And Rightly So!

September 11 2001 started out as just another day for me. I had been on vacation the prior two weeks, and that Tuesday was my first day back at work. I remember being late getting in too, that day. My co workers and I were going about our morning routines, oblivious to the outside world. The TV’s are not usually on during the day shift. It was just after 8:45am the nurse manager on duty started towards one of the unit living rooms, telling us all to come with her (we thought we were in trouble…) She turned on the TV and the images are something I’ll never forget. New York- just about everyone recognizes it’s skyline. Black billowing smoke. World Trade Center North, with a big, gaping hole on it’s side. CNN Breaking News scrolling along the bottom of the TV screen…

The reports were scattered and fuzzy; most were saying a small plane had crashed into the Tower. (I knew it wasn’t a small plane, judging by the damage I could see). For some reason I had a really bad feeling about what had happened, and I spoke of this feeling. The CNN people were trying to find witnesses to what had happened-one man they spoke with told them, “That was no small plane…it was a jet liner that went into the tower…” When I heard that, I told my peers that this was a terrorist attack. They all laughed at me. As we watched another plane enter WTC South; suddenly they stopped laughing. It was almost unbelievable for us. Like something out of Hollywood. Faint images of a plane heading in towards the building, turning it’s wings up and tilting sideways, then the fireball erupting. The sides of the building bulking outwards and then back in…The nurse fell back into a chair as she watched.

Being the medical people we are, we started wondering if there could possibly be any survivors within the walls of those buildings, one of the doctors saying he hoped not. Kim asked him what he meant by that, and he said the buildings wouldn’t stand long. I thought about the planes, and wondered how many people were in them. And assuming they had been hijacked. Then the reports started telling us some things- flights were out of Boston. The FAA has shut down all NYC area airports; the NYPO closed all bridges and tunnels…and then President Bush spoke from that classroom in Florida. He used the words “Terrorist Attack”. Then we heard the FAA had stopped all flights within the US. One of the doctors mentioned that people on the west coast were just waking up to these events.

We switched the news over to a local Boston station…Boston was going into lockdown. We learned the flight numbers and when they had left Logan Airport. Images of Logan airport being closed, MA state police and port authority workers all over the airport with drawn guns and rifles. Hotels being raided. My daughter was attending college down there. She called her Dad to tell him that the kids and staff had been moved into basements of the college’s buildings until things were deemed safe. My husband (at that time) called me at work to tell me this; he told me he was heading down to Boston to get her…until the news advised people not to enter the city because the major highways and routes were being closed down. We watched in awe, seeing military fighter jets come into view over Boston on the TV screen- we counted 6 jets. Two landed at Logan.

Then the news broke again…a jet liner had just crashed into the Pentagon. Back to CNN, where we saw the black smoke over Washington DC. Soon, we saw the Pentagon and it’s awful crushed in side. The news just kept getting worse…a bomb had gone off by the State Dept. Building, the White House was being forcefully evacuated as was the Capitol; the Supreme Court Building…President Bush has just left Florida. Rogue planes were being tracked and one was heading directly for Washington…

The news went back to Manhattan. Mayor Rudy was speaking, telling reporters about people who had jumped from the Towers. He was just about in tears as he walked along. Then the unthinkable happened right before our eyes- WTC South collasped into itself and down. The reporters were speechless, as was just about everyone else in the world who saw it happen.

The doctor was right… I remember thinking. For the first time that morning, I cried…thinking about all the people who must have been in the building…who had just been pulverized. Of course, the nursing/medical knowledge doesn’t help with this stuff…we all knew very likely what those people must have gone through. Damn. What a way to go. The the news that all international flights, inbound, were being diverted to Canada. No more flights would be leaving the US until further notice…

Then the news of a flight crashing in Pittsburgh, then it changed…it crashed in a field outside of Pittsburgh…flight 93…As we watched WTC North collapse. It seemed surreal- the NY skyline covered with ashen smoke that rolled into the streets and alleys and out onto the harbor like an avalanche. Boats that were going in suddenly stopped, we saw.

My unit became THE place to be that day. People from all over my work converged upon my little world up there. Maintenance workers, vice presidents, secretaries, department heads…mingled with us as we tried to go about doing our work and keeping an eye on the news. The kitchen people came over with extra food and coffee and stayed there, making sure everyone had something to eat. No one felt like eating…we needed tissues and shoulders. Everyone was talking about WHO did this too. Kim and I were the only one’s who thought of Osama Bin Laden. No one else had heard of him. (We knew of him through our friend Jimmy, who works for a government agency that has reason to know.) Most folks were saying it was Iraq…and there was a lot of talk about WAR. The maintenance guys were furious and wanted to go enlist right there and then. The doctors and nurses wanted to go to NYC to help.

It was difficult to work while all this was happening, so we all took turns watching each others patients. We tried to stay upbeat for the patients, but they sensed something had happened. Even those in coma’s were different that day- we talked about it for weeks after. The little facial movements, the moans, the eye movements…they knew. Those who could understand were allowed to watch it happen live. The rest of the shift was spent watching the news, taking care of the patients in between. It got very quiet too. As of noon, no more breaking news stuff was happening, but everyone was wondering -what’s next?

I left work at 2pm…drove home with the radio on…and noticed all the flags that were being put out in the little towns. It was a beautiful day too…that night my friends and I were getting together for our weekly cookout. We didn’t change those plans. When I got home, my two younger daughters were home, eyes glued to the TV. Both were in school when it all happened. We sat together and watched and hugged each other. Their Dad had been recording all the events on the VCR all day…so we kept putting in new tapes.

My older daughter called me and asked me to come get her. As soon as my friends came over, I left for Boston. It was eerie to drive over the highway up on the hills, going inbound, to the see the Boston skyline being watched by fighter jets. As I drove through Cambridge I saw a lot more American flags being hung out, and people were standing on the sidewalks crying. When I was leaving the city we saw sidewalk candlelight vigils all over the place.
My daughter stayed home for the rest of that week as her classes had been canceled. We got home at 8pm, and the news was still intense and sad. I stayed up until 2am watching….slept for a couple hours and went back to work Wednesday. It was the longest week ever.

This post is a part of an online September 11th Bloggers Memorial. Please go visit the other blogs participating in this:
American Warmonger
Cat House Chat
Flight Pundit
Kender’s Musings
Merri’s Musings
Ogre’s Views
Ravings of a Mad Tech
Parrot Check