Remembering 9/11
Today is the 10th Anniversary of that fateful day, 9/11/01. I wasn't born when John F. Kennedy died. I was only 5 when Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon. I remember where I was when I heard about the Shuttle explosion in 1986. So I guess 9/11 is the significant, as Alan Jackson's song says "Where were you when the earth stopped turning?" moment for me.For me, I live in Los Angeles. My husband (then fiance) and I had moved into our house 9 days earlier and were up until around 2AM painting. My mom called at 6:30A saying that she spoke to my uncle (who lived in NYC) and they were all ok. I had no idea what she was talking about. She said they flew planes into the World Trade Center. G and I turned on the TV and sat there, watching, stunned, as the Towers collapsed. It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen. I work in TV production and I think that if someone pitched a movie idea saying "we'll fly planes into the World Trade Center" they'd be thrown out for the sheer absurdity of the idea. And then here it was, in real life.
We watched the rest of the events that morning, all the planes being grounded, etc. We finally went back to sleep out of sheer physical and emotional exhaustion and when the basic news was already broadcast. We spent the next few days unpacking with the TV always on. G was also supposed to be traveling to Atlantic City that Thursday for work. Flights resumed on Friday and G was on one of the first flights out of LAX. There were all sorts of rules to go in and out of the airport. You couldn't drive yourself, it had to be a professional company so I drove G to the directors house at 4AM to meet a limo to take them for their 9AM flight. Before we left the house is when I completely lost it emotionally. I didn't think that there would be any other plane incidents. I did believe that the "bad guys" had accomplished their mission but the thought of getting on an airplane to work on a stupid beauty pageant (Miss America - stupid in the scheme of world events) was completely unnecessary. G got on the flight, landed safely, thank G-d. I flew 3 days later to Atlantic City. I was terribly nervous and I love to travel. It all just seemed so silly under the circumstances. Miss America went off the following week without a hitch but they did do things like shut down the airport and there was a no-fly zone on the Boardwalk. A little much for a pageant, perhaps, but who could take chances anymore?
Thankfully, I didn't know anyone personally who died that day. Two scouts for the Los Angeles Kings (I'm a diehard fan) were on the United flight from Boston and those two are still remembered and honored today by the organization. I'll never forget the events of that week. I'm not an overly patriotic person but I do feel proud to be an American today.
posted by Juls @ 12:21 AM
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