10 Years Ago Today

My grandmother died.

This means I was home from work 10 years ago tomorrow when the Twin Towers came down. I had taken the day off to reflect and to see if I wanted to fly to Boston for her funereal.

Instead I sat, on the phone to my sister in law, who lived down the Bay from me, watching it unfold. I didn’t usually have the TV on in the mornings (The first plane hit 546 California time, yes I was already up. I’ve always been an early riser) but turned it on after the radio informed that a plane had hit the first tower. I distinctly remember thinking ‘stupid pilot!’ not realizing, as no one did at that point, that it was deliberate.

I rang into work, even though they already knew I wouldn’t be in, at some point that day to see if they were evacuating, since I worked in down town Oakland, maybe not a prime target, but one easily hit if someone misjudged the more likely Central Business District of San Francisco, just across The Bay. He said no one had decided anything yet. I knew at that point I wasn’t going to make it to Boston.

I remember the calls across the internet as my international group of friends begged for news from our friends in New York and, once the Pentagon was hit, Washington D.C.

I remember the worry of my sister in law as my brother was in Boston on business. He would be stuck there for a week until airline travel resumed. He was one of the few grandkids who did make it to my grandma’s funereal who usually lived longer than driving distance. Even my mother didn’t make it, and it was her mother.

I don’t dwell on what happened on a regular basis. I think about it on the anniversary, as do most people. How can you not with it all over the media every year? I know people who lost people. My own mother worked in the Towers 10 years or so earlier.

My heart goes out to all who lost people that day.

That day that changed America forever.