I remember the day like it was yesterday.
I was 17 years old.
It was my freshman year in College.
“Congrats on getting into Brooklyn College! I’m so proud of you! -Mom”
Yeah. I hated this fucking school. No friends. No fun classes. A long ass commute and not a damn clue about what I want to do with my life. I was a communications major. I wanted to be a writer. I had 4 classes on Tuesday and Thursday. 8:40 am: Greek mythology, 10:40am: art history, 1pm: contemporary literature, 3:15: micro economics.
My Greek myth professor hated me, my art history professor bored me, I loved my lit professor and my micro economics professor confused me…I wasn’t ready for college.
The day I realized this was a day I will never forget.
Nor will anyone else in the history of the world…only for different reasons. My dropping out of college doesn’t affect the world that way…
It was an insanely gorgeous day. I met up with my best friend and we hit burger king at 8am for a croissant’wich and hash browns. I was wearing a brand new baby pink top with dark demin boot cut jeans from the GAP, a fresh pair of timberland boots and a brand new baby blue jansport book bag. My hair was up to my lower back in a low side ponytail with a rhinestone clip. The air had a distinct scent. Like summer was still lingering even though the weather was getting cooler. I left my jacket at home that day because it was going to be a warm one.
I ate my croissant’wich and headed to class. Class was from 840 to 10. Attendance was sparse. Which was highly unusual. But I sat in that class while professor went on about Greek myth.
I spent the hour thinking about how i was going to tell my mother I was going to drop out of school.When class was over the hallways were full of students. As I made my way across campus to my art history class I sat in the classroom which was also half empty.
I turned to someone and asked “what the hell is going on?”
“The world trade center collapsed”
“what?”
“a plane flew right into it…and then another plan flew into the other one and now the one of them collapsed!”
My first thought, my father.
He worked on the same block as the world trade center.
I panicked. I still didn’t know it was a terrorist act but I reached for my cellphone and tried to call my family.
“your call cannot be connected as dialed. Please try your call again”. I tried and tried and couldn’t get anything but a busy signal or the damn operator telling me to try my call again.
I was panicking as i heard people saying the 2nd tower just collapsed and there was a third plane was hijacked.
And then I saw the signs being posted
“All classes cancelled due to the world trade center terrorist attacks”
My legs went numb. I felt a wave of nausea and sweat and dizziness… I didn’t know what to do.
A crowd of students rushed through the halls, down the stairs and out onto the campus. The crowd must have carried me with them as I was still thinking about my father. my mother. and damn near all the people i knew that were in that area.
Imagining the worst.
There was a faculty member standing on top of a campus monument with a bull horn instructing us that classes were cancelled and to get home to our families safely. It was now after 11. My phone rang. It was my mother. She was surprisingly calm and asked if I was okay, must have been shock.
Without answering her I asked if she and dad were okay.
“Dad is fine…hes a bit shaken because he saw some disturbing things. (her voice started to crack) people were jumping, Mona. They were jumping off the buildings…(starting to sob) there aren’t any trains running. Go find [bestfriend] and try to find a safe way home…I love you. Call me every hour to let me know you’re okay!”
I hung up the phone.
So many things rushing through my mind at once. I felt a tug on my book bag and saw my best friend standing in front of me. I gave her an enormous hug.
At that moment I felt the entire world was coming to an end. I kept hearing things from other people. All i thought of were hijackers crashing planes into everything and couldn’t fathom what the next few hours, let alone days would be like.
The life I never experienced flash before my eyes.
My first true love, my first sexual experience, my wedding, the birth of my children…all things I thought would never happen to me (I’m still hopeful). My friend and I found a map (there weren’t any cool mobile apps yet) and realized that it was going to be a dreadful day. You see, we lived 1.5 hrs away by train…who knows how long it would take to walk from one end in Brooklyn to the other.
But we walked.
And walked.
And walked.
From where we were standing we saw the enormous cloud of black smoke coming from a place i loved so dearly. I hadn’t the slightest clue as to what REALLY happened- just what was buzzing in the air.
The air smelled like something was burning..in BROOKLYN. I couldn’t imagine what lower Manhattan smelled like.
3 hours later, my brand new pink shirt was soaked with sweat. My hair, a sweaty mess wrapped in a bun at the nape of my neck, and my feet most definitely blistered in my not so fresh timbs. And just when I couldn’t take it any longer a New York City Transit bus drove by, stopped in front of me. Opened it’s doors and the driver told me and my friend to get on.
I didn’t think.
The exhaustion took over my entire body…there weren’t many people in the streets but this wonderful bus driver drove me and my friend home.
He picked up any and everyone he saw and drove them as close to home as he could.
This man was my hero. I never got his name but I was in tears when he dropped me off on my block as I thanked him profusely. The feeling I felt when I walked through the door and hugged my family was intense. It was filled with laughs and sobs and just an overwhelming sense of relief. My family was safe.
I’m blessed.
I’m really blessed.
I turned on that TV in complete disbelief.
I saw what was left of my favorite place.
What was left of the place I went to everyday for lunch when I interned at my fathers office. I felt immense pain watching family after family pleading with all of New York holding photos of their loved ones and reporting them missing. It didn’t seem real to me.
I spent the remainder of that week glued to the television watching the news. Hoping for good news… I never told my mother I wanted to drop out of school-it would just break her heart… I stood there for one miserable semester and flunked a class (micro economics), got 2 D’s (greek myth and art history) and a A (contemp lit).
Today, as I sit at my desk, I hear the bag pipes.
I see the masses of officers in their dress blues.
I sit here and I think of all the families who lost loved ones.
My heart breaks.
For the children who were born without knowing their fathers.
For the firefighters that ran to the burning building and never came back.
For the officers that risked their life every single day and didn’t hesistate to go to ground zero and not come home.
I offer my sincerest condolences to anyone who has lost someone dear to them to this tragic day in history.
With every year that goes by I still wake up and remember the day those two towers fell.
I still can’t believe all these years have passed.
Where were you on 9/11?
Food Snob 2.0 
Wow it is so crazy to hear it from you perspective. I was living in California at the time, and was sleeping when the first one hit. My mom woke me up and told me. I went to school thinking it was just some freak thing. Then in 0 period the second one hit. They continued school, and wouldnt allow us to watch what was happening. Some stupid goth kids started cheering about it, because it was cool to be controversial. That was really annoying, especially because people did know people there. I am so glad your family is okay. Slightly off topic, but not, have you read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? Great book, fictional, about a kid who's father died in the WTC. Highly recommend it.
i remember 9/11 like it was yesterday too! i was in hs french class on the way to the bathroom when i heard teachers talking about it. i even remember what i was wearing (my vball uniform because it was supposed to be my first varsity scrimmage but it had to be cancelled for obvi reasons)so sad 😦
Wow. I can't imagine what it was like living in the city when it happened. I'm so glad you're okay.
thanks for sharing your story.
must have been so terrifying to actually been in new york when that happened…i can't even imagine. i was a junior in high school in chicago, il and was in calculus class. we had tvs so our class got to watch the second tower get hit. the whole class just sat there in stunned silence. it was hard to comprehend what was going on. throughout the day we kept getting updates on what was happening. when i got home from school i just sat in front of the tv for hours and watched the news. i will never ever forget that day.
I was in BU when it happened. I was in econ class and suddenly the prod announced it. I was the only one that left right away. I dialed my cell but nothing worked. Went back to the dorm and people were on their comps. It was the only way to contact my friends. Called home by Collect. It was the only way. Everyone was fine. My aunt worked on the 14th fl. She made it out alright.My scary part was that I went to HS there. Right on Chambers St. Along the water. We used to hang out there.
Awwww Mo, this made me cry. :(I wasn't in New York but I live near the Pentagon, as I did on 9/11. Contrary to popular belief, the Pentagon isn't in DC, but in Arlington*, VA, a county which I literally live like not even a mile from. 😛 Anyway, I was in school, just like everyone else. I was turning 8 in less than 2 months (Yeah, I'm a baby.) and it was pretty much a regular old day. I know we got out early that day but no one was told why – at least not the younger kids. I was in 2nd grade and they probably thought it'd be a bad idea to have the teachers explain it. But I know my sister, who was in 5th grade, found out at school because they were actually en route to a museum in DC when the news got out, and of course everyone was anticipating an attack on the White House or the Capitol so they had to turn around because they weren't even allowed into DC. Once at home, it was *kind* of explained, but all I really understood was that a 4 planes went down, one at the Pentagon, one in PA, and two into the WTC, which I'd never heard of before that day. I understood that some bad people killed an astounding amount of people, but that's pretty much it. The next day, after a night of watching people jump out of the towers (THAT was something I didn't quite understand at the time…), we had a moment of silence in the morning to honor the victims. I was the only one in my 2nd grade class who cried, and I remember staring in contempt at these two girls who clearly could not give less of a shit, and were actually smiling and playing tic-tac-toe during the moment of silence (unfortunately, they're about as self-absorbed today as they were 9 years ago). My teacher brought me outside of class and she was trying to comfort me because she assumed I knew someone who died, and I was all, "No, it's just really sad."Frankly, I'm glad I was so young when it happened. I was never/worried scared for anyone or about anything. And I mean, damn, I wouldn't want to be put in Rudy Giuliani's shoes on 9/11 for anything or everything in the world. o.OBut because I was young, I've been watching all of these documentaries on 9/11 that have been playing on the National Geographic Channel, to understand things that didn't make any sense to me back then. I'm just glad I didn't have to be an adult trying to make sense of it on that day. =\Wow, long comment. Sorry!* I actually can't really blame people for thinking the Pentagon's in DC. Do you know how many times I hear some national news anchor say something like, "Meanwhile, in DC, Pentagon officials…" No one knows where Arlington is, so I guess it's easier to say DC. 😉
I cried my way thru your story. I remember it like it was yesterday too. I live in California by military bases. All the access roads were blocked off and we were afraid we were going to be hit next. I remember the chaos, panic, fear, and grief as I watched the News for what seemed like hours and hours. Thank you for sharing your experience.
The story you told was really touching and transported me back to 9/11. I was in the city also and distinctly remember people covered in dust roam through the streets and the plumes of smoke drifting overhead. Such a sad and scary day.
Awesome writing!! You remember everything! Joanne from Eats Well With Others had an awesome post yesterday about that day too. She was in school at the time as well. Thanks!
I've never commented on your blog before, although I really love reading it! That day is very clear to me still. One of my clients at work called from downtown and left a ghostly voicemail. She was crying and hurt from debris. She made it out ok, but other clients were in the building and did not make it out. My sister's fiance who worked just down the street had called in sick that day. I remember what I was thinking on the way to work that day, such a beautiful warm sunny morning with just a hint of fall in the air. Beautiful blue sky with white puffy clouds and I remember thinking it was such a beautiful day that nothing bad could go wrong. Boy way I wrong!
I was on my way to work when I heard the news. Here in Australia it didn't seem to affect alot of people, but as an expat I was an emotional wreck. I was also working with an expat and the two of us spent the day watching the news on tv and crying and crying and crying. I will never forget it.
Thank you for sharing. Your story made me shake, a little bit. I was eleven, hundreds of miles away, in the wilderness at a camp. I remember it like it just happened. Glad that you are here with us today.
Oh Mo. This makes chills run up and down my spine. Well said.