18: 9-11: Personal

9/11: 18 Years Later:  For those of us who had someone personally go through that awful day it is even more horrible. Here is what happened to me and my family on September 11, 2001. 

I should start a few days earlier on September 8th. I was at college in Massachusetts and had asked my roommate to go with me to New York City to see my girlfriend one more time before she flew back home to Russia (we had spent the summer working at an overnight camp for the mentally and physically disabled in Upstate New York – our second summer working together.) So my roommate and I drove down to Weehawken, New Jersey and took the ferry to Manhattan. We met up with my girlfriend and spent the day around the city (including taking the Staten Island ferry around the Statue of Liberty.) There is one incident that stands out about the day. We were standing at the entrance of the World Trade Center and were thinking of going in (I had been there numerous times before, but more on that later.) Since we were college kids we had very little money and could either go into the World Trade Center or have lunch. One of us (I forget now who it was) said: “Let’s go have lunch. The Towers will be here next time.” So we had lunch at a pizza place not knowing how eerie that statement would become in just a few days. At the end of the day I said good-bye to my girlfriend who was flying home the next day and my roommate and I left Manhattan and went back to college.

On September 11th I woke up earlier than usual to call my girlfriend and see how her trip back to Russia was (she had left the US on September 9th and with the time difference wouldn’t arrive in Moscow until the next day - September 10th) and then she had to take a train to her home in Yaroslavl. I decided to wait until the 11th to call just to give her some time to relax after her long trip. I was on the phone with her and had the TV on to the “Today Show” when they showed one of the Towers of the World Trade Center on fire. I remember saying right away “Oh, there’s a fire at the World Trade Center……….. No, wait…. It’s a plane!” I thought that it was just a small plane with a student flyer that had an accident. I finished my call with my girlfriend and headed to my first class –which started at 9 am. I went to my Human Geography class where my professor came running in and told us something bad was happening in New York and brought us to another classroom where they had the news on a large screen. That is where I saw the second plane hit the Towers. It was clear to everyone in the classroom that it was terrorism. I left right away and went back to my room and turned on the TV.

As with everyone I was on glued to the TV when I saw that a plane had hit the Pentagon. My dad worked there. In fact I had been visiting him there with my girlfriend a few weeks before. I needed to get my Military ID renewed and so we went in with him. My girlfriend had no problem with the security guards even though she had a Soviet Passport (her short skirt was enough for them) yet they gave me problems even though I had a Military ID. As soon as I saw the explosion at the Pentagon I used my roommate’s calling card and called my dad’s work phone. There was no answer. I then tried calling my mom (she worked right across the river from the Pentagon - in Washington DC), but there was no answer. All I could do was watch what was happening on the TV – by this time the first Tower fell and all the footage was of NYC. Throughout the day I tried calling both of my parents and anyone else I could think of to find out anything. It didn’t help that the news kept reporting about more attacks in Washington DC (that luckily turned out to be false.) I called my sister and she told me that she had spoken to my mom and that she was ok. I had to wait several more hours to learn from her that my dad was also alright and it wasn’t until very late that night that I actually got to talk to my parents. As you can imagine that was such a relief. I will never forget the awful feeling I had for that whole day knowing that my dad was in the Pentagon and my mom in DC and not learning that they were safe for hours.

I did not personally experience the attacks like many others, including my parents did, but what I did go through was enough to make me recall it vividly to this day. I think part of that is that I knew both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center so well. As I already said my dad worked in the Pentagon and I went there several times. My mom also spent time in the World Trade Center. Before she worked in DC she worked in Upstate New York for the Federal Government and had to go down to her department’s office in New York City which was in the World Trade Center for several years (it was moved to the building with the Native American Museum before 9/11.) I would go with my mom to NYC and stay with her in the World Trade Center while she worked. I would even stand in line to get the cheaper Broadway tickets there and we would go see a show after her work.

For me September 11, 2001 was the worst day that could ever happen. I would not wish what I went through on anyone. The idea that so many people in New York and Washington went through much worse still makes me sick. Eighteen years have passed and while a lot has happened since then (both good and bad) it is still weird to think of a time before the attacks.