The morning of September 11, 2001, started out as an ordinary enough day. My husband and I were in Pennsylvania for my brother-in-law's wedding. We had spent a week with his family and were headed home.
We flew out of Philadelphia at 8:28 am, headed home for LA on a beautiful day.
All seemed normal, until the pilot got on the intercom to announce that a plane had hit theTwin Towers. That was all; just, a plane hit the Towers. I remember thinking to myself how odd that a plane could miss those buildings in such clear weather. I imagined a Cessna, with an inexperienced pilot, had made an error.
Then, a little after 9:00 am, the pilot was back on the speaker, announcing that we would be landing in Milwaukee, a long way from home. No additional information was given; simply, we'll be landing in Milwaukee.
The passenger next to us used the satellite phone on board to inform someone that he would not be arriving one time, but would work on getting there as soon as possible. The conversation continued for several minutes. When he hung up the phone and turned to us, he was a very pale white.
He told us that both of the Twin Towers had hit, that they had collapsed, that the Pentagon had been hit and that no one was certain how many other hijacked planes were still in the air.
I remember being stunned. It was an ordinary day; a beautiful day, a simple day of air travel from one home to the other, but it was no longer ordinary, it was no longer normal. It was confusion and chaos and terror and perhaps worst of all, the unknown.
We were the fortunate ones; the ones who landed and walked off that plane; the ones who called our loved ones as the plane touched down on the tarmac to inform them on our cell phones that we were safely on the ground that while we were not home, we would be eventually. . . We were not the ones leaving messages on voice mail wanting to say good bye to loved ones we would never see again in this life. We were not the ones making courageous decisions to crash the plane so that it could not be used to kill others.
My memories of 9/11 are strong and visceral. There are sights and sounds and even smells that are 9/11 to me. Seven years later and the memories are right there.
May we never forget the horrors and the terror that were visited upon us on that day, and may we also never let terror make us forget the rights and freedoms that make America such a great country.
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Contact Christine Donovan at christine@donovanblatt.com or 714-319-9751 to buy a home or to list your property for sale in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach or Orange County.
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About the author: Christine Donovan is a California Residential Real Estate Broker with experience in assisting clients buy and sell residential real estate.
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