Jean, thanks for starting us off this morning. I can't believe it's been 15 years since the attacks. I wouldn't say it feels like it just happened yesterday, however it feels more like a couple a years versus 15.
I remember it vividly. I was listening to the radio 105.1 FM and driving on I-375 south headed to my job in the IT department of BCBSM. I was still on the freeway around 8:50. I was preoccupied about getting to work, my mind planning what I needed to do for the day. My soon to be husband and I had just put an offer on a house and I was thinking about getting the 20% down and just life, you know what I mean.
The DJ of the morning show, Jim Harper said they were breaking to ABC news and I believe Peter Jennings was trying to report what was happening, but it was really choatic. I parked my car, half listening, because I was rushing to get inside.
I know at first nobody really knew if it was an accident or what. I was at work and some of the girls had tv/radios. Not kidding - those little Sony radio/TV things and I could start hearing murmurs about something being really wrong.
I called Terry at the house he was renting (I still lived with my sister at the time) and said, wake up and turn on the TV and tell me what is going on. Something is really wrong and I can't figure out what it is.
He got up, turned on the TV and started crying. He was trying to relay what the news people were relaying at that time and I remember wanting to get in my car and drive. Just drive - not sure where - just move. Like a cornered animal.
BCBSM released us all from work sometime between 10 am and 10:30. I can't remember the timeline, but the emotions are so close to the skin 15 years later that I am feeling them as I type this.
My Ma and Dad were in Detroit. My eldest sister was in Fraser. My BIL was working for GM in Detroit. My husband was in the burbs. My middle sister was working for BCBSM at the Southfield location.
All I wanted was all of us in one room. I talked to Terry and said, I know you are upset, I have to go to my parents. They are elderly, they've seen war and this is going to traumatize them.
I made my way to my parents house and when I walked into their house, my Dad had NBC news on. He and my Ma, looked pale, stricken and the most afraid than I had ever seen in my life.
My middle sister made it home. We talked to my eldest sister - her kids came home, her husband came home so as a unit they were together.
I stayed with my parents for a couple of hours then went to see Terry at his house in the late afternoon/evening. I smoked at the time and on the way to Terry's I stopped in a party store to buy a couple of packs of cigarettes. The owner was arabic and when I walked in and asked for a couple of packs of smokes he looked at me and was crying. I reached over the counter and grabbed his hands. I said, you are not responsible for this. Just like when the crazy guys from Michigan blew up the Murrah building in Oklahoma, I wasn't responsible for it. I don't blame an entire population for the actions of a select few. I told him, emotions are going to be all over the place for the next few days. I need you to be careful because I have no idea what people will do.
There are many elements: wind, fire, water
But none quite like the element of surprise
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