As mentioned in part 1 of my weekend away (click here) I had a six hour drive to upstate New York. During these six hours besides taking some naps I flipped through and read articles from the September Vogue that I wrote about my love for on Thursday it is 758 pages and I am sure my cat who is 7 pounds probably weigh the same. There was an article about a woman survived the 9/11 attacks. It was a reflection of how she survived even though she was burnt over 82% of her body. It was very powerful to hear about how she at first struggled to survive for her son then when she found out how many people died in the attack she pushed to survive for all those people.
To read about the way she suffered and had to go through to survive... I hope to never have to go through that but it did remind me of my Sept. 11th experience. I was on the west coast in ninth grade and it was a late day and my mom woke me up. I tried to tell her that it was a late day and I didn't have to get up but she told that the World Center had been attacked and I should come watch, it was history. When I got to her room I looked at the TV and saw only one tower. I asked her what happened... she told me the tower had fallen. I didn't understand. What did she mean fallen. Then we watched the second tower fall and since then we have all experienced the aftermath. Now I didn't live on the east coast so I am not going to pretend what I know what it was like to experience it first hand. I was just a high school student who until then didn't understand how some one could hate Americans so bad they would kill innocent people. I was only a girl during Desert Storm and I didn't even know where Afghanistan was, and Osama Bin Laden was not even a name I knew. I think then I was just trying to understand high school. But my mom understood what was happening. I missed school that day. She was afraid San Francisco would be attacked and she didn't want me out of her sight. She told me my step-dad and her had come up with a plan that if San Francisco was attacked we would load up our SUV drive till we got to our house in the desert and stay there. My step-dad wouldn't be able to come, he worked in television and would have to stay in San Francisco to cover any news that happened. I know my mom has probably looked scared in her life but I don't remember her ever looking scared and brave all at the same moment. To know what had to be done if the worst happened but still not wanting to do it.
San Francisco was not attacked, we did not have to leave and I know my life would be very different had it been... I am glad I don't have to figure how differently it would be.
I know we have a few more weeks till the actual 10 year anniversary of 9/11 but this article made me think about that day. I know more stories will come out and more blog post will be written about this and I look forward to reading them.
1 comment:
Seeing your memories of 9/11 was interesting! Cool that you were old enough to grasp the magnitude of what was going on! Am thrilled that in these 10 years all our lives in the USA are still so undisturbed, so un-terrorized, as we all worried about. How my heart goes out to the families of those killed on that day. How do they overcome? have closure? Move on?
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