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I live and go to school in Brooklyn about 45 minutes from the WTC and had an 8am lab that morning. I got out of lab a little after 9 and since my mom works on campus i stopped by her office. On her computer screen was a short news article and a picture of the 1st tower. She was busy on the phone calling my sisters who live upstate and in NJ and then she told me about the 2nd tower. I immediately went to the quad to look for my sisters. Being so nearby everyone knew someone who worked downtown or in the WTC so everyone was trying to call family and friends but getting busy signals. I went to HS about 5 blocks away from the WTC and was worried about all the teachers and kids from my school. Brooklyn sometimes feels a world away from Manhattan but everyone felt so close cuz military jets we flying over the quad and you could see and smell the smoke. Later that day I found papers from Cantor Fitzgerald in my front yard - almost an hour from the WTC.
Since we're a commuter school almost all our alums are still local so our advisor started a reply-all email for sisters to let everyone know they were ok. I received many emails from sisters telling stories like how 2 sisters were together running away from the dust cloud downtown when the first tower collapsed and how another sisters fiance was flying to LA that day and another from a sister who was so thankful she had been fired from her job in the WTC 2 months before.
I was lucky that I didn't personally know anyone who was killed b/c so many other people did (the churches in my area had so many funerals for firemen and cops). The part of it that touched me personally was the thought that the home of many of my memories of my youth were stolen from me. In high school I hung out at the WTC so much b/c it was close and they were such central figures. We were always their running around and hanging out there, my first kiss was even in one of the train stations that was destroyed. for month afterwards i would sometimes forget that i could no longer figure out directions based on where i was in relation to the WTC. I can now longer share what was my NY with my friends who didn't grow up there or in the future with my children.
I remember visiting my HS before thanksgiving that year. the school had been closed to students for more than a month while it was used as a rescue center and then cleaned up. there were signs sent from other high schools from around the country showing their support. the most meaningful one had to be from a high school in Oklahoma city - the city at the time which i felt could somewhat relate.
i stood outside my house tonight and looked at the towers of light for a while. i don't know what i will do our how i will feel tomorrow. probably pray a bit and try to avoid too much tv so i don't have re live the images too many times.
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