My first "I remember where I was" moment occurred when the Challenger exploded just after take-off. It was January 1986. A nor'easter was blowing into Massachusetts and my school closed early to make sure everyone got home safely. A bunch of us rented some movies and headed to my friend, Joe's house to watch. One movie was Thief of Hearts. I can't remember the other one. My friend Michele called her father to tell him where she was. I can remember her saying, 'What?!" and to us, "the shuttle exploded! Turn on the TV!"There are others now. But seven years ago,
I was sitting in my office in Andover and Andy called me when he got into his office in Cambridge. He commented he'd just heard on the radio that someone had just flown into the World Trade Center. We both thought it was some poor idiot in a Cesna. We both thought it was an accident. We hung up and I ambled into my boss, Lee's office and told her. She tried to get onto CNN.com and couldn't. Then another co-worker ran in to say a second plane had just hit the other tower.
Not an accident. An attack.
We were in a new building and didn't have a TV so all over, small groups of people gathered around small images on computer monitors. Everytime someone managed to get some news, it spread as horrible rumors through the office. As we learned about Flight 93, my friend, June got a panicked, crying call from her college-aged son. His dad was flying back from PA today. Had she heard from him? She had not but later learned, thank God, he was not aboard that flight.
Finally, Lee and I left the building to run to a local Best Buy to get a TV. Going home would take too long. It was in Lee's Jeep that we heard that the first tower had fallen. We saw the second tower fall standing among strangers in front of a big-screen TV in Best Buy.
We spent a longer while at work, eventually leaving to watch the horror unfold from the comfort of our own homes. There, I pleaded with Andy to leave the job he had just started a few weeks before. He worked in Kendall Square, where MIT is located. I was sure if there were more attacks "they" would target the academic centers soon.
He didn't leave until 5:00 and was home in record time. He found me in front of the TV exactly where I had landed when I arrived home hours before. We watched more. We headed to his mom's to wish her a happy birthday - yeah, 9/11 bummer. More TV, bed, God-Bless-America-sex, sleep.
In the morning, we woke up back to the bad dream that was our new reality.
9 comments:
So many stories . . .
I was three days away from having a baby...I'll never forget how hopeless the feeling was and wondering what kind of world I was bringing her into. Sad sad day.
Thank you for sharing your story. We must not forget that day.
That must have been so surreal standing in front of a television with other strangers in Best Buy.
I was 6 months preggo with Gracie. I was an emotional wreck and couldn't leave the TV in my living room for a second. I wanted to pull my oldest out of school, but didn't. I had just flown home from San Fran for our anniversary on 9/10.
I was driving into Boston just before the first tower fell, listening to the radio with my jaw on my lap. I was right by the Hancock when about 8 Boston PD cars came flying by. We also were evacuated from our office building a few days later when they found the hijakers' hotel rooms. What a very sad day.
These stories are so important. We can't let that day fade.
Thank you for this
Thank you for sharing. It brings us closer when we all tell "where we were when..."
I was 9 months preggo. In Boston. We were evacuated from my work's high rise at 10 a.m. It was so scary.
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