I was young, only a senior in high school, on 9/11/01. I happened to be walking into gym class when the first plane hit. The gym teacher had a tv in her office and happened to have the news on so we saw the second tower get hit just after 9am. At the time my sister and father were supposed to be in NYC that day, my sister was actually at Grand Central Station and my dad ended up just being in Westchester county for the day. We managed to get ahold of both my sister and my dad to make sure they were ok. Mom came and picked me and my sister up from school by 10:30 or so. We also brought with us one of our friends whose parents both work in the city. Her mom at Columbia University and her dad in WTC building 7. It was scary. I remember watching the news at my Aunt's house where we spent the rest of the day. It wasn't until around 7pm when we learned that both of our friends parents were fine. Her dad had just gotten out of the building when tower 2 collapsed and he ran, covered in soot and debris from lower Manhattan to 116th Street to his wife's office at Columbia.
That's how I spent my day. We were the lucky ones. Listening to the over 2000 names being read and the personal messages the people are adding are heartbreaking. Some of these kids were just babies when their parent or relative died that day. My heart aches for these people. It was a day that truly changed the world more than any other during my lifetime.
"Our hearts are broken, but they are beating, and they are beating stronger than ever. New Yorkers are unified. We will not yield to terrorism. We will not let our decisions be made out of fear. We choose to live our lives in freedom." Rudy Guiliani
(thanks to my sister who posted that quote this morning)
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