September 11... a date my generation probably won't forget.. at least if you add the 2001 to the end.
I remember that date well. I was quite caught up in my own little world at the time, I'll totally admit it. It was a time of turmoil for me. Little over a year that mom had passed away, and 7 months after dad's death. Lee and I were still living in the new house, and at that point there was still debate if Rays were gon'a buy the house, or if we were gon'a put it on the market to sell. Either way, it would mean a move for me, but to where?... and how?.. it was all a mystery to me. And very overwhelming.
Lee and I had just gotten through our first fruit season on our own... I was still "distressing" from that.
My cousin Marilyn (Yutzy side) was getting married in Indiana on the 13th, I was to be server at her wedding. My cousin Nita (Miller side) kindly volunteered to go with me so I wouldn't have to travel by myself. To this day I don't know if she knows how much that meant to me. Thank you Nita, you are a dear!
The rest of my family was coming home that week, we were gon'a go through and separate all the stuff. I had already gone through bunch of stuff to separate out what was Lee and mine, but there was ever so much more to do.
Tuesday morning, I didn't have to be at work till 9:00 a.m., but I was up early doing laundry, starting to pack, stripping beds as the first ones of the family were due to arrive that evening. Even now my mind is fuzzy on some of those details.
It was a beautiful day, blue sunshiny skies. A hint of fall in the air. I drove to work, my radio was on low, I couldn't hear it, and my mind was so busy making lists, I didn't even think to turn it up. As I neared town and slowed down, I began to hear bits and pieces. Something about the WTC towers burning. Caught my attention, I turned it up. It would've been almost 10:00 a.m. in New York, a full hour after the first plane had hit, but details were still sketchy.
I arrived at this elderly couple's home. They quickly waved me in, gave me a cup of coffee and told me to sit and watch the news a bit. I'll never forget those first images. The buildings on fire, the people in panic. There'd be like three different images on the screen plus a word crawl thing at the bottom as the news people scrambled to keep up. There was no commercials. There was reports of more "possible" hijacked planes. By the time the third one hit the Pentagon, there was no doubt we were under attack. But from whom? And why? I also saw it live when the towers came crumbling down. It was like I was watching a movie for this couldn't be happening for real. Yet it was so undeniably real. Billowing clouds of smoke and dust swallowing up people running for their lives. Lets just say it took me a lot longer to clean that house that day. Thankfully I only had a half days work.
I never thought of being scared for my own life. I was in an obscure little town in the upper Midwest. I felt totally safe. Even though I did hear they shut down Mall of America as well as some other high rise buildings in the Cities. But this was happening way on the east coast, how could it possibly affect me on a personal level?
I had dozens of errands to run that day, I kept my radio turned up. For the first time in my life, every radio station was an all news station with no commercials. Couldn't have listened to music from the radio had I wanted to. That was the first day I recall hearing the name Osama Bin Ladin, and Al-Qaeda, Taliban. All completely foreign names to me.
I went to St Cloud to pick up a rental car as my Jimmy was not reliable for the journey to IN. First I stopped by the mall for a few items. The Crossroads mall in St Cloud was shut down. I was perturbed! Who on earth would want to attack there??!! I still think it had more to do with people being upset and scared and having their eyes glued to the TV and just wanting to go home, more then safety reasons. Hmmm, already this thing in New York was affecting my life.
I got to the rental car place as a lady ahead of me was renting a car explaining she was supposed to fly out of the cities, and of course all flights were cancelled indefinably. Found out rental cars were going fast, and it was a good thing I'd reserved mine. The lady behind the counter was practically in tears as her boyfriend was called up from the National Guard Reserve... there were no details, but we could all add two and two and figure out a war was imminent. That was also the first I heard there might be a gas shortage and price spikes.
Now I was even more distracted, but I got home and kept packing and cleaning. I believe Mark and Miriam and maybe Martha came that evening yet. Like I said, details are still sketchy in my mind. They all knew I was gon'a be gone for three days. I recall being up late that night getting last minute things done, when my brother Ray calls.
"Are you still planning on going to IN?" he asked.
"Yes, why?" I enquired.
Turns out he had just got back from filling his truck with gas, and he said there was a line there you wouldn't believe with people bringing jugs and containers to fill, and there was talk of gas going up to $4 or $5 a gallon. Which at that time was mind-blowing!
I tossed and turned a while that night. I met Nita early the next morning, and we sat in my rental car for some time as I debated. I couldn't afford $5 a gallon fuel! Again, this thing that happened in New York was affecting me.
Finally I told Nita we'll take off once, we'll keep a look out, if prices get to high, we'll just have to turn around and come back. As I recall, the prices had gone up some already. Wish I remembered what it was, cause I'm sure it would seem cheap now.
We listened to hours of radio talk, stories of survivors and eye witnesses were fascinating. Of course everyone was still trying to figure out the whys and hows of it all... as well as all kinds of rumors and predictions. At one point we had to just turn it off and put some of our music on as a brain can get an overload.
There was still a good turn out at the wedding. I was glad I was able to be there.
I remember on the way home, there was an appointed time when President Bush was gon'a give his first speech since 9-11. I think there had been a brief phone call message before to assure the American people he was alive and well. But as the President started his speech, we witnessed some people that had pulled alongside the Freeway, holding a big American Flag standing at attention with their hands over their heart. People were honking their horns. Still further ahead more people were doing the same thing on and overpass, with the flag hanging over the bridge. Every sign everywhere was flashing God Bless America, or something to that effect. Even speeding along the freeway, you could feel the overwhelming patriotism everywhere. It made my heart swell and almost brought tears to my eyes. To me, the unified patriotism was the one good thing that came out of that tragedy. Sadly it didn't last nearly long enough.
Oh, and the highest gas prices we saw was $3 a gallon.. and I never even paid $2 a gallon. And we never got rationed either, another fear that had been circulating.
Yeah, the events of that day did end up effecting my life somewhat, both short term and long term. Gas prices did keep on rising from that point on. Airport security was forever changed. The war on terrorism, that is still ongoing as I'm typing this. And we are currently in a time of recession, but the American people are a hardy & hale lot. We may complain a lot and sound like we turn on each other at times, but as Bin Laden found out, when the enemy attacks, we band together.
May God grant wisdom to those in Authority and God bless America.
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