I had just started high school and was walking into my honors biology class for my first major test. The windows here open and we had a view of the towers. Someone (I can't remember who) caught the first glimpse, stood up, and walked silently over to the window. The rest of us followed as the smoke billowed into the air and began to cover the cloudless sky.
As we stood there the second plane flew in and crashed into the second tower. We saw it hit and the smoke continue to collect. To this day I can't describe the feeling of that moment. Confusion, sadness, anger. I don't know how long we stood at that window but I remember watching the first building fall as if it were a stack of blocks.
The vice principal came into the room and asked if anyone had family working in New York. My friend silently walked from the window and left with him. Her aunt worked in the South tower but had been running late for work and was now stuck in traffic in one of the tunnels.
As the day went on every classroom had the news on. If there was no tv then the class was moved to a nearby room that had one. Every twenty minutes or so names of students were called over the loudspeaker to report to the office. Parents were coming in by the dozen to pick up their kids.
We had the next day off from school and by that morning my own town was covered in a smog. Dust from the debris carried over across the river into the small ghost town. Everyone was affected on that day but it was different here. Watching it not on the tv, but from the window of Mr. Degnan's bio class.
I see that skyline everyday on my way home and while it's still the greatest city in the world, it just isn't the same without them.
God Bless.
12 comments:
I will never forget that day or where I was. Never.
You're the only person I know that actually saw it. Wow. I don't even know what to say. My thoughts are with you those, and everyone else in NYC
You are a young'un but you'll remember this all your life. I saw the second plane crash into the second tower (on tv) only because my friend in San Diego called to ask if my husband was flying to DC that morning. It was approximately 6AM her time and I asked why she called to ask and she told me to go turn on the tv. btw, my husband made that regular commute from Logan in Boston to National in D.C. but was not enroute that day, thank God.
Things have never been the same for any of us since.
We'll all remember where we were when we heard that news.
There are TV tributes on over here in England and it is overwhelming to watch. For you to see that live must have been simply devastating.
My heart and love goes to all in NYC.
RMxx
I don't live in the U.S. but I can imagine what everybody felt.
My brother called me from Bloomfield and told me that it looked like hell on Earth. I was trying to get in touch with him but all the circuits were busy. I was so happy to hear his voice, knowing that he had been down that way!
To think you actually watched it live, not on TV....like California Girl said, that's definitely something you'll remember the rest of your life.
Watching it on TV had a profound impact on me ... I cannot imagine watching it for 'real' ...
my dad was on a united flight out of newark that morning. it was a very scary few hours until we knew his plane wasn't one of the ones involved...
this made me cry. i love you
So many people I have met, living miles away from US, but they still remember correctly what they were doing that day and their first reactions as the news broke
... I cried too. How awful!!!
I would imagine that you woke up for months with nightmares. I have never connected with some one who witnessed the towers fall.
I saw the presidents plane fly over Columbus, OH that day. It was the only plane in the sky. Hard to miss. Traffic stopped to watch the plane. We were all scared because of the towers. Cars stopped to watch it because we knew all the planes were suppose to be grounded. The radio reported almost immediately not to worry that it was the president.
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