Physical & Emotional Abuse Support Group
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Pasted in from today's
Wolf's Daily Howl
Recently, my experience of the east coast earthquake
brought back to me how I felt through the day of 9/11/01.
Both, the day of 9/11 and the day of the east coast earthquake,
I felt in fear for my life, and was nauseated all day long. I also
felt lonely ----- and I don't normally feel lonely.
Ten years ago, first thing, most mornings, I would grab a
basket full of tennis balls and my racket, and walk a piece
of a mile down to a tennis court, within walking distance
of my home. I would have left the house around 8:30 and
practiced my serve for about an hour. I returned home
and put on the Home and Garden network (H.G.TV).
They were, of course continuing on, at 9:30 to ten,
with their normal programming. I had the TV on in
the background as I was taking a shower and getting
ready to go out. I'd finished and was ready to go out
at ten, so I turned the TV off. A minute before I had
my hand on the door to lock-up, the phone rang.
It was my then-husband (from whom I was separated).
"I suppose you're watching TV," he said.
As pretty much anything out of his mouth was some
kind of criticism, that was my first thought, that he
was criticizing me for not being more productive.
"No," I replied. "I'm about to go out."
Well, for once my ex really wasn't intending
to criticize. He just assumed I'd already
heard the news. Since I hadn't, it was from
him, that I learned of the attacks. I knew
right away that it was the work of Osama
bin Laden, though, on that morning, I
couldn't think of the proper sequence
of syllables in his name.
After I hung up, I put on the TV and saw
the horrific images for the first time.
When I learned that there'd been other
attacks in addition to New York, I got
sick to my stomach and threw up in the
toilet. That was my first moment of
terror, of feeling unsafe in my home
country.
I knew that nothing after that morning
would ever be the same.
That was my 9/11.
Wolf's Daily Howl
Recently, my experience of the east coast earthquake
brought back to me how I felt through the day of 9/11/01.
Both, the day of 9/11 and the day of the east coast earthquake,
I felt in fear for my life, and was nauseated all day long. I also
felt lonely ----- and I don't normally feel lonely.
Ten years ago, first thing, most mornings, I would grab a
basket full of tennis balls and my racket, and walk a piece
of a mile down to a tennis court, within walking distance
of my home. I would have left the house around 8:30 and
practiced my serve for about an hour. I returned home
and put on the Home and Garden network (H.G.TV).
They were, of course continuing on, at 9:30 to ten,
with their normal programming. I had the TV on in
the background as I was taking a shower and getting
ready to go out. I'd finished and was ready to go out
at ten, so I turned the TV off. A minute before I had
my hand on the door to lock-up, the phone rang.
It was my then-husband (from whom I was separated).
"I suppose you're watching TV," he said.
As pretty much anything out of his mouth was some
kind of criticism, that was my first thought, that he
was criticizing me for not being more productive.
"No," I replied. "I'm about to go out."
Well, for once my ex really wasn't intending
to criticize. He just assumed I'd already
heard the news. Since I hadn't, it was from
him, that I learned of the attacks. I knew
right away that it was the work of Osama
bin Laden, though, on that morning, I
couldn't think of the proper sequence
of syllables in his name.
After I hung up, I put on the TV and saw
the horrific images for the first time.
When I learned that there'd been other
attacks in addition to New York, I got
sick to my stomach and threw up in the
toilet. That was my first moment of
terror, of feeling unsafe in my home
country.
I knew that nothing after that morning
would ever be the same.
That was my 9/11.
Well, we all know what the story was now, and I ended up staying glued to the tv until about 4am. I saw the second plane hit live, I saw the buildings collapse. Even on the other side of the world, it was horriffic.
When I arrived at work the next morning, somewhat bleary-eyed and still shell-shocked, it was extraordinary how many people were concerned for family and friends. Nearly everyone I spoke to that day knew SOMEONE who was in New York on that day, many people (myself included) knew people working in or around the WTC. The people I knew directly were all safe, although I never did hear about one woman I'd met a couple of times (my ex's best friend's sister in law, so yes, a little distant but enough to make it that bit more real anyway) who had been working in one of the towers and was still missing when I talked to my ex a couple of days later.
I worked in the financial industry at the time and we all knew people in the city, people on the train...a lot of my coworkers had family....my office closed about an hour later.
My boyfriend at the time and i just drove around listening to the radio - the highways were empty, most of the stores were empty and closed too - it was so surreal - he and i had only gone to to the top of the world trade center about 3 weeks before for the first time ever.