How can I forget...

...and I wasn't in NY at the time. I was living in California. The night of September 10th I took my DH to the airport. He was flying on a red eye to Miami. He was to connect there in the morning to his flight to San Juan.

September 11th 2001. I recieved a phone call at what must have been about 5:45 in the morning. It was my grandma. She sounded terrified leading me to think that a family member had passed. She told me to turn on the news, something terrible had happened. I stumbled half awake to the couch and like the rest of America, I watched the terror unfold. I began calling all the people that I knew to wake them up and have them watch. It was about the third phone call when it hit me. My heart stopped for a minute and I instantly became sick. My DH was in the air. All I knew was he had left Miami at about 7:30 that morning... I was so scared! They had mentioned American Airlines as one of the airlines targeted. My DH was on American. He was on the East coast... and surely would be over the projected target areas during the same time that the towers were hit... I was now a wreck. My girlfriend that I was talking to when this all registered tried to calm my fears, but it was no use. I am pessimist by nature, but this time I had a real reason to be afraid. I remember sobbing and hitting my knees. I prayed that my DH would make it to safety and not be on a plane with terrorists. That was the longest morning of my life as I waited for something... anything. A phone call from someone to let me know what was going on. I tried calling the airlines but they weren't taking calls due to the magnitude of what was happening.

About 4 hours passed and the phone rang. It was DH. I just remember crying so hard and asking him where he was... he was in San Juan. He said that the pilot came on and told them there was an attack in NY and Washington D.C., they think it was terrorists and they had been instructed to land at the nearest airport, but because they were closer to San Juan, they continued en route there. They ushered them off the plane and into a room. This is where they all saw the news on televisions in the airport and called home to check in with loved ones. I was so thankful that he was alright and he had thought to call me as soon as he could. I knelt again and thanked Heavenly Father that he was safe. My heart then turned to the families of those who's loved ones were not safe. I thought about how they would probably give anything to recieve the same call that I did. I was glued to the t.v. set the rest of that day, that week and that whole month. I was in denial and shock that this could happen to our great nation.

I went to NY that next month for work and was able to go by ground zero. Part of me wishes I hadn't. It was the cruelest sight I have ever seen. One that haunts me today. I STILL can't believe that this happened. I will never forget that day!



**all 9/11 related comments can be left at this thread