Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Day 137--September 11, 2013

          I was at work at the body shop.  Ryan was stationed in NewPort News, Virginia.  He called me and asked if I had the television on in the office.  When I told him no, he told me about the first plane going into the first tower.  Everyone in the office gathered around the television.  I remember how eerily quiet they all were as they watched the horrific events unfold.  I went home, turned on the television, and I don't think I left that spot for about four days. 
          There are several events in our history that I, along with many others, will never forget where they were when so many people's lives changed forever.
          I had an earache and had stayed home from school and was watching the old Jeopardy with Art Fleming when the announcement came that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.  A few days later, I was sitting in a purple recliner in our living room after having watched the news for the past two days when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.
          I was painting our bedroom on Easy Street, when the Columbine shooting took place.  Richard's sister was in a nursing home, and I was the one who made sure she was taken care of in her last weeks of brain cancer.  While the news coverage was showing the students running from the building with their hands on their heads, the nurse called to say Helen was having some problems and really needed me there.  I remember feeling like I wasn't sure I could put one foot in front of the other, let alone drive twenty miles to the nursing home.  I did, and being there comforting Helen helped ease some of the shock of what was going on hundreds of miles away.
           There are so many other times we all will remember where we were: 
The day Elvis died.
The Oklahoma Bombing
The Challenger explosion
I will never forget.

Let me ask the same question Alan Jackson asked--Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?

Until next time,
Dolores

4 comments:

  1. We were jogging in Lake City, Florida, when we saw a commercial airliner land in the little Lake City airport. That was odd, so we stopped at Lake Shore Hospital to see what was going on. We were driving home when we heard on the radio that the second tower was hit. Like you, I stayed glued to TV the rest of the week. What a nightmare.

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  2. I didn't usually turn on my TV first thing in the morning. I didn't that day either. I was working in my office when you called and said NY City was under attack. I immediately turned on the TV and sat glued to it for the rest of that day and many days to come. I turn on my TV immediately every morning now.

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  3. I was at work, and I remember someone saying the towers had been hit. Those of us in the office went to the nearby room where the TV was on, and we just stood there staring at it.

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  4. My son called when the first plane hit - I was at work for a company that didn't have outside internet access. Desperate to understand what was happening, I turned on my little radio, but the commentators didn't know much more than I did. My daughter called when the second plane flew into the other tower. But now the stock market closed and my company began streaming coverage in over our closed system. For the rest of the work day, I sat watching in horror, trying to comprehend, praying for the families, the firemen, the police, for everyone even close to the tragedy unfolding in NY, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. The market remained closed for the rest of the week and my company continued to stream the news, which I continued to watch in horror and sadness. I didn't get much done that week, either at work or at home.


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