Joan Chapman, a long time friend of Dad's, has been an email buddy of mine for many years now. She has asked for a long time for everyone's memories of 9/11/2001. She keeps them in her journal. Here is what I wrote to her today:
I was working at a horse farm in Ocala, FL. I had just left my job of 7 years, a job I really loved, and felt very displaced. I had just gone through a breakup with a guy, who at the time, I thought was the love of my life. During that time I was very heartsick. I HATED the job that I was working at, and didn't really know how I was going to get out of it. Everything felt hopeless. Looking back now, it may have been the "roughest patch" I had ever gone through in my whole life.
I started the job at 5:00AM every morning. This required me to feed my own horses by 4:15 in the dark. There were days that I felt I never even saw my horses. I had no idea if they were sick or well, injured or fine. I barely remembered what they looked like. It was that year that my father started coming to Florida for the winter. He knew how miserable I was and said "just hang on until I get there."
My day at work started out as cool and crisp... one of the first fall days. It seemed like suddenly the day dawned and I thought to myself, this is the only thing I like about this job; being up and outside to enjoy daybreak during the nicest time of the year. And for a brief moment I was happy again. I can close my eyes and smell the air that day, feel the cooler breeze, hear the birds sing at daybreak. I worked with an all Mexican crew who were great and made my job that much easier.
For whatever reason, I won the radio battle that morning, and instead of listening to the Spanish radio station, it was tuned in on Rock 104. Two of the riders showed up at my barn early, for a change, and I was on an outdoor washrack, hosing off a horse that had just come back from exercise when the first news flash came through. It was very brief and just said that there was a fire in one of the World Trade Center buildings. I continued working, never giving it a second thought. It was probably after the third news break that I actually picked my head up and actually HEARD that something might be wrong.
I remember when the realization came across me that something was VERY wrong, I got on my walkie talkie to the boss and office staff and asked "is anyone else hearing what's on the radio or watching tv?" The reply was "yeah, sounds bad." That was it. The rest of the morning went by, more news reports, and when it was time to break for lunch I raced home and turned on the news. It wasn't until then that I realized the extent of what had happened. I was glued to the television in disbelief. It was at that point that they were talking about EVERY aircraft in the country was grounded. To this day, that was the crowning moment for me.. I went outside and looked up at the sky. Not one plane was flying over. I thought to myself at that point, something so monumentally bad has happened that they took every plane in the country out of service.
Six years later, I still think about the beautiful daybreak, the lessening of my grief for a brief few hours, the realization of what really happened, and gazing up at the sky in disbelief. That's it. When it finally became reality to me, that's where my memory fails. All I remember from the point of realization was a surge of anger, and a bigger surge of Patriotism.
When I think back on those events from six years ago I am disappointed in Americans. Where did thier own surge of Patriotism go? It hurts me to see American people not support our President and the war against terrorism. I wish that they would recapture those feelings of 9/11 and stand up as Americans, even if war is hard and ugly, and fight to the end. Fight long enough, at least, that we can sleep at night with the security that we won't wake up to another morning like that, feeling helpless and attacked. I, for one, won't forget my feelings from that morning. So far, it has been the one event in my life that I can still feel, taste, smell, and remember with a very poignant feeling.
What are your memories?
I was working at a horse farm in Ocala, FL. I had just left my job of 7 years, a job I really loved, and felt very displaced. I had just gone through a breakup with a guy, who at the time, I thought was the love of my life. During that time I was very heartsick. I HATED the job that I was working at, and didn't really know how I was going to get out of it. Everything felt hopeless. Looking back now, it may have been the "roughest patch" I had ever gone through in my whole life.
I started the job at 5:00AM every morning. This required me to feed my own horses by 4:15 in the dark. There were days that I felt I never even saw my horses. I had no idea if they were sick or well, injured or fine. I barely remembered what they looked like. It was that year that my father started coming to Florida for the winter. He knew how miserable I was and said "just hang on until I get there."
My day at work started out as cool and crisp... one of the first fall days. It seemed like suddenly the day dawned and I thought to myself, this is the only thing I like about this job; being up and outside to enjoy daybreak during the nicest time of the year. And for a brief moment I was happy again. I can close my eyes and smell the air that day, feel the cooler breeze, hear the birds sing at daybreak. I worked with an all Mexican crew who were great and made my job that much easier.
For whatever reason, I won the radio battle that morning, and instead of listening to the Spanish radio station, it was tuned in on Rock 104. Two of the riders showed up at my barn early, for a change, and I was on an outdoor washrack, hosing off a horse that had just come back from exercise when the first news flash came through. It was very brief and just said that there was a fire in one of the World Trade Center buildings. I continued working, never giving it a second thought. It was probably after the third news break that I actually picked my head up and actually HEARD that something might be wrong.
I remember when the realization came across me that something was VERY wrong, I got on my walkie talkie to the boss and office staff and asked "is anyone else hearing what's on the radio or watching tv?" The reply was "yeah, sounds bad." That was it. The rest of the morning went by, more news reports, and when it was time to break for lunch I raced home and turned on the news. It wasn't until then that I realized the extent of what had happened. I was glued to the television in disbelief. It was at that point that they were talking about EVERY aircraft in the country was grounded. To this day, that was the crowning moment for me.. I went outside and looked up at the sky. Not one plane was flying over. I thought to myself at that point, something so monumentally bad has happened that they took every plane in the country out of service.
Six years later, I still think about the beautiful daybreak, the lessening of my grief for a brief few hours, the realization of what really happened, and gazing up at the sky in disbelief. That's it. When it finally became reality to me, that's where my memory fails. All I remember from the point of realization was a surge of anger, and a bigger surge of Patriotism.
When I think back on those events from six years ago I am disappointed in Americans. Where did thier own surge of Patriotism go? It hurts me to see American people not support our President and the war against terrorism. I wish that they would recapture those feelings of 9/11 and stand up as Americans, even if war is hard and ugly, and fight to the end. Fight long enough, at least, that we can sleep at night with the security that we won't wake up to another morning like that, feeling helpless and attacked. I, for one, won't forget my feelings from that morning. So far, it has been the one event in my life that I can still feel, taste, smell, and remember with a very poignant feeling.
What are your memories?
