Looking back: 9/11 thread from the ES board

Happy hour starts in 5 minutes
Time heals. You hear that all the time.

This is one instance, for me, where that saw doesn't hold. The world changed forever on that day. Ten years has muted the pain somewhat, but heal? Not a chance. Never.

I picked up my son from his third-grade class room that day. He knew something was not right but couldn't really wrap his developing mind around just what was happening. I was the one responsible for trying to rationally help him to understand that there was true evil in his young life. Tough duty right there.

Today he is in college. Intelligent, thoughtful and well-adjusted. But without having enjoyed a full childhood of innocence like I did. Fortunately, he doesn't fully realize what he missed, but I do.
 
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I remember heading to the boss man's house like I had every morning before. I walked into his garage to shoot the ****, but I knew immediately something was wrong. He was sitting there staring at the tv with the most intense look of confusion I had ever seen on a person's face before. He was 75 years old, and had served in the Navy and worked for FAA for the large majority of his life. He sat quietly, tears rolling down his face, just trying to make sense of what he was watching. I sat and watched too, and not a word was spoken.

We sat in silence as the second plane hit, and as we watched everything unfold. For nearly 3 hours, we sat in awe, anger, sadness and total confusion. We sat in total silence, not a single syllable being uttered.

When the plane hit the Pentagon, it got even more real for me, as my father in law was an Officer currently stationed there doing his work for the Marine Corps. My heart sank, I felt sick to my stomach, and I immediately called my wife to get in touch with him by any means possible to make sure he was ok. I was flipping out and hysterical, and she was oblivious. See, me calling her and freaking out that her father may have been dead was the first she had heard of the attack.

Our daughter was just 7 months old at the time. Our first child, and a complete handful. She was getting to that age where she would crawl, climb and scoot all over the house, so you had to keep a very close eye on her. At the time of the attacks, she was watching cartoons, and my wife was completely oblivious to what the world had come to.

In a frenzy, we tried for nearly two days to get word on his safety. When we finally got word he was ok, it was a huge relief. After driving up to spend time with him, it was immediately apparent that he was not ok. He was shut off from the world at what he had been a part of. His regular office was part of the remodel that was destroyed in the impact. Had it not been closed off just days prior, the plane would have come through almost exactly where he sat every day for nine years. The emotion of knowing he was so close to death was enough to shake him, but it was his actions after the impact that kill him to this day.

After the impact, he was thrown to the floor from the explosion. His temporary office was less than 100 feet from the initial impact. He was shaken up, battered and bruised, and confused. He heard people screaming all around him, but he also felt the heat from the flames. He had to make a split second decision to likely die trying to save others, or save himself for the sake of his family. He chose to get out, and it's a decision that breaks him down constantly to this day. He will never be able to live with his decision, and he is a shadow of his former self. We spend nearly every other weekend with him, and even ten years later he is not the same man.

Time does not always heal. September 11, 2001 is a pain we will never forget. Some things hurt too much, and some pain lasts a lifetime.
 
While the past few weeks leading up to today have been filled with many thoughts on many subjects, I was lucky enough to put today out of mind for a few hours over the weekend while visiting my daughter at college. It was family weekend, and seeing her after three weeks had my mind filled with her, and nothing more. Of course, it didn't last long as the three of us, along with thousands of others put on red bandannas to remember a young man who was an athlete at BC, a volunteer firefighter from Nyack NY, and gave his life to save others 10 years ago. While I didn't know him, I had been to his fire station many times over my 13 years as a volunteer.

Man in the red bandanna

It's still a tough day for me to be honest. I lost a good friend that day, and many others I knew by sight.

I remember oh too well well where I was that morning. I was in hell....
Being in Fl was being in hell, as my home town was under attack, many brothers were dead, and many others were responding to the call for help while I had to stand by helplessly and watch.

I've spent the last ten years ignoring the goings on at the site, knowing it doesn't matter until I'm able to visit Fred's grave in the suburbs. I just watched Rising: rebuilding ground zero about a week ago, and it makes me happy to see how well they have done conceptually and with the actual rebuilding. Maybe next summer will be the year I return home to pay my respects to Fred, and make the trip to the city to see it all for myself.

For now though, I can only remember with love and respect all the first responders lost that day, and pray for the families of all that were lost to find some sort of closure, and peace of mind.
 
Extreme said:
Anyone banned from ES, practically half the members here, won't be able to follow the link. It takes you to a page saying you have to be a registered member to view - likely since it is an archived thread.
Click to expand...

SOB, I could have sworn I lifted your ban before I left ES...

Oops :kick_can:
 
Extreme said:
Anyone banned from ES, practically half the members here, won't be able to follow the link. It takes you to a page saying you have to be a registered member to view - likely since it is an archived thread.
Click to expand...
Boone said:
Half the members here were not banned from ES. You make it sound like this is a leper colony :) We do welcome the huddled masses, wretched refuse, and tempest tossed with open arms. But let's not get carried away.
Click to expand...

I'm not banned from ES.

I banned myself from that ****-hole.
 
Due to the time difference, it was late at night when the news first filtered through. We were just getting ready to go to sleep, and had the late news on when the newsreader read out that a plane had flown in to the WTC. As we had pay TV, I changed the channel to one of the US news feeds, and watched the events unfold live.

We saw the 2nd plane fly in to the tower.

We saw the towers fall.

We saw the carnage at The Pentagon.

Needless to say, we were transfixed, and before we knew it, it was daylight.
 
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