The 9/11 Sky
-
by The MaryHunter
I woke up that morning around 04:30. I was to depart for a long business trip that afternoon, so lots to do. It was still pre-dawn when I returned from my jog and I could clearly make out Orion's belt up above the tall oaks behind my house. I showered, dressed, started the coffee, walked out to grab the paper. Still stunningly clear it was, that sky; not a cloud in the bright blue of that Chesapeake Bay morning.
I will never forget that 9/11 sky and how clear it was the whole day — ironically clear, just as were my presumptions about the future.
I had tons of work to do for The Company before heading for the airport and my overseas flight. I don't recall saying goodbye to my wife and 2-year-old daughter that morning — I suppose I did, but perhaps I just shouted up from my basement office a quick Bye love! given my focus on work. I probably figured that I'd still have a chance to see them later on, before I flew to Paris.
I labored on and was startled by my 09:00 conference call. While on the phone, I was frustrated that I couldn't get a fax line through to a colleague up in New England. So there I was, yacking on the phone to my other colleague in Baltimore about rather important this-and-thats when, just before hanging up, he told me that oh, by the way, I shouldn't use my cell phone now since the authorities were trying to get more bandwith in the DC metroplex for emergency communications. I said hunh? and he told me about a "small plane" striking the WTC.
The news junkie that I was then (and still am today), I still find it ironic that I had been so completely oblivious to my world having just exploded into so much jet fuel and hatred.
I dashed upstairs, flipped on Fox News Channel. Stared.The second tower. The Pentagon. Pennsylvania. I couldn't get hold of my wife, who was working right near a symbolic and rather soft target: The U.S. Naval Academy. I prayed, as I'd never prayed before but would often pray from then on. Thankfully, she finally contacted me: she was safe!
When I picked up my daughter later that morning from daycare, I fought to not cry while telling her about the bad men who had knocked down the two big buildings, that this was why mommy and daddy were so upset. It was nothing that she had done, I assured her. She was going to hear about the attacks sooner or later. It might as well have been sooner.
My thoughts throughout the day were drawn often back to work, but not for business or the trip that had long since been cancelled. The Company's home office was in Manhattan, quite near Grand Central Station. Bomb scares and news of the carnage kept my New York colleagues terrorized throughout the week. They officially closed our home office by late afternoon, told them all to go and be with their families for the rest of the week if necessary.
Several weeks later, my wife and I learned that we had conceived a baby the week before September 11. Never would our new daughter's precious life — nor our 2-year-old's, nor our own — be quite what we had imagined, in our pre-9/11 normalcy. Our immediate post-9/11 daze grew into a new normalcy: a clear blue sky that could never be trusted again. Instead of bringing joy, such a sky for me would forever trigger memories of the tears — our own, and the nation's — over lives lost and imperviousness revoked.
Most of all: I will never forget that day and what this Global War on Terrorism is all about: Islamofascists who hate our freedoms so much, and so wish to impose their New Caliphate upon the world, that they target people just like you and me, my family and yours. The terrorist's wrath aims especially at the new babies growing inside mommies-to-be all over America, babes who are the promise of our future.
God bless those brave men and women — in the armed services, first responders, government, and the private sector — who are endeavoring to restore a more promising future for me and my children. They struggle and fight and die so that my children will not suffer under that beguiling 9/11 sky.
Originally posted 11 September 2005.
Visit Woman Honor Thyself for some truly moving memories from five years ago.
As seen at Stop the ACLU (visit their 9/11 tribute and OTB post)
Dan Mancini linked with Friday Open Post, and 9/11 Round-Up
Woman Honor Thyself linked with WelcomE to the Jungle
The Florida Masochist linked with 9-11 five years later- In memory of Ken Marino
September 11th, 2006 at 06:24
Your sincere and still frightening words bring that day and the implictions of it back to life. We can never forget what had happened and what will happen if we fail to rise up as a nation to face this “do or die” threat to our existence.
That we have chosen instead to slither into opportunistic political gamesmanship can only be seen as the equivelant of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.
I can only pray that as Americans move to the polls in November they are completely free from their petty interparty squabbles and power plays, and with a clear vision of the life changing events that lay in front of us all, but I see few signs that will happen.
September 11th, 2006 at 09:11
9-11 five years later- In memory of Ken Marino
Just some images of that day. One is of Kenneth Marino, age 40. He was a NYC firefigther who died on 9-11. Ken is as close as TFM comes to knowing someone from that fateful day. See Ken and I shared a hobby and we both played in these tournaments ……
September 11th, 2006 at 19:11
Hiya TMH..thank u so much for sharing..not sure when i will stop cryin t’day
September 12th, 2006 at 12:45
Well spoken, son - once again your story stirs me to the core… choked-up. So quickly another year passes and now five have flown by, but not dimmed the memories of that sneak attack finally thrusting us into war.
So much death, so much destruction and so much pain. I remember at eight that fateful day December 7th - Pearl Harbor. But I also remember Normandy’s Overlord and V-E day and then Iwo Jima, the big bombs and finally V-J day. Victory, Celebration, We Did It, the Boys are coming home. That was all different.
I fear that this conflict is not just for our time, but a critical testing, a war for civilization - World War IV. We are engaged today in a horrible replay of the Medieval time of the Crusades. With DL, I pray that our country will retain the leadership necessary to do war against these Islamo-crazies with moral clarity and effective military might.
September 12th, 2006 at 19:08
WelcomE to the Jungle
As you know, I spent a warm, loving yet devastating and painful day at Ground Zero.
Only to be met with these hooligans on my way out to the Path train.
…
September 15th, 2006 at 12:54
Friday Open Post, and 9/11 Round-Up
Here’s a round-up of reflections on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 from across the Open Trackback Alliance (and elsewhere):