If I am alone in the house in the morning hours, I will sleep late and I will most certainly not have a TV on. I don't watch morning news and I don't care for the morning talk shows. I love a quiet house in the morning.
On September 11, 2001 I was alone in my home in Coldwater, MI. My husband was in Spokane, WA picking up an airplane and taking a week long course to learn how to fly it. They had spent the day before doing book work and on Tuesday the 11th he was going to fly it for the first time.
I woke up quite early for me. It was strange what was happening, actually, because I felt like I was being forced out of bed. I've learned to listen to those little voices, even if they compel me to get up far too early, but what I didn't understand was why I felt the desire to watch TV immediately. Our master bedroom was on the second floor and the TV room was in our basement, so I went down two flights to plop in front of the TV. I kept changing the channels trying to figure out what I was supposed to find. I finally just turned it to one of the morning shows and waited and watched.
Then of course it happened. The first plane, the announcement on TV that a plane had hit one of the towers. I went upstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a bite to eat, I had a feeling it might be a very long day. Then the second plane.
Now I understood why it didn't matter what channel, just that I had the TV on. I watched, I cried, I sobbed. It was still too early to call my husband on the West Coast, but my friend JB called me. She knew that I didn't watch TV during the day if my husband is gone and she wanted to make sure I knew. She grew up in and around New York. I can't imagine what it was like for her and she was calling me.
My Mom was flying on Sept. 11th. 8am out of LAX.
She would end up staying for several days at Hilary's new apartment with her new roommates.
Hillary (my sister) was starting her first day of school out in L.A. and my Mom had gone with her to get her settled.
My sister, Alison, was attending a bachelorette party of a close friend that evening.
Hillary's beloved cat died just two days after she left for L.A., on Sept 10th.
Alison and I had decided to have a funeral for him in the backyard at our Mom's house. We'd meet on the 11th.
I remember Alison and I crying our hearts out for Apollo, the cat, but also for the events of the day and because for the first time in a long time, our family was spread across the United States. So many tears.
I finally got in touch with my husband and found out that he was going to be grounded for days. All private airplanes were grounded indefinitely (which turned out to be Friday of that week I do believe) so Tom couldn't train in the plane, nor fly it home until the no-fly was lifted. I think he finally got home on Sunday.
To be honest, I'm glad that my husband wasn't home when this happened. I cried my heart out for a few days and I know that I wouldn't have been able to fully express my sorrow if he were home. I hated being alone for most of that week, hated knowing that my sister, mom and husband were all on the West coast, but it truly was a blessing that I was alone.
My sister Alison, who went to the bachelorette party, met her future husband on Saturday Sept 15th - just four days after the collapse of the towers. He was in the band that played at the wedding. They were married exactly one year later. (we did have some happy news during all of this)
All of my family finally came home and we were whole.
My prayers still go out to those families who are no longer whole.
Kristin
