story1348.xml

story1348.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-20

I was stunned. When the second plane hit, you just knew it was no accident, but deliberate. I immediately called my best friend, a North Carolina girl born and bred. We both cried as the Towers came tumbling down before our eyes, taking all those people with them, even though we didn't know a single person there. I knew how very big the towers were and how many people they could hold because I'd been there on class trips from school. I have to say, I was very relieved that the death toll wasn't higher. It truly could have been so much worse, although not for those that lost loved ones. They are still gone. A former member of our church was living in NYC when the planes hit and she saw it happen while she was on her way to work. She has since moved back home.
I grew up in Monmouth County, NJ. My Girl Scout leaders' house was on the highest point in the county. After our meetings were over each week, we'd go sit out front and watch the glitter of the welders torches. It went on for so long it became a ritual. When the Trade Center was done, we would still go out and just look at it because it was so magnificent. To a bunch of teenage girls, it looked indestructable.