That Day

Writing assignment from Christian Writers Workshop.

Assignment: Write about the biggest news story that you have lived through

---

I slung my purse over my shoulder, locked my apartment door and flew down the stairs. I was already pushing it to get to work on time and I still had to drop my car off at Brake Masters on the way.

I slid in the drivers side seat without flinging my purse into the passenger seat like I normally did and shut the door. I started the car and then heard a muffled voice saying, "hello, hello?"

I looked around dumbfounded and pulled my phone out of my purse since that's where the voice seemed to be coming from. Since I hadn't taken my purse off, it had been squished in between my body and the door of the car, and I had accidentally made a phone call.

I looked down at the screen to see who it was I had called.

911! What? Of all the wrong numbers to accidentally call.

I panicked and hung up the phone before saying anything. As I backed the car out of the space and began my drive to work, my mind raced, "can you get in trouble for accidentally calling 911? I thought I had heard that somewhere...."

My thoughts were interrupted by the radio DJ saying that a plane had flown into the side of the World Trade Center in NYC. I immediately envisioned a small commuter plane. I can't remember if that was because of something the DJ said or just where my brain went because that seemed like the only type of plane that could actually get anywhere near to the WTC.

My commute to work wasn't super long so about 5 minutes later I pulled into the Brake Masters parking lot to drop my car. My office was right next door so I could walk over once I had checked in.

They had a small TV in the lobby tuned into the news coverage. I had just missed the live coverage of the 2nd plane hitting. When I saw the smoke coming out of those buildings my jaw hit the floor.

That was no commuter plane.

I ran over the Enterprise Rent-a-Car where I worked. Everyone was flustered and confused. We didn't have a TV in the office and this was well before social media, twitter and never ending news. We found a radio that was outside in the wash bay and brought it in so we could try and follow what was going on.

We heard another plane had hit the pentagon. And another crashed in a field that was maybe on it's way to the White House? What was happening? Were all major cities going to be hit? Should we keep working?

At one point when we were all standing around processing, I randomly asked out loud... "What's the date today?" I still have no idea why I asked that question. One of my co-workers said slowly, "today is nine one one".

My mind flashed back to my 911 call earlier. What are the odds?

A few minutes later I had to deliver of a vehicle. I drove the car over and one of my co-workers followed and picked me up when I was done with the delivery. When I got into the car with him, they announced on the radio that one of the buildings had fallen down.

My hands flew to my mouth. Fallen down? The WORLD TRADE CENTER? How was that even possible? I had been there. I had stood under that building and looked up. The damage and destruction that would have been caused! All of those buildings were so squished together! I could not wrap my head around it.

The rest of the afternoon is fuzzy. I feel like we didn't get much work done and or might have even closed early. After work, I went to my parents house and we glued ourselves to the TV like the entire rest of the country. We didn't know at the time we were living living through a historical event that would ultimately have an impact on every single one of our lives as Americans. It really was impossible to comprehend the enormity of it until months or even years later.

Even though it's hard to imagine anything positive coming out of 911, I do think it's important to try and find the bright spots in the dark stains of human history. I remember the patriotism. I remember the flags...the never ending flags on doorsteps and hanging out of car windows. They were literally everywhere. I remember a renewed sense of what it meant to be an American and the importance our God given rights and most importantly our freedom.

I can't imagine ever forgetting that day. The only day I have ever called 911. The day we didn't know what was happening or why. The day we watched those buildings fall to the ground over and over and over. The day we were jolted into remembering what a blessing it is to live in this country.

We will never forget.

---

More CWW Writing Assignment Posts