Todd and I were in Columbia, South Carolina. I had a user group conference which I was attending that week, and since our anniversary was a few days before that, we decided to go early for a nice weekend, then he'd fly back while I stayed for the rest of my conference. Todd was supposed to fly back to KC on 9/11. I was going to go take him on my lunch break to the airport. I remember the big auditorium and exactly where I was sitting at the conference when we were told what had happened. They brought the news up on the big screen TVs in the auditorium. I remember calling Todd and we spoke about him not going ANYWHERE on an airplane. Not sure if the flights had been grounded at that specific point in time. It was a surreal week, being away from home.
We had a nice, newer rental car. The rental car company came and switched cars with us because they did not want all the miles put on the new car, since it was going to be our ticket home. I left the conference early and we drove cross country to get back to KC. I remember my company was so supportive--I was the only one from my company attending the conference and they said to do whatever it took to get us both back home safe. Thank God Todd was there with me. It was a very solemn drive across the country listening to the news the entire way. At all of the hotels and restaurants we stopped, everyone was so nice. I remember the sense of loss and sadness and everyone just wanting to help each other out because there was nothing else you could do. I remember being so mentally spaced out that I made a reservation at a hotel where we estimated we would end up at the end of the day's drive, and we ended up trying to check in at the wrong hotel chain, not just the wrong location. Everyone was very accommodating about making reservations and cancellations. There were a lot of people stranded everywhere with few options to get home or wherever they needed to go. I also remember feeling the southern hospitality most of the trip. Well, I think it was alive until we hit the border of Illinois.
Now seems to be a good time to ask, where were you on 9/11?
1 comment:
I was at work. J was at home, unemployed at the time. He was watching the news and sending me updates via instant message, the only available communication method, as phone circuits went down and no web pages would load. I passed whatever info I got on to my co-workers.
The building I work in is the tallest between New York & Chicago, which J was nice enough to point out to me - you know, because that's the perfect time for *that* piece of trivia.
They evacuated downtown Cleveland, and I got a ride home from a co-worker; I think I got home at about 2:30.
My mom was driving home from where she'd been working, and she called to tell me she loved me "in case anything happened". I thought she was being ridiculous, but then she said she'd just passed a van pulled over on the side of the highway, surrounded by SWAT cars. So I cut her some slack.
We were in a bowling league at the time, and Tuesday was Bowling Night. That night's games were not cancelled. Nothing cancels bowling.
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