topic Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story in Community Chat

September 11, 2001 My personal story

I am still oxox — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:26:02 GMT

When I look back on that infamous day I think back to the weekend before, DH and I returned from a cruise, I had wanted to go out on deck and see the skyline as we arrived in the City, his reply was you have seen it 100s of times before, little did we both know that three days later it and our lives would be changed forever.

The experiences of September 11, 2001 changed my life forever. I lived all the way out Brooklyn and was working at on lower Broadway at the time.
My Express Bus was just left the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel when one of the passengers got a called a plane had crashed in to the Trade Center. Traffic as almost at a stand still but we were able to get out of the tunnel. When we were out of the tunnel we were able to see the Tower burning, the driver let us exit the bus, since he had no idea when traffic was going to start to move, there were people running in all directions

I was about 3 blocks south of the WTC when the 2nd plane hit. I heard a massive explosion and felt the chards of glass and paper. Its funny that is the one of the few sounds I recall of that day, my memory has seemed to block all the sounds from that day out of my mind.
I was able to make it to my office about 2 blocks away. When I got there I started piece together what had occurred, we were essentially under terrorist attack. I sat at my desk unable to move for a long time. I called my loved ones to let them know I was OK. My husband who works for the Federal Gov. was on high alert, we was both to crazed and to busy at the time to even hear my story.
My boss, myself and our intern Danielle, all sat in out office on the corner of Broadway and Beaver and heard the implosion of the first tower and then say the clouds of black smoke that filled the air, about an hour later we heard the same again.
I spent much of that day on the phone with my Mom and my editor who lives in North Carolina and on line with a cousin when was in school up in Saratoga. We had power but no air conditioning, it had been shut down as not to bring in the debris. The other side west side of the street had no power at all.
We finally left the area at about 2 PM, it was a surreal ghostly site, and ash covered streets. One or two lone people walking aimsley a few Govt agents with jackets ID'ing them as to their agency and Police Offices very solemn doing the best they could to keep up the good fight.

We walked down Water Street to the Brooklyn Bridge, thinking we would walk over it and then end up at my bosses sons house. We were lucky that NYC was running buses over the Bridge, we got to the other side, and D who lived down the street from me saw a bus that would get us close to home.

I was fine until I waked into my apt, then I started to cry and did not stop for the next week. I knew I would be home alone that night and called a friend to come stay with me, I knew that it would be very hard to spend the night alone. He slept on my living chair and I slept on the couch I did not want to be alone that night.

The Trade Center had always played a large part in my life, my Dad watched it being built, his office was right across the street, we celebrated my Parents 25th Anniversary at Windows on the World, at one point Barry worked at 6 WTC, one of the smaller buildings and when I worked on John street I would be there all the time, shopping either at Century 21 or at the many shops in the Towers themselves.

It took me a long time to recover from that day, and till this day I have trouble watching some of the coverage.

Thank you for reading my story

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

scotttie — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:31:27 GMT

Wow. Stilloxox, thank you for sharing this. Don't know wht else to say. What a nightmare.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Puzzle Piece — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:31:55 GMT

The nation grieves to this day. We must never forget.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

bikerbabe — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:36:43 GMT

Thank you for sharing your story. God bless you and your family.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

JeanLouiseFinch — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:37:15 GMT

Thank you for sharing. Indeed your life was changed forever that horrible day. I'm glad that you were able to get home though and that you had company.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Jig Saw — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:45:41 GMT

No, thank you for sharing.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

kittymomNC — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:49:35 GMT

Thanks for sharing such an emotional and traumatic event in your life. I cannot even imagine what it was like for you and all the other people who were actually there experiencing it. I'm sure you were forever changed by this, as were we all to one degree or another.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Teacups — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:53:06 GMT

God Bless you.....it changed the whole world.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

sylviahomeatlast — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 02:53:12 GMT

thank you very much---

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Lila Belle — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 03:07:27 GMT

Powerful, Op.

September 11 changed the lives of everyone and that of my family forever.

God bless the United States of America and our allies.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Big Sister — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 03:08:24 GMT

Thank you for sharing your story of that never-to-be-forgotten day.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

AngusandBuddhasMom — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 03:12:46 GMT

Thank you stilloxox

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Mom2Dogs — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 03:13:10 GMT

I still cannot believe that this happened in the United States.....such a horrible day. Thank you for your story.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

RibbonsRosesRainbows — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 03:22:35 GMT

I am so happy you were safe and those you know and I am so sorry for everyone involved and it changed my innocence forever in trusting all.........Thank you for sharing your heart wrenching story..........I am sad today.......as I was leaving my boyfriends home tonight I was sad about tomorrow and told him that life is so precious and take it moment by moment......and he said SUGAR, don't be scared and live in fear........well, it is harder for me not to live in fear now..........how sweet he gave me extra kisses and hugs because he knew I needed them.........It is scary thinking about someone ploting right now to harm America in some way. Father and Yeshua cover us please.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

puglet1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 03:30:13 GMT

Thank you for sharing Stilloxox.I hope you don’t mind me sharing my experience that day as well.It is somewhat therapeutic to talk about it.

I live four blocks from the World Trade Center.On that day, I worked six blocks away.It was a typical day at work until we all heard a loud explosion and our building shook.I thought it was an earthquake.A supervisor came running in and yelled, “A plane hit the World Trade Center!”A bunch of us piled outside our office building and looked up.I’ll never forget the crackling, brilliant orange fireball against the stark white-gray of the tower, against the bright blue sky, not a cloud in it.The colors were outstanding, the scene terrifying.Rumors began spreading about a possible terrorist attack.Our supervisor told everyone to get home.

I didn’t waste a moment.Grabbed my things and ran out of the building.I knew DH was home with our cat and my only thought was to get home to them.Whatever happened, we would be together.Getting home was difficult.I had to fight my way against thousands of workers in the Financial District running towards me and away from the area.I seemed to be the only one running in the wrong direction – towards the WTC.I glanced upwards as I ran.I could see white “handkerchiefs” waving from the top floors, above the flames.I started blinking because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.Horror of horrors!I saw a body flying downward from the tower to the ground.My heart was beating out of control.I was frantic to get home to DH.

When I got upstairs to our apartment, DH had the tv on.We were both transfixed by what we were seeing and hearing.A few moments later, the tv went off.We lost power.A while later, we heard a growing rumble, then a defeaning roar.Our apartment building began to shake.I started screaming and crying.All of a sudden, a cloud of white dust came hurtling towards our large picture window.We thought for sure it was going to rip right through the glass and that would be the end of us.DH and I clung to each other and said our goodbyes.A short while later, the rumbling stopped and the dust cloud began to dissipate.The dust cloud was the result of the first tower collapsing, although we didn’t know it at the time.

What followed was a week without electricity or running water.DH walked down flights of stairs after a couple of days to get a newspaper.He had to walk a couple of miles to find one.Our immediate area was a ghost town, everything covered in white ash – the ground, the trees, the cars, the buildings. Debris was everywhere, mostly paper from the offices that once were in the WTC. There were National Guard on every corner armed with semi-automatic weapons.We had to show ID at every corner. The entire landscape was eerie. Mostly, I remember the complete silence. This was New York City!It was supposed to be full of life and activity!

I lost a friend that day.We also lost several of our neighbors, people who we would see in passing, but didn’t really know.Yet, their absence was very noticeable after that day.Years earlier, I had almost taken a job on the 110^th floor of the South Tower. If I had taken that job, I would not be here today.

More than 2,600 innocent souls lost their lives in our “back yard” on September 11, 2001.I get knots in my throat and in my stomach when I think about how they were trapped and the horrific way in which they died.Almost 3,000 innocents lost their lives that day, in total.My prayers go out to them and their loved ones, as well as to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Tamn8r2 — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 03:30:25 GMT

OP, thank you so much for sharing this very personal and gut wrenching experience- I ahve often wondered about those I saw on TV that day, wandering aimlessly as you say, in shock and disbelief-

How are you now? does this vision haunt you, even now? I can certainly imagine that you would have trouble watching coverage...

God Bless you- for what you went through, no one should ever have to again...

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Yahooey — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 06:09:31 GMT

Thank you OP for sharing your story. It still seems like yesterday yet it had been over ten years. Puglet - I can't even imagine living so close to the area. Watching it on TV as the weeks and months unfold was heartbreaking. Hugs to you both.

I would like to share my story although it is not as traumatic. I worked in midtown and was still at home when I saw the news. I was wondering how they were going to put the fire out and repair the building so it would be pretty again. I was so naive. I saw the burning spot as I came into the city by train. Many sat on the train and didn't even know about it until right that second.

It was only later that I realized it wasn't an accident. When I called family members who were watching TV, they said the buildings are gone. I couldn't comprehend. How could these huge building collapsed into a fraction of itself. I kept saying - where is it? Everyone at work were glued to the radios.The trains weren't running and I went with a coworker to get lunch.

Midtown was quiet, not a single peep, No horns, no yelling, no planes overhead or the rumbling of subways below. All i saw was a steady stream of vehicles carrying people who were covered in white ash. I saw them in the back of pick up trucks, crammed into passenger seats of taxis and private vehicles. Everyone was hitching rides. No one honked and everyone was heading north. A slow moving caravan. Only noise were the sirens.

I went home when the trains started to run again. I didn't have cable and watched only one or two fuzzy channels. I got my reception from the WTC antennae. I just kept crying. I still remember when they would broadcast what was needed at what would be called ground zero. Booties for the rescue digs because their paws were getting cut up.

I was glued to the television watching the fuzzy stations day and night. I was praying for good weather so they would still find survivors. It rained Friday night and so did my tears as it seem they wouldn't find many more.

I was booked for a cruise with my family out of NY to Canada a few weeks later. The ship couldn't dock in NY since the military was using those ports. We caught the ship docked in Boston. People cancelled their trips since many wouldn't fly. The ship was 1/4 filled.

I didn't lose anyone that day nor was I close in proximity. I couldn't even imagine what (((Puglet))) went through. I went to the site over a month later and my throat closed up from the stench of burning 2 subway stations away.

I walked up from the West Side Highway and came across the reflecting pools by accident this summer, I welled up rather quickly and had to walk away. Many tourists were there enjoying the weather and posing for pictures. I have no plans to visit the museum. God bless the innocent victims, their families and loved ones. God bless America.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Tamn8r2 — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:55:18 GMT

Amen...

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Marienkaefer2 — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 14:00:28 GMT

A sad day beyond words. I think of all the people who lost their lives in the buildings, the planes, the rescuers, first responders, and all of their families. As well as all the witnesses who saw and heard. Very sad.

Re: September 11, 2001 My personal story

Cakers1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 14:07:02 GMT

Stilloxox-thank you.