9/11/2001

The day of September 11th, 2001 began like any other day for me. I woke up and drove to work. I watched no TV that morning and I listened to a CD on the way to work - no radio. I walked into the office and Vanessa, who worked the front desk, was crying. Obviously, I asked her what was wrong. She told me that a plane had hit one of the WTC buildings. I do not recall if both had been hit at that point. It does seem to me that she said it was hit by terrorists so I would think that they both had been hit - but it also seems like I was actually at work when the second building was hit. Memory is an amazing (and fragile) thing. Work that day was, of course, a joke. We watched TV all day long. I did try to work and I remember Alan giving me shit about the fact. But when I think back on it I realize I just had to try and do something that was normal.

When I was in sixth grade I remember sitting in the lunch room to watch the space shuttle Challanger take off. At 32, I now recall feeling shock and horror. At 11 I remember feeling deepy confused. I remember going home and seeing Mom, standing at the sink and washing dishes, crying.