9-11-01

I had gotten up and walked to the phone to answer it. My boyfriend was on the other line telling me not to panic, he'll be home soon. He asked me if I was afraid. I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me that two plans had just crashed in to the WTC and that NYC was under attack.

I had just moved here two months before. My grandpa had just died on the 28th of August and now here I was, living right across the river from Manhattan, a city that was under terroist attack.

When Donald got home, we walked up the block and the tower had already collapsed. There was smoke, so much smoke. People were trying to get home. People were standing around us, some crying, some just staring in disbelief. I was one of them.

We were JUST there. We took a trip to Manhattan to go to the Seaport and when we were done, Donald said "lets go see the towers" . We walked FOREVER. I remember once we got there I was overwhelmed. They were beautiful. I grew up in a small town. NYC is an amazing city. I sat on a bench and I leaned back to stare up at them. I had to use that restroom so we went inside. The building was beautiful. Simply beautiful and there we stood, by the river, watching in horror as the scene went on.

We took pictures thinking it was a piece of history we wanted to capture. I developed them but haven't looked at them.

The smell that blanketed our area was that of burnt metal and decay. You could only imagine what you were breathing in. So many people were killed. Nobody knew what was going to happen.

I will always remember that day.