My Memories of 9/11
On September 11th, 2001 my wife and I had just woken up to start getting ready for work right around 6am. The first plane had already crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center when my mother-in-law called to tell my wife to turn on the television. That's when we saw the gaping hold in the tower created by American Airlines Flight 11. At first there was speculation by the analysts on CNN. Just a few minutes later United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower. At that point, all doubt seemed to be removed. This was obviously a terrorist attack against the United States.
After the second plane hit my wife was clutching our then 9 month old daughter Noel in her arms and crying out "why do they hate my baby?" At 6:45am (Pacific Time) a third plane, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon which made us wonder how many more planes had been hijacked and how many more American power symbols were targeted. At 7:05, on live television, the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. At first it didn't even seem real. I looked at my wife Monica and asked her "is that actually happening right now?" Like everyone else, I was stunned and in disbelief. It seemed like it was happening in slow motion. When something you can never imagine happening happens it's hard to process.
Then I had to go to work... on the radio. Fortunately for me, at that time, I was an afternoon DJ. Meaning I had time to think about what it was I was going to say. I was numb but just managed to relate my feelings of depression, anger and disbelief. I remember thinking that this was our Pearl Harbor.