Change of Plan

Sydney woke me up this morning (and for the last three days) pretty early, but this morning, it was late enough when she was no longer "fussing" that I decided that it was pointless to go to bed-- 6:50 am. Too much on my mind. So I thought I would sit down and blog about how much I absolutely LOVE fall, etc. I logged into yahoo and was... well I saw what today is and it really always kind of hits me in a way I do not expect. That Alan Jackson song comes on, "Where were you on that September day..." Every year, I know it is coming and do not even bat an eyelash, but then the morning comes and I look at the clock and the time reminds me EXACTLY where I was that day. And it hits me. And then I thank God that those idiots did not choose a date, oh say two months and a day earlier, to do that. And then I feel terrible for thinking that, because I feel terrible for all those affected by that tragedy. The morning of September 11th, 2001, I was in my room, getting ready for my 9:30 class at SLCC-- Sociology of the Marriage and Family. And someday when I actually finish, it will probably be in an area related to that class that I will graduate in. I did not want to go (even though I loved that class) because it was toooooo early (little did I know what life with kids was going to be like). I was sitting on the bed, watching TV.

The Today Show. I cried all morning. I made my self sick by crying so hard.

Two months prior, on July 12th, 2001 Jody and I went with my sister Brooke, into the city. I am not sure whether or not we took the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) in or out, but we were down where it comes in, at the WTC stop. We walked around the mall that was once down there (apparently Manhattan's largest mall, up until 9.11.2001), watching the hustle and bustle that it was. SO many people were down there, went in that place every morning. It makes me so sick to think about it.

I can't remember if we were in the building before that, or after, but this was a sightseeing trip. I had been to New York before, with Jenni, and hadn't been to all these places, but this time, we wanted to see all the typical tourist spots. We took the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty, and walked around (I don't think we could go in?), we visited the Empire State Building, and we wanted to go See what the "Top of the World" was like. So we took the ginormous and fast elevator up and I can't remember exactly what floor-- maybe 107? There we watched a movie and took a virtual helicopter ride (I remember having to go into the bathroom and fix my contacts- they were new and I was having trouble with them). Then we took two escalator rides up to the outdoor observation deck- so maybe it was only 109 floors compared to 1 WTC that was 110? One thing I loved about this place, was it was so quiet compared to the busy city below. Also, the Empire State Building has a big fence enclosing you at the top- this did not, you just could not go out all the way to the edge. The way they had constructed it made it possible to see, according to Wikipedia, "49 miles in any given direction." Unobstructed. I took a bunch of photos. I also remember taking pictures for a Russian? family. It was so nice to be up there. That is the Empire State Building, just behind my head.

The terrorist attacks on our country that day were terrible tragedies, but what gets to me the very most, is this-- we noticed a TKTS booth, where you can purchase discounted Broadway Show tickets, and the line was SO short! I mean the one in Times Square is SOOOO LONG! So we jumped in line and bought tickets to Beauty and the Beast, and decided that this was going to be our TKTS booth forever, no more Times Square madness (this is not what saddens me). We waited around a little while, in lines for the TKTS and the Tower elevator, the bathroom, whatever, so we had a lot of time overlooking the business entrance, and to see a lot of people--business people-- coming in and out, flashing their badges and going through those waste-high things (don't know the name, sorry). These were the people who came and went, most likely, every day. The people who called this place "the office". I could go on-- I bought ice cream from the Ben and Jerry's and the Krispy Kreme outside (but was in between the two towers), I bought souvenirs from the gift shop up in the tower. What kills me the most is that I was not just surrounded by tourists, who were no doubt thousands of miles away by 9.11.2001, but the people who were probably in that building two months later, scrambling for their lives, or maybe who died. I interacted with some of these people, or saw them in motion.