I was on a road trip with my friends Bob Renck and Jonathan Lundgrin. Bob and I would be starting college soon so we all decided to take a road trip down to Southern California (here) to go to amusement parks and the beach and whatnot. I actually didn't have my license at the time so I sat in the back and watched Bob and Jonathan drive. It was the first time I had visited Loma Linda, eaten a hot Krispie Kreme donut or gone on a road trip with just guys.
On September 9, we went to Universal Studios and also to a filming of "Whose Line is it Anyway?". There was an earthquake while we were waiting in line to get in to the studio. On September 10, we went to Disneyland. I bought "The Little Mermaid" soundtrack on CD. That night we went to Bob's sister's house in LA to spend the night. The next morning, I was woken up by the answering machine. The guys were asleep in the other room and I was asleep on the Bob's sister's floor while she was in the shower. The phone call was from her boyfriend (now husband) saying something about towers being attacked. I was still pretty groggy but it was a such an unusual message. I had to know what it meant. I called my mom and she filled me in on what happened. I ran and woke the guys up and told them something happened and we all turned on the TV to watch the news. I believe the first tower had already fallen down and we watched the second tower fall live. It was almost too much to take in. I am sure you remember at the time how scary it was because no one knew what would happen next. We didn't know if this was just the beginning of a more major attack or if that was extent of the terrorism. We were going to leave in a couple hours but decided to leave immediately thinking that there would be a lot of cars on the road trying to get out of the city. Eerily, there were almost NO cars. We listened to the radio as long as we could stand it but then put on some happy music so we wouldn't think about it as much.
That night, we stayed at my brother's apartment in Sacramento. Actually, when we got there, my brother wasn't home so we broke in :] . He came a couple hours later saying he was in class. We watched the news for the rest of the evening and then went to bed.
That was September 11, 2001 for me. How about you?
September 11, 2008 was less dramatic. I taught a class, went to eat at Panera with Jason and created a Advanced Reading test. Through all of it, I forgot to take a picture. That is right, I missed a day. But I guess in the grand scheme of things..... it really isn't a big deal.
I was enjoying sleeping in because I, too, was about to start college. Since the college I was going to go to (the same one you were, incidentally), I still had a couple of weeks until classes, so I was being lazy.
ReplyDeleteThe phone rang, but I didn't feel like answering it, so I let my mom get it. She came down to tell me my best friend was on the phone. Groggily, I picked up my portable phone. She told me to turn on my TV. I was confused, but I did. I asked her what channel. She pointed out that it didn't matter. And it didn't.
I sat there in bed, staring at the screen, tears in my eyes, yet not comprehending, and silent. My friend and I finally hung up, without saying much of anything. The rest of the day we listened to news, watched news, and discussed what this might mean for America. No one knew. And practically everyone was wrong.
And now here we are. Seven years later and we're at war with a country...just because. That's debatable, of course, but this is our generation's Vietnam.
September 11 will forever be etched on the minds of those who were alive to witness it. And it will forever be a somber day.