September 11, 2001

  "Where were you on September 11, 2011?"   OK, I'll answer. I was in Valley Falls, home alone. It was a nice summer day, and Dave had just left, as usual, for the Battenkill, to play golf.  Normally, I would have turned the TV on hours before, but that day I waited for Dave to leave and then tuned in to watch Regis. The program was interrupted because a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Towers. The camera actually showed a plane sticking into the building, and of course my mind went to the time we had taken our kids there, even having their photographs applied to t-shirts purchased there. I remember thinking "Gee, I hope nobody got hurt.."  The coverage seemed, at first, to be of a non-urgent nature.

    That soon changed, and I went into panic mode. I tried to call my family members, and, oddly, everyone I spoke to seemed quite nonchalant about what was happening.No one had called me.  I called the Battenkill: Dave was out on the course, I was told, and yes, he had heard the news. The only person who soon returned my call was David. I knew he was about to fly out of town, on that day or in the next few. He'd been at work when I called, but he was instantly concerned as he realized that the path of one of the attacking planes would have come in almost direct contact with his house on North Street. 

    Everyone eventually had to confront the gravity of the situation. But my memory of the day is being alone, shocked, and searching for someone to talk to.