"Where were you when the world stopped turning,
that September day"
I don't think I've ever been able to listen to that entire song, all the way through. And just as the phrase goes "we will never forget", we never do. I recall so many things about that day.
I was at work, in a semi-tall building. It was the tallest in the complex, but only about 7 stories high. My office was on the 5th floor, and I had a window seat, facing the Philly skyline.I could see from bridge to bridge. It was a gorgeous day outside and I found myself just staring out the window at the clouds and thinking how nice it was out.
A short while later, a co-worker came back and said a plane hit the world trade center. The thoughts of what that meant, didn't fully calculate in my head. I remember thinking "another fire in NYC, they will deal with it". No one else was overly worried either, we all went about our business.
A while later, she came back again, with a panicked looked on her face, and said "a 2nd plane and the Pentagon was just attacked". Still, in my young mind, it wasn't computing. But then everyone got up from their desk and headed to the conference room, so I followed. That is when I saw the TV and realized what was really going on.
At this point, we all started "trying" to contact our loves ones. I tried calling my boyfriend (now husband) and couldn't get through. Phone lines were tied up all over the country.When I finally did talk to him, in his sarcastic manner, he says "I don't think its a good idea to go to NYC for your birthday this year." NOPE, I agreed. He was calling to tell me that he heard they were getting ready to shut down the bridges, so he was going to try to make it home. Yes, at this point, every major city was shutting things down, just in case we were next. We all kept staring out the windows at the skyscrapers in Philadelphia, only a couple miles from where we were. Scanning the sky for planes.
About 10:30, our company told us to all go home.So I headed to my moms house to be with family. I recall on the way there, everything that was going on hit me, and I just broke down crying in the car. Everyone I knew was OK, but......so many people....and their families.....WHAT was going on?????
Once Brian got home, I went home to be with him. I think I watched the news for 2 days straight.
At the time, I had been holding off on marriage because I wanted to make sure the situation was perfect. We knew we wanted to get married, but just not yet. This event made me realize that I need to stop wasting time, because I may not have all the time I think I do. Things can go wrong at ANY time with ANY situation. With that, the wedding planning began and we were married a little over a year later.
Treasure what you have now, because you never know.
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