Looking back 22 years ago and yes I remember where I was and what I was doing. I was working for Travelers Insurance in the field office. It was a day like every other or so I thought. John who was working across from me said.. A Cessna plane just hit one of the twin towers. New reports coming in were fast and furious and accuracy wasn’t the best for the initial reports. I remember thinking what the heck is going on with the radio control towers for this to happen. Then it happened… the second one hit. What are the chances? It never even occurred that we were under attack. Things were starting to unfold and another co-worker states a plane just went down at the Pentagon. The on-line news reports were being flooded and starting to freeze when trying to access. Even at that moment I don’t think anyone could fathom what was truly happening. News reports were scattered and littered with different pieces of the story and at that time nothing seemed to make sense. My supervisor at the time was in the reserves and later that same day he ran out of the office. We knew then how serious of a situation we were all in. We were let go early that day to be with our families. It was the quietest drive home. Barely any cars and nothing flying in the sky. We were all transfixed and still unaware of the vastness of what was happening.
I had found out about two weeks before this happened that I was pregnant with my first child. The only person that knew this was my husband and my supervisor (in case anything happened I needed him to know). To this day as Walker is now 21 years old he will never know how devastating of an event it turned out to be. He was born before the first anniversary of this event.
Time will continue but the memory still remains. This day means something different to many. I have friends that lost brothers, sisters, spouses and friends. So many people came together for one goal. We were stronger together and that day proved it. With the political climate what it is recently I find that many have forgotten how strong we can be. They are more interested in their own beliefs and that everyone agree with them. If you don’t agree then you are labelled uneducated or uninformed. The media has made people panic and not use common sense. As seen with the recent pandemic.
If we have learned anything is it is to remember history as it happened and hopefully learn from mistakes that were made. Remembering where we were, what we were doing, and what we were feeling is important to teach our children and those that did not experience that frightful day.
Always remember and never forget 09/11.
Harrigan Tales 