filed in Daily Life
9/11
I was at the Toronto Film Festival on 9/11 about to check out of the hotel to fly home to California. For the first 48 hours after the attack, the U.S. border was sealed. And it would be four more terrifying days later before I reached my front door. There was a hushed reverence on the plane ride back, as the flight attendants explained why they were giving us plastic knives with our meal.
Photo by Simon Chaput
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This is definitely our generation’s Kennedy assassination because I don’t think there is anyone who was over the age of 5 at the time who doesn’t remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when the attacks occurred.
I was living in DC at the time and working at the Washington Hospital Center which was one of the designated burn units for taking in the victims of the Pentagon. From my boss’ office window we could watch the smoke rising from the Pentagon and from my office window overlooking the helipad I watched the Medevac helicopters bringing the victims in for most of the day until they finally let us, non-essential employees, go home. The next week was eerily quiet around the city as there was no air traffic allowed and all you could hear were the sirens of the vehicles of the numerous law enforcement departments in the District as they made their way around the city. For the first time in my life I didn’t want to be alone and for weeks afterwards I kept my friends on the phone for hours and hours at a time just for the sound of their voices.
To this day I have a very hard time watching anything having to do with 9/11/01 on TV because I can’t bear to see those planes hitting the towers and the towers falling over and over and over again.
That’s so vivid, Michele. I remember how scared I was, even with the luxury of distance. I can’t imagine what this experience was like for you.