Indulge me for a moment, while I share my 9/11 story. I still remember where I was (and actually what I was wearing - a knee length flowered dress - my weigh in dress actually since Tuesday was WW) on that day.
I had called my father around 8:15 to harass him about an email he didn't reply to, when he picked up the phone with "Yeah, I'm watching it".
"Watching what?" I asked
"A plane crashed into the World Trade Center."
"Was it an accident or..."
"Gotta go, there was an explosion at the other building" and he hung up.
I went to get on MSNBC.com and my computer went into ultra-slow mode, clearly hosed by the bandwidth. My boss, Barbara, then came around the corner to tell me she was getting on conference call and to interrupt her if a particular call came through. I told her with my father told me, and that I was trying to get more info. She paled and told me to keep her posted.
About 10 minutes later she came out of her office, she told me that she had heard about something happening at the Pentagon and that she was off to find a TV. I hopped up and followed her. As we walked up to the conference room, she turned to me and said "Beth, we have people in there". The company I worked for at the time had around 40 people working for one client in the South Tower, 5 more for a different client in the North Tower and 15 at the Pentagon. We also had friends and colleagues who regularly flew out of Newark and Logan.
We went up to the conference room and joined others watching CNBC. The whole time I had one thought - don't cry, do not cry
Suddenly we saw the south tower collapse, and heard an anchor report that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. I looked over and saw Kim wiping tears from her eyes, and Laura blurted out "You guys, I am so scared" and I allowed a few tears to pop out. Barbara got up, and true to her take charge attitude said she needed to start making some phone calls. I followed her to help.
She said we needed to start calling people who could get information - if Dave, who lived in Connecticut and flew out of Logan regularly, was in the office today; to find out where Dick was and if he was flying out of Newark; to get a list of people on projects in the Towers, the Pentagon and anyone who would be flying out of the airports the flights originated from.
The first call I made was to the only person I knew who lived in New York, my friend Ashia. I tried to call and got a busy signal. I kept at it and burst into tears when she finally answered. She told me she was OK but freaked out. I felt better knowing where she was and that she was safe for the moment.
My overriding thought that day was that I wanted to go home. Once I realized that Barbara and I couldn't do anything (corporate had stepped in and set up a command center to account for affected employees), I told her I wanted to leave. Not knowing if Philadelphia would be attacked, corporate center management closed all of the buildings.
I drove home listening to KYW, not wanting to believe what I was hearing, irate at the news of dancing in the streets in some countries that the US was attacked. I came home to an empty house, mom was at home with my sister and then 3 month old niece who had been home from the NICU for about 1 week, and dad was at work. Me and my dog Murphy sat watching TV, numb. I tagged along with my parents to pick out carpet (of all things) and we went for dinner at a small pub, swapping what we had heard with the waiter, not wanting to believe it was true.
It's been 8 years and it still doesn't seem real in some ways. I feel odd scheduling things - hearing, "ok, so we're set for 10:00 on 9/11" come out of my mouth when confirming a meeting. The day feels sacred to me.
I know tomorrow will be a different day - no, I didn't lose anyone. Fortunately all of our employees survived. But our country lost something - our innocence. Our sense of security. That it couldn't happen here.
But we also gained something I think. We all united that day and the days after. I practically rolled around and wrapped myself in the American flag - and a part of me is nostalgic for the days that we all seemed a little kinder to each other. When hearing the Star Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful would stop people in their tracks.
Let's take a few moments tomorrow to remember those who died that day, those who died defending our country and those who now serve our country.
God Bless America
I had called my father around 8:15 to harass him about an email he didn't reply to, when he picked up the phone with "Yeah, I'm watching it".
"Watching what?" I asked
"A plane crashed into the World Trade Center."
"Was it an accident or..."
"Gotta go, there was an explosion at the other building" and he hung up.
I went to get on MSNBC.com and my computer went into ultra-slow mode, clearly hosed by the bandwidth. My boss, Barbara, then came around the corner to tell me she was getting on conference call and to interrupt her if a particular call came through. I told her with my father told me, and that I was trying to get more info. She paled and told me to keep her posted.
About 10 minutes later she came out of her office, she told me that she had heard about something happening at the Pentagon and that she was off to find a TV. I hopped up and followed her. As we walked up to the conference room, she turned to me and said "Beth, we have people in there". The company I worked for at the time had around 40 people working for one client in the South Tower, 5 more for a different client in the North Tower and 15 at the Pentagon. We also had friends and colleagues who regularly flew out of Newark and Logan.
We went up to the conference room and joined others watching CNBC. The whole time I had one thought - don't cry, do not cry
Suddenly we saw the south tower collapse, and heard an anchor report that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. I looked over and saw Kim wiping tears from her eyes, and Laura blurted out "You guys, I am so scared" and I allowed a few tears to pop out. Barbara got up, and true to her take charge attitude said she needed to start making some phone calls. I followed her to help.
She said we needed to start calling people who could get information - if Dave, who lived in Connecticut and flew out of Logan regularly, was in the office today; to find out where Dick was and if he was flying out of Newark; to get a list of people on projects in the Towers, the Pentagon and anyone who would be flying out of the airports the flights originated from.
The first call I made was to the only person I knew who lived in New York, my friend Ashia. I tried to call and got a busy signal. I kept at it and burst into tears when she finally answered. She told me she was OK but freaked out. I felt better knowing where she was and that she was safe for the moment.
My overriding thought that day was that I wanted to go home. Once I realized that Barbara and I couldn't do anything (corporate had stepped in and set up a command center to account for affected employees), I told her I wanted to leave. Not knowing if Philadelphia would be attacked, corporate center management closed all of the buildings.
I drove home listening to KYW, not wanting to believe what I was hearing, irate at the news of dancing in the streets in some countries that the US was attacked. I came home to an empty house, mom was at home with my sister and then 3 month old niece who had been home from the NICU for about 1 week, and dad was at work. Me and my dog Murphy sat watching TV, numb. I tagged along with my parents to pick out carpet (of all things) and we went for dinner at a small pub, swapping what we had heard with the waiter, not wanting to believe it was true.
It's been 8 years and it still doesn't seem real in some ways. I feel odd scheduling things - hearing, "ok, so we're set for 10:00 on 9/11" come out of my mouth when confirming a meeting. The day feels sacred to me.
I know tomorrow will be a different day - no, I didn't lose anyone. Fortunately all of our employees survived. But our country lost something - our innocence. Our sense of security. That it couldn't happen here.
But we also gained something I think. We all united that day and the days after. I practically rolled around and wrapped myself in the American flag - and a part of me is nostalgic for the days that we all seemed a little kinder to each other. When hearing the Star Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful would stop people in their tracks.
Let's take a few moments tomorrow to remember those who died that day, those who died defending our country and those who now serve our country.
God Bless America
