Where Were You?

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Tomorrow is 9/11, a day we will not forget, a day I will not forget.

You see I know exactly where I was that day at the exact time the first plane hit the Twin Towers.  I was going through the toll at the George Washington Bridge listening to KTU radio.  The radio cut out as I passed through the toll.  I switched over to a news station, at first nothing and then it really didn't have info.  After I came through the toll you don't see much as the side of the Mountain/hill is in the way.  I recall turning my head towards the city and seeing the twin towers smoking and then a static radio saying a small plane or something hit the North Tower. It was a beautiful clear day so you could see straight downtown from the bridge.  The traffic was creeping along, almost in disbelief.  A radio reporter called into the station and they were on their way to work and live downtown.  As I was entering the helix to go down to West Side Highway, the reporter is saying, it seems to be a plane that hit and all of a sudden they scream, "OMG another plane is hitting the South Tower."

At that moment I was terrified.  My husband does not answer his phone during work.  I call my dad, who I was working for at the time and asked if he heard what was going on.  He said something hit the towers and I told him they hit both towers, planes! I also said, "this was no mistake it is F***** Terrorism!"

I came down and the police had already closed the WSH, since eventually this road brings you roght down that way.  They were re-routing through Harlem.  I rolled down my window and asked if I could go back over the bridge and he say yes.  I drove as fast as I could and as safe as I could.  Lucky for me people aren't leaving NYC at the time so I made it back home in minutes (I live right across the river in Fort Lee, NJ - The East side of my building faced the City and you could see the Twin Towers from  it).

I called my dad and he was going to leave but I said he couldn't they closed the bridge, I was probably one of last non-emergency people to be able to go over at that point.

I remember once I got to my building seeing a woman rushing to work and telling her what had happened and she was like, "I need to get to work."  I looked at her and said, "everything is closed, turn on the news."  I then walked into my building and told my doorman.  He and the other staff members tried tuning the small radio.  I got upstairs and turned on the TV, sat in disbelief and called my husband.
He did answer and said at that point they were staying there with all the people since there was some big stockholders meeting and most of the people were for out of town and had no where to go.  He was one of the managers in their Corporate Cafeteria and was handling all of the food for those meetings and the rest of their staff. They even had a child care center at his sight so many people had their kids there as well.  The good part was, it was far enough from the city so it wasn't as chaotic as it was in the city.

I sat glued to the TV, watching and crying at what happened. I didn't believe those buildings could collapse. Thinking about the unborn baby in me and what kind of world we (he) live in.  Will there be a place for me to raise my child?

As I watch now, I feel that same sadness for those who were lost and effected by this horrible tragedy.  My prayers are with everyone since we all lost a something that day.

Zizette