story3582.xml

story3582.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

i was 7 months pregnant with my first child. it was such a beautiful morning---crystal clear blue sky, not a cloud. i have looked at the sky every day since sept. 11, 2001 and have never again seen it as clear and blue.

i am an attorney and was sitting at my desk with a pile of work. ready to go. suddenly the entire building shook. we all said "what was that?" i just saw so many papers flying through the air.

a part of our office faced the wtc. someone screamed "there is a huge whole in the world trade center!" we all went to look. i saw fire and thick, black smoke. i said "so many people just died." we made phone calls to home, etc and everyone said it was an accident. we believed that and thought the pilot probably had a heart attack or something like that.

there were people jumping from the windows. being pregnant i left the office where we all had gathered. i didn't think that i should be watching that.

i went back to my office and called my mother. suddenly the building shook again. i said good-bye, i am leaving. one of my co-workers came running and screaming that he saw a plane fly directly into the world trade center.

i tried to call my husband who works 3 blocks away, but the phone was busy. i tried and tried, but still busy. i just wanted to get out of there.

a co-worker and i decided to leave. i figured i would walk over to my husband's building and decide what to do from there. as i got to the reception desk, i was told that my husband was on the phone. he just said meet me at the garage. (we commute in together by car everyday).

the co-worker and i tried to go into the elevator, but it was too crowded. why we would go into the elevator, though,
is now beyond me. we took the stairs down 13 flights. there were not too many people in the staircase.

when we got outside, onto Broadway, everyone was just looking up. the Police were trying to direct everyone NORTH. they were saying "you don't understand what is happening here, leave the area!" no one moved.

the co-worker and i walked to the garage (2 blocks away from the wtc) there were so many people on the street. cell phones were not working. there was a long line for the pay phone.

we dropped the co-worker off near the staten island ferry. we drove out of the city. we must have been one of the last cars out, since they closed the roads right after that.
as we were driving, we heard the news about the Pentagon, the Pennsylvania crash and the first building collapsing. it was horrifying.

i cried for weeks. i would stay up until all hours of the night watching the coverage. i was scared to go to sleep. my husband finally forced my out of the house to shop for baby furniture.

my office was closed for 2 weeks. i went back to work. the entire area smelled so bad from smoke. my office was tested for asbestos twice(negative). i was tested for lead(negative).

on dec. 10, 2001, i was blessed with a little baby girl. she is an absolute pleasure. i thank god for her every day and i thank god that we got out of there as fast as we did.