9/11: Then and Now....
15 years ago, we woke up to a day almost as eerily beautiful as today. Blue skies, a soft breeze suggesting the start of fall, the start of another day in our daily lives. Not unlike any other day, my husband headed for his train to New York City, the kids got on the bus to go to school, I drove off to a meeting in New Jersey. I do remember driving on the NJ Turnpike on the way to my meeting and thinking, “what a beautiful morning!”
My memory is now a bit blurry about the sequence of events, but sometime after 9am, my meeting was interrupted by a phone call from my husband, who had just arrived at the WTC path station from NJ, to let me know that something weird was going on --- he got up to the ground level platform and everyone was running, and it sounded like there was some shooting going on. I reacted with a quick advice: “Turn around and go home!” He said, “No, everyone is running out”. So I said, “Well, follow everyone”. We hang up, and I was about to go back to my meeting when one of the ladies in the office informed us that they’ve turned on the television, a plane has hit one of the WTC buildings, and I might want to join them follow the coverage. All of us witnessed in horror when the next plane that hit -- all the while my mind was racing to my husband’s call and wondering where he is/how he is.
By now, we couldn’t get any cell service. Luckily, I knew my sister was home in NJ, and I was able to reach her on her land line. She immediately picked up, and informed me that she had just heard from my husband, and he was able to get to his office building, a block away from the WTC. She became our point of contact. Shortly after I hang up with my sister, somehow a call got through to my cell phone—this time it was our kids. I got on the phone and their first question was, “Is Dad safe?” I didn’t know what they knew – they were in school – but apparently the school officials and teachers have gathered all the kids whose parents worked in the WTC area, have advised them of the plane crashes, and were now facilitating the kids to call their parents. I assured them that I heard from him earlier, he has been in touch with my sister and he is safe in his office, and I was on my way to pick them up from school and bring them home.
We came home, glued to the television, and waited. Waited to hear from my husband, who, at this point we haven’t heard from – not even through my sister. It felt like forever, until our land line rang – I don’t recall if it was my sister or my husband – with the news that he was on his way home, somehow managing to take public transportation back to NJ. We picked him up from the train station, hugged in gratitude and relief that he was safe, and we were together. We drove home in silence, wondering how many of the cars parked at the train station were driven by someone who would not be coming back. My son’s classmate Anthony asked him the following day if my husband came home – because his dad had not. We will never forget Anthony’s dad, and today, at this very moment, I am saying a prayer for his peace and his family’s well-being.
Today, I am spending a quiet Sunday by myself. Our daughter is now 31 and had just invested and moved into her own house. She and my husband are presently driving back from a weekend in the beach. Our son, 28 got engaged just before he and his fiancé went on their first trip together to Europe. They are presently on a plane flying back to the US.
Fifteen years ago, the world changed – but life has gone on. Still, since then, my family and I don’t forget to say “Love ya” to each other before we hang up on the phone, before we depart from each other. 9/11 has taught us, in no uncertain terms, how fragile life is, how lucky we are that we are alive, and how important it is to live life fully, joyfully and with purpose.
