Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Where Were You on 9/11?

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Almost all will remember exactly where they were, when they learned of the horrific events of 9/11. I was on a plane, flying from Austin, Texas, to O'Hare. Being in the air and locked away from communications, we had no idea what was going on. As the plane landed, my seat mate turned on her cell phone. Her phone beeped with its warm-up tones about the time the nose wheel of the plane touched the runway.

I was just about to comment about leaving the phone off until we reached the terminal, when her phone rang with an incoming call.

"What?"
"How many planes?"
"Two buildings?"
"Oh my God!"

By that time every passenger with a cell phone was turning it on. The pilot taxied to a holding area, where we remained stopped for about 20 minutes. Then the pilot announced, "Well, since most of you know what it going on..." and he proceeded to give us an explanation of what he knew.

Soon thereafter, we taxied to a gate and deplaned. The terminal was virtually empty. The roads were empty as I drove from O'Hare to Woodstock. The shock was settling in.

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