquired Pokemon stamps. It wasn’t until the next period when we turned on the TVs that we realized we were attacked. The rest of that day is a blur. I remember watching the news all day at school (and seeing the attack over and over again). I remember the confusion and uncertainty of everyone at my high school. I remember the long lines at gas stations that evening as my family drove to church. I may not remember the details as well anymore, but I will never forget that day!
Lindsey S says
This definitely made me cry. Just wow.
Michael says
Thank you for finding the courage to share your heartfelt story. September 11, 2001 is a day I will never forget either. I was on the other side of the United States but that day has impacted my life significantly. Please share this with your kids once they are old enough because we can’t forget… ever.
Katie says
Thank you so much for sharing. I feel like so many of these comments are probably cathartic for the person writing them, which is why I’m writing as well. September 11th was a day I lost my innocence and the day I went from being a care-free student to being an adult. I was also a sophomore in college, attending San Diego State University. I had class from 8am-12pm that day. My 10am class was in a big lecture hall and I remember hearing someone say a plane had been hijacked but I didn’t think much about it and surprisingly that’s all I heard until I got home. My three roommates and some friends were surrounding the TV, many of them with bright red faces from crying and I had no idea that my world (and the rest of the world) would be turned up-side-down. At that moment, I realized life wasn’t so simple. That real evil existed. That terrorism and acts of violence at this level don’t just happen in far off foreign countries.
San Diego was shut down for a few days because of all the military out there and it was deemed a high-risk for being targeted. Living with the fear of the unknown and thinking my city could be attacked next was terrifying. And if it was that scary on the opposite coast, I can’t imagine the feeling of being in NYC.
The silver lining was the innocence that was lost that day was counteracted by the display of humanity across the country. We truly were all on the same team in the weeks and months post-9/11 and it was beautiful to watch.
Again, thank you for your post and thank you for allowing a place for us all to share our memories of that day.
Rocky says
I have been reading your blog for years and I occasionally comment… but today I must comment. It is crazy to me how similar our days were on that harrowing day in NYC.
I was a freshmen in college living in California at the time, but my best friend and I were visiting her grandma in Floral Park that week. The two of us decided to get in one last H&M shopping trip before we flew out of JFK that afternoon.
We took the train into Penn station that morning and heard on the way in that a plane had hit the WTC tower. Like you we thought that it was an accident, small plane malfunctioning, etc. Once we arrived it quickly became clear that it was a terrorist attack…we found ourselves in front of the Empire state building, running down the streets as screaming people were being evacuated from the building. Everyone thought it was the next target. We had no reception, no access to money, no food. So we sat in a pizza place in Penn Station waiting, scared, hoping there would be some news of trains…only to be evacuated for fear of a terrorist attack at the station. We ended up walking 8.5 miles until we found a train in Woodside to take us home later that night. Nothing can compare to the surreal feelings I experienced that day, but you captured many of them in this post. So, Thank You for the post, I know it is hard to rehash.
It is always strange to me what a small world we live in. For all I know we could have been walking side by side on the same street that day.
Sabrina says
I was a senior in HS and skipped school that day to go visit my boyfriend who went to college at Pace university. I couldn’t sleep the night before but ended up not getting on the train. He’s a real “tough” guy and he said he was up and looked out the window and saw the first plane hit from his dorm. Then watched the second hit before they were ushered downstairs. His college lobby was turned into a triage and the students were helping people. He had to walk to the Brooklyn bridge and across to get home to Long Island. He saw awful, awful things. He said he had to pretend he was in a movie. Everyone was helping that day. Everyone came together. My father went down to help with the cleanup every day for months. Your story was really amazing!
Kelley says
I was at the WTC on September 9th, 2001, visiting the city for some shopping the day before my freshman year of high school was scheduled to start in my NJ hometown. 2 days later I was walking down the hallway back to class from using the restroom when I noticed that everything was eerily quite and the television in every classroom was turned on.
When I got back to my Algebra class, I was told that a plane had hit the World Trade Center and, like you, I imagined it was a tiny Cessna or some other “hobby” plane. A few moments later, we watched live as another plane hit the second tower. Every time I see a picture or watch a video of the towers burning, the same exact sick-to-my-stomach feeling returns that I had that day.
Devon says
Thank you for sharing your story. As a reporter, I watch the stories, listen to the interviews, and visit the memorials. Your perspective isn’t one I’ve read about before. It was moving. Thank you again.
Gretta says
Thank you, Sherry. I rarely comment, but this was so poignant and touching. *free virtual stranger hug*
chiara says
I graduated from Columbia the year before 9/11 so I spent 4 years in Manhattan. Summer of 1999, I worked across the street from WTC at an investment bank, around the corner from Century 21 (not sure if you remember that bargain basement Nordstrom-Rack type store). I used to go have lunch in the WTC courtyard area will my fellow interns all the time. I still have a cardigan that I bought from JC rew in the WTC lower level shopping center in 1999 that I refuse to give up out of sentimental value.
I cannot even imagine what it would have been like living in the city when it happened. It was horrifying enough to watch if unfold on TV, thousands of miles away in LA. I cried like a baby when the towers fell.
Thanks for sharing your story – NYC will always be a special place for me.
Libby says
Thank you for sharing. I can’t imagine the fear, confusion, and grief of everyone in NYC that day.
My grandpa slipped away quietly that same day in a small-town nursing facility after a long decline from Alzheimer’s with family at his bedside. It wasn’t until we got home that night, and my mom and I were watching a news story of a family’s search to find a loved one that I realized the gift of closure my family had been given. I was 16. The older I get,and the more 9/11 stories I hear, the deeper this lesson becomes.
Thank you again for sharing your story.
Nicole says
I didn’t know that pictures of the missing were posted around the city, that is a element I never saw in the news. I was an expat in The Hague (Netherlands) when the towers were hit, so we had to hear and see everything via CNN. We were so scared of being targeted as Americans in a foreign country. The Dutch people were incredibly loving and respectful, though. One day we were driving on the N44 and noticed all of the cars pulling off the freeway. We didn’t know what was going on, so we pulled into a gas station to ask about it. The man told us that the Dutch government had declared 2 minutes of silence over the radio, for everyone to reflect on the horrible things that had occurred in America. We were deeply touched.
Pat C says
Thank you for sharing this tender account Sherry. It matters. We need to hear these personal experiences, to bring it alive once again.
America hasn’t been the same since. We dare not forget.
Sarah says
The day it happened I was sitting in a high school psychology class in Southern CT, 35 miles away. Yesterday I spent 9/11 in Dublin, Ireland, where I now live, thousands of miles away from friends and family. My father was supposed to be in a 9am meeting on the 88th floor that day that he decided to reschedule. It’s important to me to take time to be grateful that he was spared, and to send prayers to those who were not so fortunate. Thank you Sherry, for sharing your story. I hope that each year, you are healing.
sara says
Wow, this was powerful. I will always remember that day. I was a junior in high school in an upstate NY high school, about an hour away from the city. I remember my teacher running into the classroom saying “an airplane hit the World Trade Center!” and frantically getting on the his phone to make a call. I looked at my best friend Melissa next to me and just thought “that’s crazy.” Then after a little while, I don’t remember how long, maybe 10 minutes or more, they announced they were sending everyone home early. My cell phone wouldn’t work, so me and Melissa went to a friend’s house which was within walking distance and that’s where we watched the horror on tv. It was so scary watching it all happen…
Nicki says
Sherri, thank you for sharing that. Wow, I can’t believe you experienced that first hand. Kudos to you for being a survivor, my heart goes out to every single person involved in any way.
N Shirley says
Sherrie- thanks so much for sharing- my two children and my son’s fiance were all in the city that day. They have never shared how they felt. My daughter watched the towers fall out of her art room window (FIT) and she has night terrors to this day. Your post brought back the memories and the fear of that terrible day. Hope you will be OK. La can’t look at Facebook for several days before and after the anniversaries. My son helped keep Univision on the air that day. So hard to think about.
Holli says
Even in Idaho, we felt hit hard. It changed so much in the hearts of so many. Thank you for sharing.
Petra says
Thank you for your story. I was in New Zealand, heavily pregnant and my brother was in L.A. calling me and telling me to put the t.v. on (it was 4am NZ time on the 12th). We just watched the t.v. all morning, numb, tearful. I think the whole world was in New York that day through our t.v.’s. Still makes me tearful. Most people can remember what they were doing that moment of the attack, no matter where they lived in the world.
Laura says
Exactly one year after 9/11 I gave birth to my first son, so this day has new meaning for us – a reason to celebrate life!
Stacy says
Thank you for sharing!
Journo says
I am a copy editor at a newspaper in North Carolina. I remember coming to work that morning and seeing people gathered around the newsroom TVs. When the second plane hit, everyone left the TVs and headed for their desks, aware that a long, extremely busy day was ahead of us. We always get energized on big news days, and that’s how we felt on 9.11.01, but this was different — so profoundly sad and such a life-changing event for everyone in the US. Plus, I remember what a beautiful, clear day it was. I think about that every year.
Kelli Fox says
wow great story – you put those feelings into words so well.. I was trying to explain that feeling of camaraderie, looking into the eyes of strangers and not feeling like they were strangers. just knowing what was on the hearts and minds of all. I had never felt that before that day.. my daughter and I went to NYC in May 2002 for her high school graduation and it was the most wonderful trip. New Yorkers were wonderful to us. It’s a very special place. :)
Holly English-Payne says
Thank you for your September 11th story. All of us in New York City and the immediate surrounding counties have highly personalized stories to share about that day and those that followed. Because we are willing to share them, the emotions of the day will always supercede the cold facts that might merely be recited about that tragedy. Living 18 miles away, knowing my sister was in the city in the shadow of the Empire State Building, having my husband stand on a building at JFK watching the second building fall, the memories of my then 12 year old daughter’s impressions of her teacher’s reactions – all need to be relived and remembered as part of the whole. Thank you for sharing. And you will tell your daughter about it, just as my parents told me about where they were at the moment of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Their vivid memories inspired my life-long respect for their whole generation who survived WWII. Our children will carry our memories forward if we share with them the raw emotion we felt that day.
Sally G says
I just finished reading all 542 comments. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their experience. I take away a couple of things. One, it matters how parents react to tragedy. I feel compelled to *at least try* (no one is perfect) to have a plan for how to deal with scary stuff when my kids are around. Two, my experience of that day, although very much mine, is NOT a NYC or DC 9.11 experience. I never perceived it as such, but I will be especially mindful not to even let a breath of a hint of that come through when I speak of that day. New York was different. Washington DC was different. Blessings, all. Blessings.
Ruth says
This was beautiful. I was a freshman in high school in New Jersey. Many people in my town lost family members; it was a horrible time for the tri-state area and the country. But I know what you mean about the feeling in New York of togetherness.
Two years later when the power went out throughout the city, right in the dead of August, it was like New York knew what to do. I was stuck in the city that day visiting a friend and we had a long walk back to his parents’ apartment. No one knew what was happening, but everyone just stepped up to help each other. People put battery-powered radios on their stoops tuned to the news so others could hear what was going on. Shop owners gave away their melting ice cream to help people beat the heat. The NYPD was on overload at major intersections and couldn’t man the whole city, so I saw businessmen in suits with briefcases out in the road directing traffic and NY cab drivers obeyed their instructions.
More recently, the damage from Sandy has been putting the city through more trials. South Street Seaport still looks like a ghost town. New York has been through quite a bit, but the strength of New Yorkers, and the sense of community in disaster that surfaces in a city where people barely know each other…it amazes me every time.
Sally G says
I love this. Thank you.
Jenna says
I will always remember where I was that day and those moments. I was far away from NYC (Washington state). Thank you for sharing this. I don’t know why but the memories of this day are heavy on my heart this year for some reason.
Paige @ Little Nostalgia says
Thank you for sharing this, Sherry. It must have been so hard to write, but like you said, the process has been helpful for you in the past so it probably will be again. This was one of the most detailed accounts I’ve seen/heard, and there were so many little things you mentioned that never crossed my mind as somebody who wasn’t there. Being afraid to leave the ground floor, the smell the next day… I can’t even imagine. Like so many others, I remember exactly where I was when I heard and I know that we’ll never forget.
Constance says
The tears came for me reading this with the sentence, “So we could run”. Thank you for writing this and for sharing your experience. I can’t begin to imagine.
I was in Minneapolis in grad school at the time and remember that entire morning and how some of us seemed to have heard what was going on sooner than others (like the prof of my first class that morning). Most of the class sat in disbelief that we weren’t going home – first sad and then panicked. By the second class, school was shutdown and everyone was trying to get home and call loved ones.
I had a personal shock after a week later when it was confirmed that Todd Beamer (Flight 93, “Let’s Roll!”) was the same Beamer family my parents had been friends with when I was in younger. His sister was my baby-sitter and I learned to play Connect 4 at their house. I still tear-up instantly whenever someone mentions him. I think about his wife, his kids, his parents – his sister. I still can’t comprehend it other than with admiration for him and love for his family.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh Constance, I’m so sorry for your loss.
xo
s
Michelle says
Hi Sherry, it’s about to get cheesy (please forgive me!). I want to thank you for being such an inspiration. I recently read not only this entry, but also your entry on Clara’s birth and I wanted to let you know I really admire your strength. You’ve been through some really tough stuff and yet you’re still choosing to live a life that is creative and full of love. I think that is absolutely incredible and I totally look up to you (I’m an adult but I wanna be you when I grow up!)! Thank you for being you and sharing your stories, life and creativity with us. You’re the best!(:
Tish says
I just want to add to the flood of comments thanking you for sharing such a personal experience. Really I have no words, just thankfulness and tears.
Meg says
Thank you for sharing Sherry! It is really hard to share some of the stories from those days, but I think it needs to be done it continues to bring people closer and united. Like you said it is an unspoken bond like a family.
I remember when I was younger I used to always ask my parents how they could remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when JFK was shot, when a man walked on the moon for the first time, etc. This is one of those moments for our generation. It sounds silly but I always hoped my first moment would be of a flying car, rather than something so tragic. However, I will always remember Photo II in high school and my teacher wheeling in the TV to turn on the live coverage. I lived outside Washington DC at the time, and when I left school that afternoon by time I got home the smoke from the Pentagon has blown towards our neighborhood and the smell penetrated everything…by remembering these tragic times I find comfort in thinking that will help us all heal together.
~MB
Brittany says
Thank you for sharing. It was my 16th birthday on September 11th when that happened, and same as you at first I didn’t feel the gravity of the situation. They turned on the TVs in school, but I don’t think I really got it. We went out for my birthday dinner that night and everything was closed.
So intense hearing it from your perspective. Another reminder to honor those that perished that day, and to be so grateful for the things we have.
Sara says
Thank you, Sherry, for sharing your story and helping us all to ‘Never Forget’ that day on September 11th. Living in the Midwest, we were nonetheless deeply affected by the terrorist attacks on our country. Working at a corporation in downtown Des Moines, we heard the news like everyone else – first tower = ‘how terrible’, second tower = stunned disbelief and complete silence. My company had a large conference room that was dark except for a TV playing continuously. All of us frequented the room as we could tolerate it. Some for hours, some for minutes. It was a room filled with tears, prayers, and unity. As we worked at our desks, doing only the essentials, we waited in great anticipation to hear the fate of our many NYC employees. I work for Meredith Corporation, owner of Country Home magazine, where you were working that day.
Katie says
I can tell that it was hard for you to write this even after all these years. It is all part of the healing process. Thank you for your courage and your bravery. It helps all of us.
Evelina says
This post is so beautiful. Thank you for gathering up the courage to write it. It gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. You are such a lovely person and it makes me sad that you had to go through such a traumatic event. …and that all of the people of New York had to go through it as well. I visited New York for the first time 2 months ago and I completely fell in love with the city. It angers me so much that someone would want to hurt such a wonderful place. I (and I’m sure others) would love to hear John’s account of the day. God bless
Beth says
Thanks for the good cry this morning.
Jody says
Thank you for sharing! I was an engineering student in Indiana when Sept. 11th happened. I remember sitting for hours at the Student Center glued to the TV watching all of the coverage. Fast forward 12 years, and I am now an engineer on the rebuilding of the new World Trade Center. Never in my wildest dreams did I think while watching that day unfold, I would be hear helping rebuild.
I often pause while I am on the construction site to just try and take in the magnitude of what happened that day. I can’t begin to imagine. I am extremely humbled when I hear stories of people who lived here and experienced it first hand. I am not a prideful person at all, but I am extremely proud of the efforts myself and the rest of the team here in NYC have endured to try and bring a little piece and normalcy back to the people of this great city. I know the Memorial Site is not a replacement for your friends father, but I hope she has come and found a little peace.