Like Everyone Else, My 9/11 Remembrances

I ask your indulgence as I, like so many others, share my remembrances of that day 10 years ago, September 11, 2001. I lived in Antioch, California. My house was at the top of a hill that provided some interesting views depending on where you looked. I will talk more about that later. I woke up that morning at 5:30 (Pacific Time) as was my habit. It was my niece’s 10th birthday and I remember thinking that I needed to call her during the day. I was excited to get going and get to work. I was an inside sales rep and September had started as a great sales month. We received a bonus for making our sales goal and an extra bonus for going over our bonus by a certain percentage. The first 10 days had been very productive and I was already close to make my first goal. So yes, I was excited about getting to work that Tuesday morning. As was my habit, I went down to my kitchen to make breakfast. That day is so imprinted on my brain that I even remember the details of my breakfast. I usually have eggs in some form and that morning I was sautéing spinach and mushrooms to go with the eggs. I flipped on the television like I still do every morning. I put on the local Fox affiliate and I immediately saw the pictures of the first hit on the World Trade Center Tower. It was a minute or two after 6:00 local time. I went back to the stove which gave me a direct view of the television. The eggs were in the pan and I was stirring my eggs, spinach, and mushrooms . Just as I looked up, Flight 175 hit the second tower. I will never forget the feeling in the pit of my stomach while realizing what had just happened. I ate my breakfast, transfixed to the news. Normally, I would have channel surfed to all of the news networks and anywhere else to see if any of them had different information. That morning, however, I never touched the remote. I ate my breakfast almost without thought. Watching nervously and anxiously. The world was changing in front of our eyes. Then came the first unconfirmed reports about a plane hitting the Pentagon and about another crashing in Pennsylvania. All planes were being grounded. I remember thinking, “how is this going to get worse?” While watching the news, the normal time for me to leave for work passed. My start time at work passed. Finally, I decided I needed to head to work. I know it would not be a normal day but thought I should go in. As I was gathering my things together, the first tower collapse occurred. My question on how it could get worse had just been answered. Listening on the radio as I traveled to work, I heard of the second tower’s collapse. My mom called me to ask if I had heard of the second tower. She then brought it to my attention of the likely sacrifice of the firemen and police that likely died by going into the towers. ************************************************************* The news continued to come in throughout the day. News with which is so familiar to all of us. The citizen heroes of Flight 93. The heroes at the Pentagon. The NYFD, NYPD, and the Port Authority police. The 19 hijackers. (On a personal note, I hope the souls of those bastards suffer personally at the hands of satan in hell and that each day is worse than the day before.) My niece’s 10th birthday party was cancelled. I remember she told her mom that she didn’t know how she was supposed to feel. She had turned 10 but this terrible tragedy happened on that same day. At work, I never even made my goal that month. People stopped buying. Eventually, I lost my job. I was laid off because sales slowed so much. The economy took a turn for the worse for a while. ************************************************************ But the most indelible image I have from September 11, 2001 was from that evening, after the sun had gone down. At the beginning of this article, I mentioned the interesting views that were available from where my house was located. While taking my dogs for their evening walk, looking to the south from my street, I used to watch the inbound planes for the San Francisco airport. I could tell when San Francisco had heavier fog as I could watch the lights of the planes come in high and then do a big wide spiral and they got in line and circled before landing. They would do a big spiral. I learned how to tell what level meant that any particular plane was next to land. There was also a moderately active commuter airport relatively close to my house. On clear nights, there was usually several small planes flying overhead both inbound and outbound. We also had an occasional flight heading to Oakland airport that would pass through my community’s airspace. There always were lights from planes somewhere in the sky. On the night of September 11, however, all flights had been grounded. When I went outside that evening, there were no planes in the air. No small aircraft with their light buzzing as they passed over. No flights heading to Oakland coming in on their final approach. And there were no flights circling for SFO. The sky was still and quiet. Most businesses had closed and people were staying home with their families. It seemed as if the world was on pause. Maybe it was. Our country and the world has changed significantly in the last 10 years. As we continue to live our lives, I think we all should take moments in time to reflect on that day. I know it is a cliché but we should never forget. We should never forget the images, the pain, the sacrifice, and the way we felt that day and the days immediately following. We need to remember that there is evil in the world. I also believe that if we remember the past proof of that evil, the less likely we are to have it demonstrated to us anew. And when we reflect, we need to move forward with resolve and determination. In the words of one of the heroes from Flight 93, Todd Beamer, “Let’s Roll!” ©2011, Eddy Seegers