As if I could ever forget that day....
As if I could ever forget the stunning blue sky, the beauty of that September morning, as I walked my daughter to the bus stop....
As if I could ever forget that first message, popping up on the bulletin board I read every day..."A plane has hit the World Trade Center."
As if I could forget turning on the Today Show and listening to Matt and Katie, struggling to find out what was going on, what, exactly, was happening down in the financial district....
As if I could ever forget the sight of that plane slamming in to that building....
As if I could ever forget watching those buildings boiling black smoke into that glorious blue sky....
As if I could ever forget seeing those papers, those tons and tons of papers, fluttering, raining down....
As if I could ever forget about the people...the thought of those people, on the planes, seeing those people in the buildings, hanging out the windows, begging, pleading for help...and then, giving up and leaping....
As if I could ever forget about the firefighters, the policemen, the EMTs, rushing to help, rushing to their deaths....
As if I could ever forget the vision of those buildings falling, those clouds of dust rolling and roiling thru that city that I love....
As if I could ever forget the tears, the stunned silences, the worried phone calls from friends across the sea and around the corner....
As if I could ever forget the fear...the panic...the complete unreality of that day.
I won't forget. I can't forget.
11 comments:
What I remember most is that feeling of "What now? How should we conduct our lives in light of this?" NOTHING felt right, not talking, not eating, not walking...nothing.
I was SO AFRAID I'd have C that day, that something (the sorrow? The awe that this was actually happening?) would trigger something and I'd birth him, that he'd slip out while we all stood aghast at the tv....
And then we thought it was only the beginning, that other (more? how could anything be more?) terrifying things would happen - and I was afraid to NOT have him, afraid I'd never get to meet my first baby.
I ran my hand over my belly a lot that day, watching CNN and feeling a million miles away.
Well the day of mixed feeling anger, sad, horrify, tense, and a lot more...
That phrase gets me a bit, too, MB - "Never Forget". How could we? How could any of us who lived through that day forget it?
Thanks for being so eloquent.
I'm Canadian and I still remember. For me it was about being appreciative for what I had. It started me on my path to being a better person. I believe I grew up that day.
"Never Forget." As IF, indeed.
Especially weird this year because it was a Tuesday again.
My brother in law got married on the anniversary of 9/11. I was disgusted. My MIL said 'what is the big deal, let him bring some happiness to that date' um, YEAH, because his ANNIVERSARY is going to make ANYONE forget this hell?
We will truly NEVER forget.
I spent the day with Matt and Katie on the Today show as well. Immobilized.
The first tower had already fallen by the time I started watching the news, because I was on the West Coast.
I was in high school and I spent most of the day watching the news in our classrooms. Most classes didn't do much work except watch the TV and talk.
Finally, at the end of the day, our French teacher (bless her heart) asked us if we wanted to turn off the television and actually do work. We were so burned out on the news - not to mention it wasn't saying anything new, just repeating the same images over and over again - that we said yes. So we practiced our verbs until we went home.
That's all I really remember, actually.
Excellent post, Julia.
I was fresh out of college and working in Newport, RI. I heard the news as I drove over the Newport Bridge. Everything looked so strangely peaceful, despite the fact that the world has just changed.
When I drove over the bridge the next day, there were armed guards with AK-47's at either side.
'Nuff said. Thanks for the post. I remember student teaching and not being allowed to tell the jr. high school students anything about the towers. How odd. I went home in a daze. I remember holding hands in a circle with a group of strong African American women teachers, praying and crying and holding hands.
Those images make it so real all over again.
Jane, Pinks & Blues
Post a Comment