9/11: 5 years onward
Out of context: Reply #69
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- OeufOeuf0
I was late, as usual, for work that morning. Before I had even gotten up the sound of a low flying plane sort of woke me up. I was living on 4th ave and 10th st at that time, and while it was a bit odd to hear from that location, i had heard low flying planes from when I used to live in Brooklyn sort of near JFK. So, i thought nothing of it and proceeded to get up and take my dog out for a walk unaware of what was going on outside. As I get to the street I see smoke in the skyline downtown, my view of the towers obstructed and still unaware of what had happened. I take my dog on her usual routine of walking to Washington Square park and as I turn to University, I see that one of the towers is on fire and everyone standing in the streets watching as things were unfolding. Cars were not moving and people had the radios on running the latest news. People were crying on the streets and scrambling to payphones as cell phone lines were jammed. As I stood there watching the first tower covered in smoke and explosion erupted from the second tower, my view partially blocked by some trees. At that moment the news on the radio said a second plane had just hit the second tower, and what everyone thought was an accident on the first tower now came to terroristism. And some people started shouting that we're under attack. I was still just standing there with my dog in a state of shock. My dog at this moment annoyed that she had not done her business is now getting restless. I continue to walk here with my eyes fixated on the towers and ears on the radios. As soon as, she was done, i rushed home to turned on the tv and watched everything unfild, I proceeded to call my brother and mom who both work in the city, but luckily not near the towers. Needless to say phones lines seemed jammed up and reaching anyone was difficult. I got my brother on the phone and neither of us could believe this was happening, he was not near a tv or radio but getting news from word of mouth around his office and at the moment I saw on tv the first tower going down, i freaked out and in what my brother described to me as the most unnerving voice he'd ever hear me speak in is "oh my god, one of the towers is goin down!" After that my brother decided that it was time for him to leave the office and make his way home. he proceeded to walk all the way home from midtown over the manhattan bridge to his home in bklyn. Meanwhile i'm glued to the tv watching the events unfold.... The rest of the week consisted of me having the tv on 24/7. I remember most of lower manhattan being closed off from 14th st down to everyone except those that lived there. as days passed the smell of, which to this day i will not forget, ash, smoke, and burning rubble. The winds luckily kept that smell to a minimum as it blew the smell towards jersey most of the time.
And on top of all this my wife was overseas at the time and her and her family were worried sick about me and my family's well being. She would not return to the states until a month later.....