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.
Stefani says
Beautifully written, thank you for sharing!
What a scary day that must have been. I can’t imagine having been there in the city when it happened like you were. How traumatic.
I was a junior in college in Virginia, and I remember going to my first class that morning, and during that class a few people mentioned they’d heard about a plane hitting one of the towers, but like you said, everyone brushed it off. Then I went to my second class, and our professor projected the news on the screen, and we saw the second plane hit. I remember sitting in my dorm room with my roommate, watching the news in shock and sadness, and talking to my mom as she cried on the phone telling me she was so sorry that our world would never be the same.
I was just thinking this morning on my drive to work how 12 years has gone by, and that means that college students now were just little kids when it happened… and little kids now weren’t even born when it happened… it’s amazing how quickly events become “history.”
Tara says
The events of that day were felt all around the world. It was late at night here in Australia. I remember it was a very sleepless night followed by a very eerie day. The next day (Australian time) everyone was walking around aimlessly, no one could smile and everywhere you went people were glued to tv screens to see what would happen next. Just wanted to let you know that on that day, people all over the globe were shedding tears and praying for all affected by that day.
Laura says
Thank you for sharing and helping us all to remember that day. God Bless America!
Bev Brown says
Thank you for sharing. I too was in NYC on 9/11. I heard the news of the first plane while listening to Howard Stern and getting ready to leave my Williamsburg, Brooklyn apartment to head to my office which was between the UN and Grand Central … Potential targets. I saw the second plane hit while on the phone with my mother-in-law and then watched the towers collapse from our rooftop. I vividly remember the eery silence, the smell, the disbelief. Having the National Guard on our corner for 4 months, experiencing weekly subway bomb threats, and watching our friends move out of the city were large parts of the reason we decided to return to RVA. NYC, and the country, were forever changed that day. I will NEVER forget!
Relly says
Thank you for sharing your story. This brought me to tears.
I am in Vancouver, BC, Canada and I did not have any direct links to any of the sites targeted 12 year ago. I was and still am overwhelmed by sadness when I think of that day. We have a mass of land between Vancouver and NY but it felt like it was just happening down the road to a good friend.
I live close to an international airport. All the flights were grounded leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Hotels opened up their doors and took people in but there weren’t enough accommodations. People opened up their homes and took in complete strangers. There were more people willing to take strangers in than stranded passengers.
It was one of the worst days yet somehow it brought out the best in people.
YoungHouseLove says
So well said Relly. It really was one of the worst days, but it brought out the best in people.
xo
s
Magdalene says
Thank you for sharing. It is day we will never forget. Hugs!
Jennie says
Sherry, this was very moving. I was interested to learn about your experience, and those of all the people here who commented. I confess that most years I tried not to think about it … I was in high school at the time, and it was very scary. We we taking a test and a teacher from a neighboring classroom ran in and told our teacher to turn on the tv. Nobody could believe what was happening. I am glad you decided to record your thoughts on this – I can’t imagine having been there in the city at the time, especially because it was all so frightening from further away.
Rachel says
Thank you for sharing your story with us. It’s important to read. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I too was a sophomore in college, but in MA, not NYC. So incredibly scary.
Amy L. says
Thanks for sharing, Sherry. How difficult that must have been… My husband and I always talk about what that day was like. I was living in Pittsburgh working in a high rise when we heard of a plane that was headed for our city. The local newsman came on minutes later to report that Flight 93 had gone down. My husband was a student at NYU at the time. He remembers the missing person flyers and the people waiting at the train stops in manhattan begging people to take their loved ones’ pictures and help look for them. Those same people, mostly women, stood at the same train stop every day and passed out their flyers. And he remembers how, over several months, they slowly trickled away. God bless all of those who suffered a loss that day.
Claire @ Claire K Creations says
Thanks for sharing Sherry. My husband and I were just in NYC a couple of months ago and went to the memorial and St Paul’s Church across the world. It was so heartbreaking.
Even though I’m on the other side of the world I’ll never forget my mum coming in to wake me up the next morning and saying ‘there’s been the most terrible terrorist attack in America.’ I’m tearing up just thinking about it.
It’s just devastating and I send all my love to all of those who lost someone.
Jessica says
Although I wasn’t dating him at the time, my husband has a cousin who was killed in 9/11. He was in the first tower that went down. He and I went to the memorial, and what they don’t tell you is that separate from the actual memorial itself, there is the “family room” in a nearby building that you can only access if you are the family member of someone who has passed. It is filled with momentos and photos, letters from children to their parents….completely heartbreaking.
I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing, even what I was wearing when the news got to me…I think it’s the kind of situation that you will never forget all the details about. Thanks for sharing this Sherry.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh Jessica, that’s so sad but sweet. The family room sounds like such a nice place to go to remember.
xo
s
Summer says
Hi Sherry,
Thanks for taking the time to share such a heartfelt post and for reminding us of the gravity of this day in history.
Not sure if it has been mentioned already but, if you haven’t yet seen the 9/11 story of the man with the red bandanna, it is SO worth checking out. I just saw it for the first time and I’m in complete awe of this wonderful man’s heroism, and floored by the tremendous loss of his loved ones (and so many others’ loved ones).
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6929979
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, such a sad but sweet story. What an amazing hero.
xo
s
Kristi says
Thanks, Sherry.
Krystle @ Color Transformed Family says
Thanks for sharing Sherry. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be there in NYC that day. So many details and images you described I had never thought of. I feel like we even grew closer all the way down in Mississippi after 9.11. You couldn’t help but want to love everyone and let them know you cared about them.
Rachel says
Thank you for sharing. I was just a freshman in high school, living in Wisconsin with no connections. While I vividly remember the day, it is so powerful to hear the stories of people who were there and lived it.
Tameeka says
Hey there Sherry
Just a quick note to say thanks for sharing. I live in Australia… and I still remember the exact place that I was and what I was doing when I saw it unfolding on TV. I am soo sorry. I pray that sharing your story brings you some healing.
Blessings
Tameeka
Frances Locke says
I lost one of my closest friends on 9-11, he was working for Canter Fitzgerald, we grew up together in Rockaway Beach, in Queens. It was one of the hardest days of my life. My mom was supposed to be in the North tower that day, but thankfully had changed plans the night before.
http://www.legacy.com/Sept11/Story.aspx?PersonID=115555
YoungHouseLove says
I’m so very sorry for your loss Frances.
xo
s
Megan says
I, too, am a New Yorker. I remember that day and the ones that followed with vivid clarity.
NYC forever, baby.
Never forget.
I love your more personal posts and this one specifically hits home for me even 12 years later. <3
Katie says
Thank you for sharing. Gob bless you, John, and Clara.
Anne [A Squared] says
What a beautiful post. It’s an awful day to remember, but an important one not to forget. Thank you.
Vanessa B. says
Wow. Thanks for sharing this. I finally visited Ground Zero last year and I was instantly and acutely aware of how intense (doesn’t do it justice I’m sure) it had to be to have been there. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
The other thing that strikes me about that day is that it may have happened in New York but it happened to the whole country. I don’t know if you could feel it but we were all there with you. I think we were all New Yorkers that day. If that makes sense. And the way New York rose to the occasion has never made me prouder to be an American. I think it helped make the country stronger after it too.
Katie S. says
Sherry, I wanted to let you know how thankful I am that you summoned the strength to write this post. It is so so important for those of you with firsthand accounts to share them. I was young and far away (14 living in Montana) and really did not get the full force of all of the tragedy that occurred on that day and the days that followed. Your words are just what I needed today to truly remember, and the fact that you have allowed me to get to know you through your blog makes them have even more impact. Thank you for that.
Karin says
Every year I try very hard to avoid the TV and media on this day…it is somehow just more than I can stand to be reminded, every year I promise myself that I will not cry and will not remember…it is just too painful….I almost made it this year only 40 minutes until this awful anniversary is over, and then I clicked on your blog, and the tears came and I knew I should just shut the laptop when I saw the title of your post….but I didn’t, I couldn’t….I too am a New Yorker born and raised from Bayside Queens actually….I wasn’t in NY on 9/11 my military hubby and I was stationed in Alabama it was a frantic day worrying as I called and called and couldn’t get through to my family…wondering if my FDNY brother-in-law was ok…if my family was still whole…by some miracle all my family and friends were alive but changed forever by that awful day, months later I would visit and take a trip into the city and see those awful posters plastered everywhere, my beautiful city forever changed…in ways only someone who had been there pre 9/11 would understand. I wonder how many years before this day will come and go for me without tears…..maybe next year?
Courtney Douget says
Sherry, thank you. I know all of us have heard stories from countless people about these events that changed us. And I know that I don’t really know you, but you are the first person that I ‘know’ who lived in NYC when the towers fell. (I am from Louisiana) I have felt for the people on television and the people that I have read about, but for whatever reason your story was the one that touched me. I am crying right now. I am not sure if I have ever cried over what happened. So thank you for telling what happened to you and yours. I hope that it helped you heal, even if it was just a little.
Kaylin Lydia says
I was a junior in a CT highschool 40 miles away when this all happened. Or wait maybe I was a sophomore. It’s funny how those details blur but I so clearly remember others. Like for days after I could see and smell the smoke cloud as I was being brought to drivers ed classes. Or how I blacked out and found myself running down the hall crying after the first tower fell. My Dad worked at the Verizon building (the next highest on the skyline to the towers) and he was missing for hours. When he saw the first plane hit, he got up from his meeting and immediately walked to the next subway off the island. He was the last train out, I sometimes I wonder about that ride. I know everyone was thinking “what is being bombed next?” I often think of those day and my experiences, it’s only recently I can get through a 9/11 day without crying. It makes me feel so sad for those more directly impacted because I know I still feel the horror from that day and I was so fortunate to not have a family member harmed. Good post, thanks for sharing.
lois says
As a fellow New Yorker, now living in Richmond, I too still share many of those same hard, painful emotions. I was at a conference in the hotel adjoining Grand Central. My husband was downtown and only a few short blocks from WTC. Although I lived through every second of it, I only remember bits and pieces of that day… Broken, raw fragments. I couldn’t tell you when the tower fell, or when the second plane hit. However, when I allow it, the emotion of that day comes flooding back and can completely overcome me. I commend you for being able to share your story as I know just how difficult it must have been for you to physically put words to those very caustic memories.
Malissa says
Everyone remembers where they were on 9/11 but I’ve never had the stomach or really much opportunity to read about someone else’s story. Thank you for sharing your’s. It brought me to tears but also revealed, to me, a deeper truth about that day that I didn’t know I had been avoiding.
RebeccaM says
Sherry,
Thank you for sharing your story. It’s such a heartbreaking memory for so many people, and I don’t know how younger generations will be able to grasp the feeling of watching or experiencing that day. Thank you for sharing not only your story, but the courage and love that you felt following the attacks. Clara will be thankful to be able to hear it from you, when she is old enough to understand.
My aunt was in a meeting at the Pentagon when the plane struck. She was lucky enough to be on the other side of the building and was told to run as far away as possible. She climbed over barbed wire fencing and ran 3 miles down the highway among traffic before she felt like she could look back. She has never been the same, and our family is so fortunate to still have her with us. There are entirely too many who aren’t as fortunate as us.
Laura Ann says
Thank you so much for sharing this story.
Shannon says
I’m craying like a baby. Thank you for sharing your story. We will never forget.
http://brasshoney.blogspot.com/
Brittany says
WOW. I just sat down and read this at my desk this morning. I’ve actually been working with our soldiers in Afghanistan as a contractor for the past few months and yesterday was pretty emotional over here, but your post gave me chills. Thank you for sharing, your candidness and retelling makes me feel happy to be able to support those who rise to protect our freedom while remembering all those who fell on that day.
YoungHouseLove says
Thank you so much for your bravery and service in Afghanistan, Brittany. I can’t even imagine what you guys must go though but we appreciate you more than words can say.
xo
s
Ami says
Thank you for sharing. I appreciated your perspective and it was surprisingly cathartic to read. I hope it was cathartic for you to write.
God bless NYC.
Rosa says
I too will never forget. I have never lived in NYC, visited several times and totally love the city. For some reason I was really effected by 9/11. I saw the towers fall on TV. And after that I couldn’t watch a show about 9/11. I never saw any “specials”, Datelines, 20/20’s about it. Never read anyone account…until today. Thanks for sharing. (P.S…I have this weird thing that happens to me, almost daily I end up glancing at the clock and it reads 9:11. I always say a little prayer, remembering that day)
Catherine says
Thank you so much for sharing this story…
As a New Zealander, people often assume that we weren’t affected – and while it wasn’t to the magnitude that you were (I can’t imagine being there…) there was still the shock and horror and numbness that came with hearing the news, and like most of America, watching it on TV.
I’m a teacher.. and today, I tried to explain what happened 12 years ago, to my class of 9, 10 and 11 years olds. None of them were born then… and while they’ve seen tv clips, to them it’s really just a story.
Thank you for sharing.
Kate says
I know people tell you all of the time how talented a writer you are and maybe because I read your blog everyday I take your writing for granted, but I want to express poignant this post was. You made me cry the entire length and I want to thank you for that. I hadn’t felt reverent about today until I read it. You gave me the chance to really remember 12 years ago and thank and pray for our first responder heroes, the victims, and their families.
NYC Forever.
Terry says
Beautiful but scary and sad story. I don’t really know anyone who was in NYC when it happened and your story really helps me understand how you felt and how scary it all was.
Was John, also, in NYC when it happened? I’m now curious about John’s story.
YoungHouseLove says
John was actually not in NYC yet (he moved there in 2004) but he was in Northern VA, so there was a lot of scary stuff going on at the Pentagon nearby.
xo
s
oh Holland says
Sherry, it took 12 years but you needed to write that. And I needed to read it. All of us did.
Elaine says
From way away across the pond I love reading your posts Sherry. You make me laugh, smile and give me hope. Today you made my cry – but that’s ok too x
I know how much 9/11 changed us here in the UK, and it can only be a tiny part of what the experience was like for you all. My heart and prayers go out to everyone every year.
I too remember clearly what I was doing that day – I was pregnant with my daughter and was at work when it first happened – we too watched with fear and disbelief. I just remember standing in the middle of the city crying my heart out in the street when a friend rang to say the first tower had fallen.
Until this year I was an English teacher and I always used poems from 9/11 in my teaching. Even so far away we owe it to everyone changed or lost on that dreadful day not to let it be forgotten and to remember both who we are and what we stand for.
Much love and many hugs to you all…
Jenia says
Thank you. Just thank you.
Kathy says
I live in Brisbane, Australia and I was engaged at the time and my fiance (then husband and now ex-husband) was in Melbourne on business. I was at home staying up late and I had the news on TV and it was after 11pm and I heard that the plane had hit the Building and I couldn’t believe it and just watched. So what I was watching had just happened and then while I’m standing there we were watching live as the plane went into the second tower…….I couldn’t believe it and of course when the tower just imploded and one minute it was there and the next minute it wasn’t I was stunned. I did ring my fiance to tell him to turn on the news but he was asleep and at the time.. yeh plane crash…I’ll see it in the morning on the news however this was so very different to a plane crash.
The next day at work the boss brought in a tv and we had that tv on all day at work listening to the stories and updates on what was going on. I think it was on for about 4 days. We were in total shock and to think that it wasn’t a news report, I had seen live the 2nd plane go into the tower.
Watching the stories, the people, the pictures posted of people, on the tv and in the papers I wept like I knew everyone in the building which is strange because I don’t know anyone living in the USA (apart from cyber scrapbooking, photography and reno blogs) however the impact 9/11 had on people as far away as Australia was HUGE. Lots of tears were shed here for those families and friends that died on that day.
Like you say it seems like a long time ago however you can be transported back to that moment, that day in a matter of nano seconds. They did a huge story that we saw on tv here on the “babies of 9/11”. All those pregnant women who lost husbands and there babies were born after 9/11 without dads. Very very sad.
My brother was born on 11/09 so I always think of him as as he died at 17 (nothing related to the USA 9/11 attacks) however along with 9/11 when I think of those families missing loved ones I also miss my own brother who died at 17 years of age.
Thank you for sharing your account of that day in history that is etched on everyone around the world’s memory whether you were in NYC, AMERICA or as far away as AUSTRALIA.
Jess says
Very sobering perspective of a terrible and heart wrenching event. Thank you for gathering your words and sharing this post. So glad you were safe on that day.
Janna says
I was in year 11 at high school (so I guess classes as a senior in US) in Sydney Australia. I received a text message in the early hours of the morning a school friend urging me to turn the TV on that ‘the 3rd world was was going to start’. Not knowing what she meant I did. I was so shocked to see what was unfolding. As I was watching the news they showed the second plane hitting and the building g collapsing. I ran to my parents room and woke them, turning on their TV.
The next day at school very few classes were normal. The teachers had the TV turned on and we watched the news I shock. We had a school prayer session and wrote letters to. A sister school in New York.
On the other side of the world we just watched with baited breath, trying to work out what it meant. I was left wondering what kind of world I was going to be entering into in my Adulthood.
The following year Australia felt its of terrorism closer to home, with the Bali Bombing. Many Australianstravel to Bali for holidays. A bomb was deliberately set in some Pubs that specifically catered to Australians. 88 Australians were killed. Whilst this pales in comparison to 9/11 it was still shocking, heart wrenching, and further left me wondering what the world was coming to.
cindy says
I will never forget where I was when the towers were hit. I was on the subway at 5th and 53st and the trains were stopped. I was on my way to college and I was a junior. We had to get out and it was chaos on the streets. I got on the first bus not knowing where it was going and thankfully it diverted and went to queens. As New Yorkers we will never forget!!!
Alisa D. says
Thanks for sharing your story, Sherry.
Janna says
I remember September 11 so clearly. I live in Sydney, Australia and I was in my final year of High School.
In the early hours of the morning I received a text message urging me to turn on the TV. I did, and sat in horror as I listened to the news. I has no idea what the twin towers were, but as I saw images of the planes hitting, and then the towers falling, I knew without doubt that there were many many lives being lost on the other side of the world. I remember the look of horror o. The news readers face too. Not even they could mask their devastation.
I ran to my parents room and woke them, turning on their TV. We Just watched in stunned silence, and cried.
At school everyone was shocked. TVs were turned on in classrooms as we tried to understand what had happened. From our perspective we just didn’t understand how a country as powerful as America could be attacked in such an open manner. It left us wondering what was going to follow. I remember walking home from school that day and just wondering what kind of world I was going to enter my adult life in.
The following year Australia suffered its own loss in Bali. Many Australians go there for holidays. A street that was a popular Australian tourist spot, with many Aussie themed bars, was hit by car bombs. 88 Australians died. most of them in their 20’s. while the number pales in comparison to the losses of 9/11 it was still shocking and devastating. I still wonder about the world I live in, and the one I am raising my child in. I hope she never wakes in the night to cry at tragedy due to acts of hatred and terrorisim.
Molly says
I was pretty young when this happened, and I did not, at all, understand the gravity of that day. When I read people’s personal stories about it, I gain an understanding and an appreciation that I think is the best way to remember 9/11. Thank you for giving us your story.
Jeanine says
Beautifully written and extremely touching.
My daughter is in college right now. I’ll make sure she sees this.
Thank you.
Sommer says
Thank you for sharing, Sherry.
mariela says
I got chills from reading your story. Thanks for sharing. You stayed in NYC after 9/11 and then you met John. Meant to be :)
Lisa K says
Thank you for sharing. I’ve never really read anyone’s account of what happened on that day. Watching the news was horrible enough and I found I had to shut the tv off – it was just such a painful thing to watch. Your story really helped me understand even deeper just how painful and frightening it was to be in the city on that day. It brought tears to my eyes and brought me right back to when I was in college in Massachusetts on that day. Thank you for sharing this very personal story. Peace.