QOTW-Where were you on 9/11?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
QOTW-Where were you on 9/11?
26
Sun, 09-11-2005 - 9:58am

Today is a day burned into the hearts and minds of the world.  When the World Trade Center fell, the world as we knew it changed forever.


Where were you, and how did you hear about the attack?  What did you do during that week?


With love and prayers for the dead and the still living they left behind,


Bink




Avatar for heartsandroses2002
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 09-12-2005 - 5:08pm

I was at work and a co worker came in and said a twin engine plane had flown into a tower. My boss, who is in NYC all the time, said, "No way" and we turned on our little crappy 13" tv in the conference room and watched just as the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. We were transfixed and horrified. There was a deafening quiet in the room - my boss's wife called hysterical, and then slowly over the next hour we received calls from colleagues and business associates, and friends to tell us they were okay. For whatever reasons, they weren't there at that moment. It was surreal. We closed the office and everybody went home or to pick up thier kids from school (I did) and call our loved ones. I couldn't reach my H and instead drove to his jobsite with my girls. At the moment I told him, he said, "I knew something was seriously wrong because I just noticed that I hadn't seen a plane all morning", referring to the grounding of all planes. That was creepy too.

I'm from NY, grew up on Long Island and have family in NYC, some in Manhattan right nearby that area and some in the Bronx. I have a cousin who was working in the building next to the towers and ran for his life - he was lucky. I spent much time in NYC growing up and I speak with someone for my work everyday in NYC - many of whom used to have thier offices in the twin towers, many many from Marsh, Inc. My family's loss was great...the devastation, the pictures, the loss of life, our "home" town was destroyed it seemed.

What did I do that first week? Cry - a lot. My H and I were glued to the tv every waking moment - after the dd's went to bed. The first couple of days I literally had to force myself to turn it off because it was so upsetting and my older dd began having trouble sleeping at night, the images and our reactions were so disturbing. I donated money, I spoke with friends and family in the area, I attended memorials, I mourned the loss of some colleagues and a family member (my exh's cousin was a firefighter). I tried to explain to my daughters everything without scaring the crap out of them. I prayed with them, and lit candles daily for the families directly affected.

I visited the city at Thanksgiving and again at Christmastime. I had resisted going to Ground Zero, as they call it, because I didn't want to treat it as a spectacle. However, some family members really wanted to go in December, so I went along. I felt a presence. I felt a woeful presence I have never felt before in my life. There are spirits there, not evil mind you, but a definite presence. I felt my heart try to wrap around them with all my might and offer a bit of comfort to them. I felt no comfort for myself; I left with an emptiness inside. There were no words to say or thoughts to express. We all, each one of us, just wept. It was the saddest thing to see.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 09-12-2005 - 5:47pm
i'm letting it go. Love, Leila
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Mon, 09-12-2005 - 6:41pm

Your description of returning to Ground Zero, is like what I felt when I went to Ellis Island and again at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC.


iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Mon, 09-12-2005 - 6:43pm
It's important to let go of the pain and the anger, but you must'nt ever forget...




iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 09-12-2005 - 8:47pm
How can you forget something like that? ya can't.
There is so much tragedy lately, the earth is in so much chaos,
global warming, earth disasters etc. Politics. I want to think of things to balance
myself, to think of the happy things. It may sound like a different subject but not really,
I read a lot about toxic foods, how chickens are forced to produce, the chickens
that get by inspection with cancer, processed foods, bad fats,
formadehyde as part of making maple sugar. People are eating crap all the time because the companies make money. so we have disease. I think I need a break from seeing all the Katrina
stuff and everything else. I am grateful I have my house, my health, my job, my kids and can afford
organic foods and eat eggs where I see the chickens running around.
It isn't making me feel good to visualize the airplanes flying thru buildings. I really
liked Betsy's article about the spirits, that is what I like to remember. It may have been a plan to come
back into the body and be a part of it for a lesson the world needed that we can't understand now.
therefore a good thing.
It doesn't help me to remember that I was in my car and gemopedie was playing on the radio.
when i play it on the piano, it makes me sad. It is haunting music. I lived with Hal then,
he wanted me to come straight home from work. I loved living together with him.
I have been going to the beach every day I am off
breathing in the salt air and feeling the cleanliness and beauty, watching kids play.
This time at the ocean is quiet but it is still summer. I'll feel better Wed when my kittens are home
from their neutering. I know it is not a big deal but it is for me.
Love, Leila
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Tue, 09-13-2005 - 11:08pm

I think it's important to be able to look at the world as an observer.


iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-2004
Wed, 09-14-2005 - 5:54am

Did you know that there were 4,000 Jews absent from work at the World Trade Center on that day? There is a conspiracy theory on the net if you're interested. Brings with it lots of questions.

Betsy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 09-14-2005 - 7:37am
I do send reiki to the planet along with people and kittens(:- )
Love, Leila
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Wed, 09-14-2005 - 9:20am

Since the buildings held 20,000 or more workers, and 5000+ were killed...


Avatar for giggles219
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2003
Wed, 09-14-2005 - 10:36am

During 9/11, going back home from my grandparents place with my brother where my grandfather told us that one of the Towers was hit. We then went to my brothers friends house before leaving on our long journey and saw on CNN the second tower hit and how it went down. During our six hour car ride, we were listening to the radio on the what was going on in NY. We were both speechless. My mother's cousin has lost a lot of colleagues, and we found out that she was there a month before the attack showing her family the two towers and being inside them. God bless the many souls who perished and the families who were affected by this devastating attack!

Kristina