11SEP01 9/11

I was at my parent's in Scandia, PA on 11 SEP 01 then the terrorist attacked. It was a beautiful morning and I was already outside doing yard work when Jennie, my younger sister living with her family in Sterling, VA called to tell Mom and Dad to turn on the TV, something was going on in NYC, a plane hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Mom and Dad called me in and we were watching NBC when the second plane hit the other tower of the WTC, and then all hell broke loose. Nobody knew what was happening. There were reports of many other planes missing, these was speculation on TV about hijackings and then the hysteria set in. I remember reports on TV about bombings in DC and NYC and other cities. I remeber Mom and Dad finally getting through to my sister Sheila in Bennett, CO and finding out they were safe and her husband Dick (a mechanic for UA) was not flying anywhere that day. I remember the frustration of trying to get through to my friend Pam in Annandale, VA to make sure our friend Alison (who worked for a Middle East think tank in D.C.) was OK because of the reported bombings in D.C., and the relief finding out she was OK, as were all our other friends. I remember the multiple calls between Mom's and Dad's and Jennie's, she was home alone with Alex, who was 7 years old at the time, and Katie, who was 3. Ted, her husband (a mechanic for AA at IAD / Dulles) was at work at the airport and Jennie was not able to get him on the phone. And then the World Trade Center towers came down. I remember standing with Mom and Dad in their living room, watching the death of thousands at the WTC, and then the reports of a plane crashing into the Pentagon. And I will never forget the next phone call from Jennie, I answered the phone and she was screaming and crying and finally I got out of her that their friend Mary Jane Booth, a lady who worked with Ted at AA IAD, was on the AA flight that crashed into the Pentagon, killing everyone on board. I was terrified she was going to tell us Ted was on the flight as at times he was sent to other airports to work on AA planes. I thank God this was not one of those times. I told Jennie I was packing my car and was leaving to come back to VA...but then Mom took the phone and talked to Jennie and got her calmed down and got her to call John and Ginger, Jen's and Ted's friends from down the street, to come be with her and the kids. Mom and Dad also told me I was not going back to VA that day because there was still confusion of the situation in the metro D.C. area, and we would not find out until later in the day about the UA flight crashing in PA, and that there were no bombings in D.C., and the metro region and no other attacks in NYC or anywhere else in the U.S. The day became a blur, multiple phone calls into the evening between Mom and Dad and Jen, and the relief when he was finally able to get home late that evening (all IAD employees were held at the airport until cleared by security), and calls to my younger brother Kirk in Abilene, TX, Sheila and Dick in CO, family and friends in the area. I remember going outside at some point to try to work in the yard because I couldn't stand watching the footage of the WTC coming down and the scene from the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA. I remember the beautiful blue sky and the peace of Scandia, and I remember sitting in  corner of the yard and crying. And I remember fixing supper for Mom and Dad, early that morning I reminded Mom I would fix supper, fried green tomatoes with sausage, something the three of us love and a perfect late Summer meal. But we just went through the motions of eating, we, like the nation, were still numb from what had happened that horrible day and mourning the loss of Jen's and Ted's friend and the thousands of others, and I remember when we finally went to bed, exhausted, we were afraid of what the next day would bring, and trusting God to protect us while we slept......