Sept 11th, 2001

my Sept 11 story actually starts in May of 2001. we had taken the kids to NYC for Memorial day weekend. we stayed in the hotel located in the WTC, i think it was a sheraton, but i can't remember for sure now. we took the kids to the observation deck one day, but it was overcast and you couldn't see much. we also went to the Statue of Liberty, and i had wanted to take a pic of the kids with the skyline i loved so much in the background. but it was a dreary day and you couldn't even see an inkling of Manhattan. next time i said to myself, i'll get the picture next time.

Sept 11, itself was a beautiful day here. the older2 kids were at school and we had taken the youngest out to a field to tag some trees. (we wholesale trees) i got a text on my phone from a friend informing me a plane had hit the WTC. assuming it was a small commuter plane or something, i said almost jokingly to my hub, "Can you believe a plane could hit the WTC?" we wondered how you could make such an error. a few minutes later our phones rang almost simaltaneously, his mom, my dad. his mom was telling him another plane had hit, my dad asking me did i know where my sister was (at the time her job had her travelling ALOT, and she always connected through Logan). they both told us it was bad. the second plane had hit on live tv. it was looking like it was intentional.

not being ones to panic, even we were getting nervous. and i couldn't get through any longer on my cell to try to make sure my sister was not in the air. so many of us heard those words that day...."Circuits are busy" we quickly finished up, gave instructions to the guys and got into the car. just as we were pulling away we heard that the Pentagon had also been hit. it was then that we knew, this was bad. a few minutes later, i remember i was turning the corner at 210 and 422, we were informed that one of the towers had fallen. i felt sick inside that the city i loved so much had been changed forever.

it was a 45 minute drive back home, and at one point we heard a breif blurb that actually mattered more to us than anything else. a plane had been reported to have crashed in sw PA. that is when panic took over. Where? When? How? trying frantically to get throught to anyone whose phone #s we knew. we live 25 miles from Shanksville. that was the hardest part, making it that last 20-25 minutes until we got home and saw for ourselves it had not been our town, or our children's school.

got the kids from school, and as reports were coming in that the plane had been from Logan i worried about my sister. she usually flew to Seattle and she usually flew Northwest, i didn't think she was going to be away that week, but i wasn't satisfied until i finally heard from my step mom around noon that my sister had gotten through to them and she was safe.

later in the afternoon there was a noise that broke the eerie silence that surrounded us. it was a sound i will never forget. unmistakably the sound of approaching military helicopters. i made an excuse for the kids to come sit next to me and waited. i can honestly say i was never, nor have i ever been so freightened in my life. i didn't know where they were coming from, i could only hear them. finally i saw them and realized what they were. they were flying so low i thought they might land on the roof. that for me, was what i will always remember about that day. and i hope to never feel so terrified again.

in the days that followed we watched CNN until we couldn't see. we couldn't sleep or even think straight. but gradually life resumed and we carried on. i was sitting on my deck one night after air travel resumed and saw a plane in the sky. when i saw that plane i realized my life had been changed forever. i would never see that sight the same way again.

I for one will "Never Forget"