Where was I on 9/11, ten years ago today? Pushing a baby stroller and walking my way out of Manhattan. An unforgettable journey.
On this day ten years ago, a person came into my office and told me a plane had hit one of the towers. We all thought a small touristic plane, an accident and were struck with some level of shock. Minutes later our shock was brought to another level when the second plane hit. In disbelief, I walked out to the corner of E 86th and 2nd Ave. where I had a clear view of the smoke and flames coming from the upper floors. We turned to radio, tv’s and internet for news but it was all too confusing. By late morning I decided if the city was under some kind of attack I’d better haul-ass and get over to Central Park West to pick up my son in daycare. Transportation was immediately shut down and so were all the bridges, so I went by foot. I passed faces that were zombie-like, or those sobbing and holding their hands to their head. As all New Yorker’s realize, you’ve got a darn good chance of knowing someone who works at The World Trade Center.
My son and I came back to my office and he slept as I continued to try to work, as we weren’t really calling it a day yet. By afternoon, we decided to leave and start our long journey home by foot. We walked through the Upper East Side, did all of Harlem and crossed the bridge into the South Bronx – white folks, black folks, hispanic folks..folks from all over the world and it didn’t matter where we came from, that day we were going home together. Imagine what it must have felt like to be one of thousands walking directly on one of New Yorks busiest Avenues with no traffic! I didn’t witness any looting but I obviously had some concern about it since there wasn’t a police officer in sight – not one and not one taxi either. Cell phone coverage was spotty, but at some point I managed to get through to my husband to arrange a pick-up on the other side of the bridge. It took about one and a half hours to reach him. We gave a ride home to two of my co-workers who kept me company with my newborn in a stroller along our exodus from Manhattan. So while I was home resting my feet and absorbing the news that evening, President Bush was rounding up the Bin-Laden family on planes and getting them out of the country and soon later he waged war on Osama. A mystery we’ll never have an answer to.
That evening I kissed my husband and thanked my lucky stars that he had left his job in one of the towers six month earlier and that our friends there were safe. During the next days we walked through Manhattan, where hospitals had endless billboards of pictures and missing people…thousands all posted in one place with flowers, poems and stories. Unforgettable and hair-raising. Today, Simone saw the news and asked me what was happening in New York. I explained that this already happened ten years ago while we were living there. He wanted me to tell him the story and I did.
Aimmee how vividly you create this, and I can’t even begin to imagine that long walk home with you little boy.
In Australia the time difference meant that we didn’t even know what had happened till the next morning (our time). I was on the phone to my Mum (it was her birthday), and we had just put the TV on, slowly the words seeped into my conciousness. I remember telling my Mum that something awful has happened in America, I have to get off the phone…go and turn on the TV.
Our children ask and I tell them what I know and hope that one day there will be peace on earth.
ciao and hugs
Lisa
My brother-in-law was in the tower. He tells the story and it feels so surreal, like watching an action thriller kind of movie. I was in the car driving, 8 months pregnant and going to work. My husband and I heard it and thought this is just one of the jokes radios sometimes puts on. Then when we were pulling to the parking lot of the office we heard about the other crash and then it hit us. There was just a strange emptiness and sadness that hit me. It is definitely a day that I will always remember.