21 years ago today

[Winchester]

Rick and I were in Myrtle Beach for a union program that he had to attend. I was along for the ride more than anything. That morning, I walked into a Christmas shop. The clerk was crying. I asked her if she was OK, if I could do anything. She just said, "You don't know?" and pointed to the tv screen. I looked, turned around and walked out of the store and went back to our room. Rick came up during a break in the class and we just held each other. And I watched tv the rest of that day.

Bush said that they were going to start patrolling our shores. Our room was right on the shore. After this happened, I spent a lot of time on our room balcony, just looking, while Rick was in class. You could see, way far off in the distance, the ships patrolling. Rick came up during a break and he could see them, too.

I probably mentioned this before....they showed an old Arabic woman who was dancing in joy and clapping her hands at the news. I remember saying out loud, "I hope you rot in hell". I still hope she is. I'm vindictive that way. I've never forgotten seeing her.

 

[misty8723]

I was at work and heard one of my co-workers talking about a plane that had hit the WTC. Thought at first it was a small plane, until we heard about the second one. I couldn't get on any of the news networks on the computer, but someone put the TV on in the conference room and we all stood around watching in horror. When I heard about the plane that went down in Western PA I was terrified because I have family in that area. I went around in panic asking everyone where in PA??!! Where in PA??!! And called my family to make sure they were okay. They hadn't heard about it yet, so they put the TV on.
I went to pick my husband up at lunch time because they didn't have a TV in his office and he didn't have his car, so he wanted to go home and watch. There was an MCI office on the route and it was blocked off by police cars. Not something any of us alive at that time will ever forget.

 

[misty8723]

Speaking of big legal centers . . . .

We had a case at the time of 9-11, and one group of opposing counsel was in NYC, with offices right next door to WTC. One of the attorneys, a lady, lived in Hoboken, NJ right across the river. The twin towers loomed over the entire city everywhere you went.

She was, fortunately, at home when the attacks occurred and they were traumatic to watch. People stood in the street and cried and wailed when the towers fell. Some people fainted where they stood.

Worse, much much worse, after that the fires kept burning and burning for literally WEEKS. They were not put out, she said, till almost the following Thanksgiving, about 10 weeks. At least they weren't downwind.

Add to that, subway service was cut off when the towers crushed the subway stop under them. To get to work, the lady had to take a ferry boat across the river.

Momentoes, and "have you seen?" posters were plastered everywhere.

My company had an office in one of the towers. People were lost. One of my co-workers in my office had a meeting scheduled there that day that had been cancelled. I'll never forget the posters looking for people, or people putting together makeshift stretchers that were never used. Just thinking about it all brings tears to my eyes no matter how long ago it was.