I will never forget
This post seems trivial and meaningless as I read over it. I wasn’t in New York on Sept. 11 and I don’t directly know anyone who passed away on that day, but I wanted to share my heart a bit with you today and I’d like you to share your heart with me in the comments. Where were you? Where were your children? Do you think it is possible to ever forget that day in our history after having lived through it? I wasn’t affected directly, but like so many, I was forever changed.
We had been listening to a cassette tape of Bear In The Big Blue House. It had a song on it that Brady and I listened to each morning on the way to take him to my mother’s house so I could get to class. Ricky worked in Huntsville so he went one way and I headed the other, for my hour and a half commute to Florence, Alabama four days a week. Fortunately, Mama’s was a good halfway point so my two year old didn’t have to sit in the car nearly as long.
As the last strains of our song played, I hit eject to listen to the radio a bit in the last ten minutes or so until we got to Mama’s house. I turned it up when they were talking about the plane and listened intently, taking a minute or two to catch up on the details and figure out why everyone sounded so strained.
My first thought was disbelief. It just had to be one of those War of the World things. I felt anger rolling inside me at what I thought must be a sick joke, but they dj’s continued, so I called Mama. “Can you turn on the tv? They’re saying an airplane flew into the world trade center.” Mama asked “Huh? I haven’t heard anything about that. When? ” As she was turning the channels, I was slightly relieved, thinking if she didn’t know about it then it was most likely a joke. She found it a moment later and sat down to gather all of the details as we both sat silently on the phone together. “Oh Christy, I see it. It’s awful.”
“Are you serious? So it’s really real?” We had a minute or two to discuss what could have possibly caused it, our first thought went to it being some freakish radar glitch that caused the pilots to miscalculate…and then Mama said “Oh God, another one just went in!”
I was at her house a minute or two later with Brady and we both sat down in front of the tv while he toddled over to a familiar bucket of toys in her living room. It wasn’t long before we realized the sinister truth of the plane crashes as other events began to unfold.
I called my professor and said “What am I supposed to do? Do I come to class? Are they closing the university?” It was silly to worry about missing class but I was still in shock. She told me to be wherever I needed to be, so I told her I needed to be with Brady and spent the day at my mother’s house watching the horror unfold, each of us taking breaks to play with Brady, fix his lunch, and spend a few minutes pretending everything was alright for the two year old who had no idea everything wasn’t.
That night I finally drove home with Brady and put him to bed but there was no way I could sleep. Ricky had been watching all day at his work and he and I sat down together, going over the news and wondering what would happen next. Watching the people jump off again and again in replayed footage. The pain of an entire country seemed to hang in the air and we found ourselves unable to sleep, like so many of the rest of the world.
Instead, I spent a few hours writing a letter to my son. I needed him to know what happened, how it felt at that moment, what it was really like. I wanted him to understand in a way that a kid looking back and reading about it in a history book just wouldn’t. I wrote him for over an hour, ending up with a 30+ page letter describing just where he was and what was going through his mother’s mind when the planes hit. I tried to explain the pain, the fear, the tragedy and the loss. I explained what it was like seeing those people jump. I explained what it was like seeing the people doing all they could to rescue others. I described the firefighters, the policeman, the people in the street, how they all turned into heroes that day. I did the best I could to give him an account of what that day in his life was like through the eyes of his mother. How we all held our breath and waited to see where the next attack would take place. How I looked outside and wondered where I could possibly run with my beautiful little baby to keep him safe.
When I’d ran out of words and realized that some emotions just couldn’t be expressed- I sealed that letter, wrote his name on the front, and dated it 9-11-2029, deciding that he needed to be close to the age I was when I wrote it before my words would be able to carry the weight I needed them to. I couldn’t help but hope that by the time he did read it, our world would be so very different from that day that the violence and horror would seem foreign to him outside of my letter.
A few weeks later we took Brady to the Nashville Zoo. As we were walking around we heard a plane fly over and Ricky and I both froze in place and looked at each other while we held our breath and scanned the horizon. I’ll never forget that feeling in the pit of my stomach as I clutched Brady’s tiny hand and said a silent prayer until the sound of the plane engine dissipated. Even now, whenever I hear a plane fly over the house in the quiet hours of evening I hold my breath. I know many of you do the same.
We made a lot of promises ten years ago, one of the key ones being that we would never forget but if you were alive ten years ago. I can’t imagine we could ever possibly forget exactly where we were and what that day was like.
In honor of all who lost their lives on September 11th, God Bless America.
I remember.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Sep 11 2011. Filed under Misc.
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You’re right. We will never forget. God bless you Christy Girl!
this was a beautiful tribute of your love for your family and life, those who died on that day surely would be touched to know the memory of that day and the lives lost will always be remembered. Like so many others that day, I sat in disbelief and sorrow as people jumped out of those buildings and more people ran as fast as they could away from the collapsing towers, smoke and dust. The way the skies were all empty due to air traffic being grounded for days after was an eerie reminder things would never be the same for our nation. My sons were not with me on that day, nor was my own mother, but i called all of them, and many others, to say ‘i love you and are you safe?’ it is a day that i relive with tears in my eyes for those that perished..and the loved ones that lost them to soon. God Bless you Christy.
I was at home, sitting on the couch eating my breakfast before getting ready to go to work when the coverage switched from the usual mindless morning banter to the live shot of a single tower billowing with smoke. As the second tower was hit, I was ironing my shirt. I drove into town, listening on the radio as events continued to unfold. I missed the first collapse in my walk into the store. We spent the rest of the work day taking turns watching the coverage. There was a eerie silence to our part of the world that day. There were few cars passing by, even though the skies were a beautiful clear, crisp blue of the type that usually doubles traffic volume simply because people are wanting to be away from home.
Christy, I too share your apprehension when seeing or hearing low aircraft in unexpected areas. I also agree that anyone who lived through that day without the protective insulation of childhood oblivion will never forget that day; where they were; what they were doing; who they were with; most importantly, how they felt. I WILL NEVER FORGET.
I will never forget 9/11.
I had no kids at the time, but 2 cats. I needed to take one of them to the vet that morning so I was planning to go into work late. As I was getting ready to go to the vet my sister called and told me to turn on the TV. I watched in disbelief to the events unfolding. I went to the vet appointment and returned in time to see the towers crumble. I stayed on the phone with my sister, crying at the horror. We couldn’t believe our eyes. I work on Redstone Arsenal, so no work that day or for several days afterward as new security measures were put in place. I stayed tuned to the TV the following days. I had no direct connection to anyone living the events first hand so I can only imagine their pain. I watched a 9/11 documentary this morning while my kids slept. God bless those that perished and the survivors too. We will never be the same.
I have been thinking about this day ten years ago and how familiar the feeling is and was when it happened 10 years ago. Then it dawned on me that the feeling was the same as when President Kennedy was killed by the hand of another. The shock, numbness, unable to think clearly, and the grieve. The grieve was unbearable at the time, just like 9-11. It is never going to be forgotten————-EVER.
My husband & myself are retired so we sleep late. During coffee that morning we assumed a terrible accident had taken place with the first plane going into the first tower. I remember thinking how tragic just that was.
Not long after my husband loudly announced ” My God in heaven another plane just hit the second tower” and as I scrambled to the t v I knew this was not an accident and something sinister was happening.
Need less to say we spent the next few hours watching all that devastation that resulted out of that day and for many days to follow.
I remember having this flood of emotion that 9/11 morning that made me want to call everyone I know and love to make sure they were alright and to tell them how much I loved them. “WE WILL NEVER FORGET”.
My life forever changed. While I have moved one town away, and I am so thank-ful that in the mist of tragdy I did not take someones harsh words to heart because he was so VERY wrong! My life supporting someone very special that I met just months later after 9/11 I wouldn’t change for the world! God’s grace in Providing LOVE, support, and in a unique way! I was working at a living history museum. I had to go in front of students from CA who didn’t know if their principal was on one of the flights out of DC, and should have been on the one that crashed. Due to a kid being bad he had to get off and take care of the issue! It was the hardest performance I ever did, and I hope those students never forget!
I was at home, but due to work the 2nd shift as an R.N. for a Blood Center in N.J. collecting blood. When I arrived, I was both surprised and shocked to see crowds of people standing outside our building entrance waiting to donate blood. There were so many people in the lobby, it was hard for be to get through. “Excuse me, excuse me, I work here, may I get through- Thank-you”.
We collected so much blood that day, maybe 100-200 pints and the next day all staff had to come in early and scheduled a mandatory 8:00am to 8:00pm.
A local Starbucks store donated a huge carafe of coffee/ snacks and came back to refill it. a Also, a tent was donated for the people waiting outside.
Christy , as an update, I still work at the same Blood Center 10 years later and I worked today at a blood Mobile for the Knight of Columbus. We were overwhelmed with the number of donors that came out to donate blood today, and I had to call have to have more supplies sent and coolers for the blood. Many of the donors had a story to tell, for example 1.) his brother is a firefighter in NYC. 2.) Another man, Mr. Delre, told me that he worked on 6th Ave.in N.Y.C. and that he stayed at his place of business for 3 days sleeping in the Board room because he could not get out of NYC to his home in N.J.; he also said that he saw a neighbor of his on that day but did not recognize him until he wiped his eyes because he was covered in black soot from head to toe- this gives me chills. I swallowed hard when I heard that. At my job today, at 12:59pm , we read a statement passed by the Senate.
May I have your attention please. In July, the Senate passed a resolution asking all Americans around the country that on this day at 1:00pm, a moment of silence be observed in memory of the victums and tragedy on September11, 2001. The Blood Center of New Jersey in compliance with that resolution would now ask everyone to join us in observing a moment of silence for the victims,families, and the country as we observe the tenth anniversary of the tragedy. After the full minute passed, everyone was thanked.
I have the hardest time with these anniversary dates – this one especially, but even those for Hurricane Karina and Camille, two horrible hurricanes that devastated my area of the Gulf Coast and left me and others fully traumatized in a way that we will never ever forget. I wasn’t in New York at the time, though there were people in the building I had worked with through my law firm, and I know in my heart I could not even go to ground zero ever because I would feel the loss deep in my soul. So I just try to solemnly honor these days quietly in my heart. Sept. 11th was a horrible, horrible, and shocking day. I’ll never forget that’s for sure.
That should be KATRINA our course – apparently my eyeballs aren’t working all that great today!
Beautiful tribute. We really will never forget
A dear and precious person in my life, Sharon, worked at the Pentagon until just 3months prior to the attacks. It was her time to retire and she did so reluctantly. Had she been working, she may have been seriously injured or killed. She lost a few co-workers that day. I am thankful everyday that she is alive and well. My thoughts and prayers are with all those whose lives have been affected.
I was sitting in Mrs. Luedtke’s sophomore English class. Towards the end of class she received a phone call and turned on the news. We seen what was going on but really didn’t know what had happened. After watching for a few minutes the bell rang and we went to the next class. I walked into Mr. Rupp’s science class who also had the news on and shortly after walking into the classroom, we watched in horror as the second tower had fallen.
September 11th is my birthday and I usually felt like celebrating it, but not that day, My sister and I were on the phone talking about her husband.,s illness, and my husband who was at work beeped in on my phone and told me to watch tv because something awful had happened. It was so horrific I could barely stand to watch it,yet I was glued to the tv the rest of the day until my sister called me back and told me her husband had multiple myeloma as the results of his lab test (which is a blood and bone cancer). We were devastated for everything that day, and since then my birthdays have never been the same. Today has been a sad birthday for me, reliving it all in my mind…
I was at home, but due to work the 2nd shift as an R.N. for a Blood Center in N.J. collecting blood. When I arrived, I was both surprised and shocked to see crowds of people standing outside our building entrance waiting to donate blood. There were so many people in the lobby, it was hard for be to get through.
We collected so much blood that day and the next day all staff had to come in early and scheduled a mandatory 8:00am to 8:00pm.
A local Starbucks store donated a huge carafe of coffee/ snacks and came back to refill it. a Also, a tent was donated for the people waiting outside.
As an update for today: I still work at the same Blood Center, and at our Blood Drive today we got 80 % more donors than was booked today; many blood donors had stories to share of their experience with 9/11.
I was at home with my daughter, who had just turned 7 months old. My husband was on jury duty and he called me while I was feeding her breakfast and told me a plane had crashed into the WTC. I remember that the first thing I said was, “On purpose?” It was so far beyond the reach of my imagination. I watched the TV for a little while before heading to Bible study. I was just pulling into my grandmother’s driveway when the first tower collapsed. At the time, the son of one of our church friends was serving on the USS Enterprise; the ship was in the Middle East shortly afterward (I think they were in the Med at the time of the attack). I spent the day watching the TV and thinking, “Some day I’m going to have to figure out a way to explain all of this to that sweet baby girl sleeping in her bed, and I don’t have any idea how to do that.”
I was a senior in high school when it happened. I was sitting in economics class, when the teacher from across the hall came in and asked our teacher to come into the hallway. She came back in teary-eyed and asked the whole class to come with her across the hallway, because “something historic” had just occurred and we needed to see it on the news. The first plane had hit, and by the next class period we knew it wasn’t an accident. Classes were cancelled mid-day, and we all went home to be with our families. A mother of one of the workers killed at the Pentagon lived in my small hometown. I’ll always think of September 11th as signaling the end of my childhood. I had several friends in my graduating class who enlisted or went into ROTC, and I’m sure 9/11 had quite a bit to do with it.
I was on my break at the elementary school where I taught at the time. I had taken my first-grade class to the cafeteria and dropped them off when one of the other teachers told me to turn on my classroom tv. I remember chills covering me from head to toe as I watched the first plane hit. I’ll never forget it.
I was at work when I found out. I called my two children, both college students, and told them to turn on the t.v. Then I tried frantically to reach my husband in Pakistan. You see, two ladies from our church had been captured by the Taliban a little over a month earlier. My husband was working with the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan to try to get them released. 9/11 happened and the whole atmosphere in Pakistan changed. No taxi would give him a ride. People became very anti-U.S. My husband had to be very cautious where he went and the route he took. Fortunately a desk clerk at his hotel befriended him and would tell him where demonstrations were scheduled for that day, so my husband could avoid those places. For 11 weeks he was there and we didn’t know what the next day held. Finally, by God’s grace and the skill of the U.S. military, the girls were rescued. My husband returned to the U.S. the day before Thanksgiving. And what a Thanksgiving we had!
I was a 1411 operator (Information) on 9/11/01. I was walking into the breakroom to put my stuff up for my shift, when I looked at Good Morning America, they were just announcing that a plane had hit the WTC building. There was no footage yet, they (as well as I) were thinking it was a small plane, maybe the pilot had a heart attack or something. I walked into the workroom, told my supervisor about it, and started taking calls. About 10 minutes later, I had to go back to my locker for something, again, GMA was announcing that a plane had hit the WTC. I stood and was watching a live shot, then the 2nd plane hit. My mouth dropped open. It was no accident, this was something major going on.
I went back into the workroom and told my supervisor about it again. I started taking calls again. They brought a TV set into the room, made an announcement to us, and tried to keep us updated. We immediately started getting calls from people wanting #’s for thier son’s/daughter’s/mother’s/father’s office. They were getting nothing but busy signals, was there any alternate #’s? Then we were being updated by the customers on the line. One announced that the Pentagon had been hit too! Now the White House was a target! We started getting calls from New York. Once the WTC towers went down, they lost their cell fone links, and they were re-routed to us in Dallas, Tx and other areas.
People were calling in, and just crying, they couldn’t talk. They were calling in to ask us to pray for their friends/family in the WTC towers. They were calling in to get the school #’s for their kids. People were in a panic. It was awful. They pulled men out of our room to be guards at the doors. They weren’t letting us go home unless we lived a mile or 2 away. They knew that most wouldn’t return for several days because of the widespread panic & fear. We were working doubles, and it was exhausting. Not because of the work, but because of the pain & despair everyone was in. We normally would take between 1500 -2000 calls a day. We jumped to close to 5000 or more calls a day. I will never forget it.
I happened to live just a block away from my job, so I was allowed to go home, I had several co-workers go w/me so they could get a break. My 78 yr old mother was at home by herself, and cried all week, all she could see on TV was the WTC falling & people jumping to thier death rather than being burned alive. There were no cars on the roads, all airlines had been ordered to the ground. It was quiet as a tomb. Only the sounds of nature could be heard. It was an eery thing. It was more than a week later before we were not on double shifts anymore. I don’t remember much of that week outside of my job. I would wake up talking to customers in my sleep & crying. No, I will never forget it.
The pain that those family members of all who died that day in New York, at the Pentagon, and the plane that went down in the field, was felt by many others who had never met them. I talked to thousands who were grieving for their loved ones. I will never forget it.
I was at work at the Certified First Responder Unit of the FDNY in
Queens New York. We had about 100 firefighters in class that morning taking their CFR Refresher. I always kept a watchman on my desk because we started so early in the morning that I never got to see the news at home before work. At about 9:45 AM my Watchman picture got fuzzy with a lot of snow. The only other time it got like that was when they hit the tower in 93. I jokingly said to someone sitting at her desk near me “now who’s trying to take out the World Trade Center”? My co worker just turned her head and didn’t say anything, until 1 minute later when the news caster came on and said that a plane had hit the North Tower. She looked at me and said “don’t say another word”. I was shocked to say the least. I left my office and went upstairs to the officer’s room. There were a few standing around watching the big tv that was on the ceiling. We had the sound turned down and the two way radios turned up. When the second plane hit some of the officers thought it was instant replay…until they realized that both building were burning. The sound coming over the radio was total chaos.
After the second plane hit the firefighters came up into the officers room and said that they had to leave. I signed them out and kept telling them all to be careful and wished them good luck.
After they left we went around the building and started to put together packages of gloves, masks and any other medical equipment we had because we were in the EMS building. We had neighboring buildings coming in to us looking for supplies, the Police Dept Canine Unit came in for stuff, the Coast Guard and a few other agencies that were stationed near us. I guess they figured that we’d be the most likely ones to have medical supplies being that we were the EMS part of the FDNY.
When the towers collapsed there were about 4 of us left in the building (we were civilians and not allowed to go downtown). We stood there watching in disbelief. I was sitting on a table next to one of the electricians who had found his way over to our building. At the time I didn’t know I was leaning on him and I had my head on his shoulder. All I remembered was a pair of sneakers and jeans on the person next to me. I didn’t find out until a few months later that It was Ray the electrician.
The next morning we civilians were put on the family lines answering family questions who were looking for lost firefighters. I had a 13 page list of names and I was given instructions that if someone called and the name was listed as DOA I had to pass the call on to a counsellor. I did that for two days before I cracked and told my Lieutenant that I couldn’t do it anymore. He took me off the phones and I went back to our office and started to pull the names of the dead out of our files.
It was a week that I will never forget. It has effected me greatly. I’m depressed a lot. I cry easily now, I hear a plane and I can’t move until it passes over me. I sometimes have trouble sleeping, and although I’ve gone for counselling it still comes back to haunt me with a vengence at this time of the year. I’m sick for a month before and a month after 9/11 because it all comes back. I can still hear it, smell it and feel it. I fear that it will never leave me. I’m retired now but I still duck when planes go by and I still have that cloud over me. Hopefully some day I’ll wake up and it’ll be gone but for now, 10 years later it’s still with me. PTSD is no fun I can tell you that.
PS…Most of those guys I sent out that morning did not come home that night. It gives me some comfort knowing that I might have been the last person to smile at them before they died.
God Bless YOU.
Your story is not trivial! We were all changed by that day! It is “our” day, whether we lost a loved on on 9/11 or not. Ironically, I thought my 9/11 post was trivial until I read everyone else’s and realized that we are ALL affected by the events of and since that day. I’m just sorry that I failed to mention how scared I was. And how terrified my children were. It breaks my heart! Thank you for sharing!
…and my hubby is from Florence! Beautiful little town. We spend a lot of time there. I hope you love it as much as we do!
You said it so well, for us all. Thank you. God Bless.
Thank you Kay, God Bless you too!!
Christy, your story brought tears to my eyes and brought back all my emotions from that day. I think it’s important to relive that day in our heads and feel that pain again so that we don’t take anything for granted and be thankful for all of our blessings. Thank you. I’ll never forget.
I had taken the day off and I don’t remember why. I got up around 7:30 and turned on the tv. I sat down in shock and fear took over and I began to sob. I sat there for half an hour trying to calm myself and trying to call my son, daughter-in-law with no luck. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get through but I had to try. You see, my son and his wife had gone on vacation with a couple from work. They had taken a once in a lifetime trip to New York. They were supposed to be flying home that morning. Their hotel was on the other side of the towers from the airport and they should have been on the subway on the way to the airport. I couldn’t keep my fear and panic to myself any longer and went to wake my husband. He didn’t understand at first, he couldn’t comprehend what I was babbling about. He finally woke up enough to try to comfort me. I knew the details of the kids trip but he didn’t. I made him understand why I was in such a panic and he went back to the tv with me. Our phone started ringing with friends worried about our kids and us. Our daughter-in-laws mother called. Neither of us had heard from the kids. She kept her tv off to keep our 4 tear old grandson from seeing the news. We promised to call each other if either of us heard from them. Finally about 2pm I answered the phone and heard the voice I had been praying to hear, my son, Ben. Our prayers had been answered! Ben, Jamie, Jennifer and her boyfriend were all safe. We were so grateful and felt so blessed! But we also had guilt feelings for being so relieved knowing that so many others would never hear the voices of there lost loved ones. Would never see their beloved faces and feel the comfort of their hugs. The world changed that day and nothing would ever be the same safe world we thought it was. Our younger son was in the Army stationed at Ft. Drum New York. My worry transferred to him. Would he be sent in to help with rescue, crowd control or ??? I later found out that Joe was at a post in Louisiana for a training mission, safe. Thank You Jesus! Joe deployed twice to Iraq and came home physically safe. Mentally and emotionally, he will never be the same. Three months later, Ben who had been in NYC on 9/11, lost his life in a motorcycle accident. I believe God gave me those last 3 years with Ben as he knew I would break under the loss of one son and the deployment of the other. I know it sounds crazy. God gave me the gift of three years with my son. We had always been close but we made a very deliberate choice to NEVER end a phone call or a visit without telling each other that they’re loved. To NEVER let an argument or disagreement linger. To always remember that our lives could have been so much more effected by the terrorist attacks that day and any that may come in the future.