Five Years Ago

Phone: Ring-ring….ring-ring.
Junebee: “Accounting, this is Junebee”
Stepbrother: “Hey Junebee! A plane just hit a building in New York!”
Junebee: “What, a private pilot flew into a building”
My stepbrother is a private pilot. I knew from him that airspace around major metropolitan areas is severely restricted and the FAA has little tolerance for error.
But what else could it be?

SB: “I don’t know, I just saw something about it on CNN”.

The remainder of the phone call was inconsequential and I don't remember it anyway.

**

Co-worker H.” My mom just called. A plane flew into the side of a building in New York.”

Junebee: “Ya, my stepbrother just called and said the same thing.”

And thus, the 9.11 tragedy unfolded 5 years ago.

As the story unraveled, the very first thing I thought (after looking at the 3-months-pregnant Co-worker H) was: “What kind of a world is this for her to raise her child in?”

**

We all ate our lunch in the conference room, where a television remained on throughout the day. Although we were not in a critical industry, we were not allowed to leave early. Many businesses in our area closed early that day. At 5:05 PM, I was the lone car in a normally congested intersection.

**

I remember what outfit I was wearing that day. I still have it.

**

Mrs. B., our dear receptionist worked well past the age most people would retire. She likened September 11 to the time Pearl Harbor was bombed. As a teenager, she was part of a service in which teens volunteered at Drew Field, (later Tampa International Airport). She said the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, the teens were all sent home immediately. Later on that week, Mrs. B. brought in her volunteer ID for the Drew Field assignment. It looked so quaint now in the age of hologramed and watermarked ID’s.

**

I resolutely tried to call my brother. Although I knew he didn’t work in that exact area of the city, I wanted to know he was ok. Calls to New York were nearly impossible to make. My sister tried also. For some reason, I got the idea to call his in-laws in Vermont to see if they heard from him. His father-in-law told me my brother’s family had been there in Vermont all week. Later, my brother told me paper, pens, and other debris rained down on President Street in Brooklyn, where he lived.

**

That night at martial arts class, I asked our master where we should head first, the blood bank or the recruiting station. As a native New Yorker, I’m sure he was shell-shocked by the acts of terrorism.

**


The Friday after 9.11 there was a tropical storm in our area. We arrived at work only to be handed our paychecks and sent right back home. Fortunately, my step-brother hadn’t left yet. (We were sharing one car at that time). Even though it was 8:00 AM, the sky looked like midnight. We stopped and bought ingredients for his awesome breakfast burritos, went home, and sat in front of the TV all day. The storm was well-suited to the mood of the country.

**

My step-brother and I had planned a trip to Miami that weekend. I had just been dating the Citizen for a month and SB had a girlfriend from Miami also. We cancelled the trip. We didn’t really feel like going anywhere. The Citizen, in the meantime, was on assignment in Toyota’s California office. With all flights cancelled, he remained there throughout the weekend. I told him he was fortunate, at least he had a place to stay. He remained in the hotel he stayed in during the week. SB and I went to Miami the following week. Still, the normally bustling airport was a ghost town.

**

That year, the Citizen and I went to New York. We did not visit Ground Zero. I bought the first trinket I could find depicting the Twin Towers. It was a refrigerator magnet. I still have it.

**

2001 was a watershed year for me. I met the Citizen, who I would later marry. My dearly beloved grandmother passed away, and, of course, September 11. My own odometer rolled over to a certain age. These 4 events occurred in a three-month period and marked the end of my personal age of innocence. The party was over - the empty beer cans were thrown out in the trash. I rubbed my eyes and woke up and it hasn’t been the same since.