we will never forget.

 

Same here, the time, place, people I was with, even the smells around me when these 2 horrific events happened are still with me. I witnessed the first shuttle disaster as it happened on TV (back then blast off was still a big deal) and the second shuttle was eye witness as it traveled across the east Texas sky towards the earth. I saw the 2nd plane hit the tower in real time on TV. These memories are as fresh as the day they happened. It's like witnessing a friend die, something you don't forget.

 

I had just come out of the woods after closing camp in prep. for winter. The owner of the lodge I was at came out and told me that I needed to call home ASAP. As I went in to use the phone I sat down in the little phone closet and as the phone dialed I look up accross the bar and saw the towers being hit.

My mom answered the phone and asked me if I had heard the news yet. I said I was just seeing it as we spoke. It was at that time she reminded me that my older sister just got a new job working in one of the Towers the month before. Apparently, my sister had called my mother to tell her that she was ok and that the FD was on the way to lead them out. My sister told my mom "I love you" and the line went dead. That was the time the second tower fell.

Needless to say, I made a fast trip home. Hardest part was the funeral a few months later. Sister's husband was an Amtrack cop and all of his brother Officers showed up. Very touching ceremony.

7 years seems like a long time in someways and in others, it's a blink of an eye.

Kirsten Santiago
1976-9/11/01
Gone but not forgotton