Looking back

Five years ago today, I was working at a daily newspaper as an imaging tech. I had kind of a strange work schedule: Tuesday through Saturday, 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Because I worked late and didn't start again until after noon, I usually slept later than most people. So, when two planes flew into the World Trade Center Towers, I was clueless...that is, until my mom called me after 10 a.m. The weird part was that I'd already received a call from one of the newspaper's editors, who asked if I would come in earlier than usual because we were printing an extra edition that afternoon -- but she didn't tell me why. Maybe she thought I knew, I'm just not sure. But I hadn't turned on my TV, and so when my mom called, I was in total shock over the news she was giving me. Frankly, I never even knew the towers existed...maybe I had seen them in the Friends backgrounds now and then, but I didn't pay much attention. Now I always notice them in pre-2001 movie or TV scenes, as I'm sure you do.

The whole city seemed so quiet that day, almost as if everyone else had taken off work but us. Because we were printing an 'extra' that day (we were just a once-daily paper, so an extra meant doing a lot of work fast), my job was to look through tons and tons of Associated Press photos and tone them for the paper. I didn't have time to fully absorb it all -- I don't think any of us did, we were working so fast and furious. I saw pictures that would probably never be seen in newspapers, like people jumping from the towers to their death. Still, I had to remain unemotional that day because of the pace and amount of work. That was my main focus.

When I took my dinner break, around 6:30 p.m., I was walking the two blocks to my car. On the way, a stranger and I passed one another. I wanted to stop him and say, "Can you believe what's happened?" because it seemed on that day that we were all so connected to one another by this enormous tragedy. I drove home, and saw people selling our extra edition at an intersection. I watched news footage that night, but my emotions were still quite untouched. It wasn't until the following March, when Casey and I were attending a choir show of his brother's, that I truly felt the sorrow of that day in mid-September. There was a song tribute to all the firefighters, policemen and others who had lost their lives. Waves of sadness washed over me, and I wept...

There was something beautiful about that day for me, though. That evening, Casey and I went for a walk together. It was the first time we were ever alone together, and after our walk we went to IHOP...and so began our courtship.

May God bless the families of those who died on September 11, 2001.