09/11/2001 I was 7 months pregnant and working at the Pentagon

[electric_blue68]

61. Born & bred NYC'r...I Didn't even Know at First, and I had worked there '80/'81 Tower 2 South!

Last edited Mon Sep 12, 2022, 01:14 AM - Edit history (2)

It was one of those rare times that once I woke up, washed up, dressed, ate breakfast and head out the door - when I didn't turn on my Walkman as I was leaving.

I was living in Brooklyn near Flatbush Ave about a half plus mile south of Downtown Brooklyn. I get out the door, look around see happy summer cloud,and bright blue sky! Going westward I saw a cop car had pulled over a car on the block before Flatbush Av. That seemed strange.
Before I crossed the street I flipped on my radio.

There multiple news people on:
"Firemen covered in ash." "I don't know about you, but we weren't seeing it with our own eyes; I'd say we were watching a Science Fiction movie!" I had No Idea where they were talking about other than it was in one of the Five Burroughs.
I thought it might be one of those big reddish brick buildings in Queens - the ones that are a block long about ?10 - 12 stories high. Where ever, whatever it was it seemed like awful trouble was happening!

I've now made a 90° turn west then north parallel to Flatbush. I'm more than half way down the block when
when they all fall Silent! I cross one more street North , and now turn, and go (northish) west toward Flatbush. They're Still silent. This had to be like 15-30 seconds plus of "dead air" as they say in radio. It's a long time relatively speaking! And it's not such good thing though usually it's a briefly a minor issue for one reason, and another.

Finally one of them says:

"The Towers are GONE."

My brain in an instant once I heard that- must have started working unconsciously putting 2+2 =?!!!4 together. First I spun 180° around now facing away from (hidden) Manhattan staring at my radio as though it had turned into a squawking Ugly Little Monster in my hand! (amazing I didn't drop it!)
.
Then I terrible, slowly turn back around and stare at a distanceat what I thought was a Happy Summer Cloud.

It wasn't a white cloud with light medium gray blue shadows for that time of day. No... It wasn't. It was a beigy, grayish yellow. And... it didn't appear soft cloud puffy ...
It looked... Gritty. (How could a cloud look "gritty"??!!!?)

And the final puzzle piece like Doom fell upon me -
it was the cloud of Destruction. The Towers (my towers - I fell in love w them working there) were ...
Gone.

I clapoed my hands over my mouth, and went screaming home. I hit my pillow hard and sobbed into it for about 10 mins. Then I went silent, and listened to my radio WNYC public radio all day. I was scared to see the visuals at that point. I didn't know if I'd flip out.

My sis called early afternoon. I think she saw the first tower hit from about 4+ miles away on the street before going into work. Her bosses took everyone (small company) back to their nearby apt where they watched the second plane hit tower 2.

She said " HOW could you Not Know (looking at the cloud) ??!!!",after I told what happened. Then she stopped herself, and said more quietly, "yeah, why would you know"...
(if you hadn't heard really what was happening like who'd expect to see that?!!!)

I finally watched the TV from 11pm till 4am. And it was horrific, and TOTALLY Surreal!!!

It took a bunch of years for me not to imagine that one day part of the Sky was going to roll backwards...
and there Our🧡Towers would be there again!

I was often down by the southern end of Union Square Park where (since only residents and workers were allowed below 14th St at first) the tributes of flowers, candles, artworks 3D artworks were put. It was deeply poignant, and sadly beautiful.

When I'd switch subway lines at 42nd & Broadway - that's where I saw the "Missing" posters.

And when they created The Tribute in Lights I'd see it in the evening night above the small apt buildings and brownstones on my block. It was/is one if the most powerful, stunning, achingly beautiful Memorials ever.
After 6 months they turned them off I went down and was there from like 3AM till Dawn when they merged into the day's light, and were turned off.
I went to The NY Historical Soc Museum with my sis where we saw all the stuff they'd gathered up from 14th Union SQ and elsewhere as an exhibit.

We went to the big gathering at Jacob Javits Center to discuss the then proposed Memorials for the site. I wasn't thrilled with what they picked.
But it turned out to be very beautiful, poignant. With the names cut out in metal that surrounds the pools people could stick flowers in them, and they stayed. One Spring like 17 yrs later I finally got to see The Survivor🧡Tree blossom.

I went down there the first Anniversary, and for many years after my sister and I would go down there. She was lucky the husband of a close HS friend stopped to either to have coffee, or check out eye glasses before he would have gone in there. A deeply made friendship in her young adulthood in the late '70s - her friend worked on the ?104rh flr. So her friend was a very heavy woman she never would have made it out in time! But she was fired 2 weeks before 9-11 !!! I practically screamed when she told me that on that same phone call that day.

A couple yrs before I, we stopped going but if it wasn't actually raining I'd go out in my neighborhood to where I could see The Lights in the distance.
It's been raining all day, evening so I didn't want to trek up the big hill where I am now to possibly catch a glimpse. Next year I'll look.