9/11: 5 years onward
Out of context: Reply #45
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- TheBlueOne0
I was living on 17th and 1st ave. with my fiance. I worked upstate and commuted by car everyday. I remember leaving that morning because I took the West Side Highway instead of the FDR, and I distinctly remember seeing the towers in my rear view mirror that morning.
I got to my office about fifteen minutes before the planes hit. I ran down to the corner deli, as that was the only place that had a TV, and already a huge crowd of mostly blue collar immigrant laboroers had all clogged into there. I saw all these guys, polish, mexicans, brazilians, italians, etc. Just staring at the screens, crying. Amazing. To this day I have never been more proud to be an American than right then.
I spent the rest of the morning trying to get my fiance on the phone - and when I finally got to her - she is a doctor at a NYC hospital, she said everyone had been called in and put on emergency status, but there was no injured coming in. Everyone doctors, nurses, etc. just standing around waiting..and no injured...that was heartbreaking to hear..
Luckily my brother and my best friend who both worked in lower Manhattan had been out drinking hard th enight before and where late getting to work..the planes hit before they even got out the door...
Trying to get back home that night into the city was a nightmare as well..and the sadness and numbness just permeated everywhere...remmber going down to Union Square over the following days to commisurate with everyone...