I remember thinking that facts would be recorded but what would be lost was the FEELING of that day. The confusion. The fear. The unknown. I decided that night to write down everything i could recall for my niece and nephew. To try and truely capture what that day felt like.
I wish i had continued writing in the days and weeks that followed. As a hairstylist i became a sympathic ear. I heard COUNTLESS stories from people that knew people. This was a day that affected EVERYONE in this country.
this is my word for word account written on 9/11/2001
The day before i hadnt been feeling well. When i woke up on tuesday i was still a little achy. I got dressed for work and then laid down to watch tv. I didnt have to leave for work til 9:30. At 9 i switched from vh1 back to cnn headline news. They had a live shot of the world trade center towers in ny. There was smoke rolling out of the building.not at the top but through the sides.
The anchors were calm but in disbelief speculating that there was an air traffic control accident. Then as they were talking, another plane appeared, turned slightly and flew right into the other tower.
i just sat on my bed with my mouth open.what the hell was going on? Smoke ROLLING out of both buildings. People were JUMPING OUT of the buildings. The heat was probably overwhelming.the buildings were over 100 stories. These people jumping were not going to survive. There were no words. I was overwhelmed.
i ran downstairs and turned on the tv while getting ready for work.
i had to go to work. I couldnt be alone. The horror was like nothing else.i ran to my car and immediately turned on howard stern since he broadcasts out of new york.they were discussing how bizarre it was and robin was saying the city wont be the same if those buildings are gone. You could tell they were in shock. No one could really get their mind around it.
on the way to work i first tried to call my friend kevin, who is a newshound. I think i just needed to hear someone else say they saw it. I couldnt get through though, it said all circuits were busy. Then i thought, my dad is at work. I didnt know if he had access to tv or radio. He was a riverboat pilot. On the boat 2 solid weeks and worked in 6hr sessions. Sometimes the circuits were busy, sometimes no answer.
When i walked into work the radio was on. Thank god. Michael was on the phone so i just mouthed the words"holy shit" and pointed to the radio speakers.
michael had a terrible look on his face. His wife used to be in the secret service. She knew people in the wtc. Also her sister lived a few blocks from there.the next hour or 2 were a complete blur. It was like being in a time warp.all sorts of reports were coming through within minutes of each other. Some true. Some ,it later turned out, were not.
A plane flew into the pentagon, reports of smoke at the white house ( the pres was in florida), smoke at the capital building. I cant even remember the order for sure. Congress evacuated. All flights in the entire country were grounded. If they were in the air they had to land at the nearest airport.
All nyc tunnels,bridges, and subways were closed.
a plane crashed 80miles south of pittsbutgh.
i finally got hold of my dad. The connection was bad. I said dad have you seen or heard the news? He said no. I could tell he was sort of confused. I said 2 planes flew into the world trade center and the pentagon. There is a major terrorist attack! There is fire in the white house and the capital. A plane crashed near pittsburgh. Where are you? He said he was near gallopolis. He said thanks for the good news. Sarcasn was the only way to deal at the moment. I hung up so he could go to the pilot house.
I later found out that his work phones werent working. Verizon had a major antenna on the wtc.
there was a moment when we thought camp david had been hit.
Then my friend kevin called to say wtc tower 1 collapsed.
kellys husband who was in the reserves called to say he was getting the kids out of school.
kelly dashed home to get her tv. During that time clients had come in and my friend lori was supposed to do a class. We all just stood around listening.
kevin called again to say downtown columbus was being evacuated. There are so many federal and state buildings. The police dept closed roads around the police station.
When kelly arrived w/her tv she looked horrified. Her first words were we have to call the red cross and collect food. There will be thousands of homeless people.
we set up the tv with no idea if the attacks were finished. for all we knew every city in the country could have been attacked.
Shortly after the tv was turned on we saw the rerun of the 1st tower collapsing. It was mind boggling. Just incomprehensible. There were people still in there, calmly going down the steps.
also hundreds of firemen and police were in or around the building. Most likely dead.
the dust cloud looked like a nuclear mushroom. There already was a tremendous billowing of smoke.
the most common camera shot was from jersey city across the water.you could see the city and the biggest billowing of smoke. WAY bigger than the smoke stacks around the river.
If i hadnt seen the other buildings i would have thought the whole city was on fire.
after the building collapsed in a very slow motion way. People on the street started running. You could see the dustcloud following them. People were grabbing people they didnt even know and pulling them behind cars.
people were walking around covered in cement dust. Couldnt see. Could hardly breath. Millions and millions of pieces of office paper covered the streets.
shortly after this replay the second tower collapsed. eventually you hear a quiet high piched sound. I found out later it was the emergency sensors on firemens suits when they went down.
My mind was about to shut down. I couldnt conceive anymore horror.
I went outside for a minute. One of the guys from the bank came out. (our salon was a suite in a bank building) he said he had been working like crazy to lock in loan rates that he had in process. The bank headquarters are in zanesville. He said people were clearing out their bank accounts. I had a check for $175- i decided to cash it just in case. I was out of cash and things were still very uncertain. Keep in mind it wasnt even noon!!
all during this time my fever was intensifying and even though i really wanted to stay around people during this time- i just couldnt.
By 12:30 we found out the vice pres was in the war room in the basemeny of the white house.the pres was in air force one somewhere over america.
earlier when i was outside i saw a plane in the air. It was def not going to columbus. The timing was about right but ill never know if it was the plane that crashed outside of pittsburgh.
everytime we heard sirens we all sort of jumped and then look around to see if anyone was laughing. No one was.
i decided to go home around 1 and laid on the couch. The neighborhood was so quiet. You could hear the soft words of other peoples televisions.
I slept a little but only out sickness not calmness.
when i woke building #5 in nyc was on fire. The pentagon was still burning and partially collapsed. I watched for hours, unable to pull away. Who knew if they were finished.
i have two friends in brooklyn, a client who is a flight attendant for united and aunts who work in the District- one in a hospital.
Dc was shutdown. I learned later that my aunt linda had ended her hospital shift (sibley hosp) that morning, but aunt nancy and aunt lou were working. They were ok but by evening they werent home yet. All of the metro lines had been shut down.
my 5:30 appt cancelled so i stayed home until 6. I cant remember if it was before or after leaving my house-but building #5 collapsed and others were still on fire.
mayor gulliani of ny was a pillar of strength. Several times he had missed disaster by minutes. the port authority, many investment firms, restaurants, hotels and the mayors emergency office were all in the wtc. He made many statements without speculating on death toll. Only that it will be more than we can bear. He mourned the police and firefighters
But also commended them as being the best in the world.on my way to work it was surreal. Driving down 70e at 6pm should have been a nightmare. There was almost no traffic. The city was closed. They had shut down the malls, cancelled baseball games, soccer games,rescheduled football. All amusement parks including disneyland and disneyworld- closed.
The gas stations however were booming. Every station had lines down the street. The sky had been the color of this paper all day. Under normal circumstances- a day to celebrate.
i may not have noticed the lack of airplanes in the air but for the first time in my life i looked to the sky and only saw blue. Not a single white exhaust stream from planes anywhere!
The whole time i was listening to the radio tv reporters were on almost every station.
then i saw a man walking down the road with a baby stroller and i thought - how odd. Does he not know? Why isnt he completely absorbed like the rest of us? People are all so different.
in the salon we all did hair with our chairs facing the tv. That night when i left it was dark. I drove down the street to the bp station. Traffic was fairly heavy at 8:30. It was all the gas stations. I spoke to my mother on the phone but hung up to hear the prez. The lines for the gas stations were eerie. In a somewhat self absorbed , high income side of town, no one was making a sound. No horns honking, no yelling or cutting people off. A very orderly dispertions of cars at the pumps. Some people were filling gas cans as well. The fear was the price would sky rocket. Some parts of the country were reporting as high as $5 a gallon .we were still at $1.49 and only slightly higher the next day. The credit card machines outside werent working so everyone quietly walked to the store. They were giving away free cookies but it was no party. I left and then went to the grocery store for cat food. It wasnt crowded or cleaned out. I was surprised. I did decide to buy a little extra because i have no idea what the dollar will do in the near future. On my way home i saw a light in the sky. Please let it be a police helocopter.
I watched tv when i got home. There was a truck in jersey with explosives in it. No idea if they were related or opportunists
wed morning there was another building smoking but i think under control (nyc)
Michael still cant get on any websites. They are just packed. The 24 hr news coverage continues. Church signs all simply say pray.
