September 11, 2001 started out like a normal day for me. Joe and I were living in Richmondville at the time and had no television. I had no idea anything was happening until the phone call came from Vikki - "We're at war!"
I went to the house and watched on TV as the second tower fell. It was unbelievable. The US had its share of tragedies - the Oklahoma City bombing, the Unibomber - but nothing like this. Terrorist acts were supposed to happen in Bahgdad and other places whose names I can neither spell nor say.
It was a scary time. I knew people who were frantically calling relatives that lived in the city, even if they were no where near the Twin Towers. I knew people who lost relatives. Everyone was freaking out - what was going to happen next? What if the terrorists hit the water supply? Did they have biological weapons?
Even though the Twin Towers were only four hours away, I still felt removed from the whole ugly incident. My life went on as usual, unchanged except for the knowledge that living on American soil was no longer a guarantee of safety from foreign aggressors. I haven't been back to NYC since 9/11, haven't seen Ground Zero or the changed skyline. Will the city feel the same for me, five years later? Have I even felt the same, five years later?
(This scrapbook layout was created in 2006. I still haven't been back to NYC. And now when low-flying planes go over my house, part of me worries that they might crash right on top of me.)
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