Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11 +10

Lotta sirens going off out there 2nite, even 4 a Sat nite, even 4 a Full Moon. Hope it's just people being stupid, drunk drivers winding up in the ditch & so on.
Just B4 I left work, 1/2adozen police cars, an ambulance & a coupla fire engines screamed off 2 the east, out toward where the ferry dock 2 Seattle is. & a few mins later 1 of the ambulances w/ a 2-car police escort raced back the other way toward Bremerton.
I hope it was just an ugly car wreck, not something worse. There's nothing on the Net, the newspapers don't come out 4 hours (& might not have it), & the radio stations I listen 2 at work R useless 4 news. But you never know....

I don't remember that much about 9/11. I remember being awakened by my old girlfriend's son, calling & crying that the World Trade Center had bn hit & we were all gonna die. I remember switching-on the TV & seeing that chilling footage of the 2 towers collapsing in2 a cloud of dust. I remember going in2 shock, 3,000 miles away from where it all was happening. Here's what I wrote in the journal I kept at the time:

"...Bn a wild week in Reality: On Tues morn, Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center & part of the Pentagon, & the stunning saturation-news coverage of the event & the rescue operations after have continued ever since. Just stunning, terrifying -- thousands dead, & the pictures & stories continue 2 suck us in2 the TV nite after nite. Some amazing reporting being done, & TV again unites the country after a horrible disaster like no other media can. (The old girlfriend) has had a lotta trouble sleeping since Tues, she's hadda coupla bad nitemares -- I'm pretty sure she's worried about her son who's on Okinawa & getting ready 2 deploy with the Marines."

...Her son would go on 2 pull 2 tours in Iraq, 1 as a troop-driver in the initial invasion force.

...What I mainly remember is how QUIET it was during the days after. All air travel was grounded 4 a coupla days after the attack, & it was so QUIET where I was (Raymond, Wash). & the weather was beautiful. I was working in the Pacific County Superior Court Clerk's office as a part-time archivist then, & from their 2nd-floor windows you could see all the way west down the Willapa River in2 the bay & seemingly the ocean beyond -- & all of it framed in silence.
Everyone who came in2 the clerk's office talked quietly, even if they were upset -- which folks often were when going 2 criminal court or juvenile proceedings. But no1 raised their voice, no1 wanted 2 cause more upset. Everyone spoke in hushed tones.
& everybody kept looking out the windows, as if we all Xpected another attack any minute.
I think we were all waiting 4 the other shoe 2 drop -- wondering if the attacks were over, wondering if it could get any worse.
& nobody talked about the attacks, other than 2 say how terrible it all was. Most people hardly talked at all.
Everybody was quiet, thotful, distracted, a little tense, wondering what could happen next.
This went on for days.
& the radio kept playing Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand." Great song, I'd always liked it. But now I can't hear it without thinking of 9/11....

...The old girlfriend & I broke-up & got back 2gether, & I was holding her hand when the 1st "shock and awe" footage of the Iraq War played over CNN a few months later. I knew she was thinking her son was soon gonna B in the middle of that mess....
He came out of it OK, but he's had nightmares & other problems 2....

...Those R my 9/11 memories, & they aren't much.
Hope you all are well. Be careful out there today. & every day....

1 comment:

drewzepmeister said...

Here's what wrote on my blog about it...

I was at work when this all happened.....

Somebody at work had called in sick, so had to work on another press than I normally do. The day itself seemed to peaceful and calm. Nothing would prepare me for what was to come.

I was in the scheduling office picking up paperwork shortly after the first plane hit. The radio in the office been blaring news. My first impression was an aircraft controller had somehow had messed up and directed the plane at lower altitude causing the crash. Never in my mind was this an attack of terrorism until I was getting ready to walk out of the office when the second plane hit.

I remember the feeling of dread afterwards. News and rumors spread like wildfire across the plant. We had limited access to the outside world. By lunchtime television sets were set up in the conference room across the hall from the break room. These were the first images of terror at the World Trade Center I saw. I was horrified...

I remember the fear growing inside of me as the day went on. Little did I know what was really going outside the concrete walls of the building I was working in. Was a there a full scale war going on? Will I be gunned down as I walk out of the building? Maybe my imagination was running wild with me...

It wasn't until I got home I that realized the full scale of what happened. The repeated images on the TV told me everything. By then, the Pentagon had been hit. Flight 93 had crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The towers had collapsed-killing thousands of civilians, firefighters and police alike. I was mortified...