My Memories of September 11th

September 11, 2001.  My mother had been in Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, NJ since the day before when she was operated on for colon cancer. The news wasn’t good, it was going to be a hard day.

That morning was gorgeous. The sky was crystal blue, cloudless and there was no humidity; a perfect beach day. I was at my mom’s house getting ready to go over to the hospital when my sister called. “Turn on the TV, a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center”, she said.  “How awful.” She called again as the second plane hit and we realized like so many others that this wasn’t an accident.

As I drove the few miles to the hospital I turned on the radio to NJ 101.5. Jim Gerhart, the morning commentator was on and relaying bits and pieces of information as he received them.  No one knew what was happening.  It was chaotic. I remember praying out loud as I drove.

Up in my mother’s room the television was turned on to the horror going on across the river. The doctor came in and told us that our mother had just 9 to 18 month left to live; I remember that through this conversation she was trying to be very positive and comforting to us. It should have been the other way around but that was her way. The windows in her corner room faced the Atlantic Ocean to the east and NY City to the north. When we turned our heads to the left, we could see the smoke from the World Trade Towers in the distance. 

There was a little boat in the ocean. It was a beautiful day and the light was dancing across the water like little diamonds. I remember wondering if the people on board were oblivious to what was going on just across the river.

As we watched the first tower came down my mother said that what she was going through paled in comparison to what was happening in NY.

Later in the afternoon the hospital evacuated all patients with non- life threatening illnesses or injuries to make room for the patients from downtown Manhattan who never arrived.  As we bundled up our mom and took her home we noticed that the roads were empty. There were police saw horses set up on the side of the road waiting for the traffic jam that never happened.

After settling our mom in the recliner in her sunny great room, I drove back home. The looks on the faces of the few people on the road were pensive and tortured. As I drove over the Driscoll Bridge I could see the smoke in the distance and just for a moment I panicked that someone would blow up the bridge. 

Once home we were together as a family. We went to Immaculate Conception Church in Somerville, NJ and prayed for all those souls who were lost in NY, Washington and Pennsylvania. Several days after that, we began to attend the funerals. Around us everyone knew someone who was lost in this horrific terror attack.

We will never, ever forget that shocking day. September 11^th reminds me of my mother but it also reminds me of the day and the following days when we came together as a country to mourn our losses and to stand together in unity against tne cowards to tried to destroy us.