9/11 is the "Where were you when" of my generation. My mother was three years old for "Where were you when JFK was shot?". "Where were you when they first walked on the moon?" happened a full year before I was born. So where were you when 9/11 happened? Here's my story:
My boyfriend and I were supposed to be in German class, but our favorite bands (his was Ben Folds, mine was TMBG) were both releasing new albums, so we skipped class to hit Best Buy as they opened to get the new CDs. We walked in, walked around, and were in the TV section when the news started showing footage of the airplanes. The feed was so grainy we thought it was a joke. We watched for a few minutes, and then decided to leave. We didn't fathom the gravity of the situation, and went across the street to the mall, where we were told they were closing. Who closes a whole mall because there's an accident a thousand miles away? We were also told the colleges were closed, to which we thought, "Hey, we won't get in trouble for missing Frou Lothe's class!"
We went home, and I didn't work that day so I stayed home and my boyfriend went to work. We were sharing a car at that time, so if I didn't drive him to work I was pretty much stuck at home all day. I watch the coverage non-stop. By the time he got home 8 hours later, I was crying inexplicably (I'm not a crier over major things, so it's still amazing to me that I was crying). He scolded me for immersing myself in the news all day because it had depressed me so much, and I think we went to dinner to get away from the TV. The days after are a little bit of a blur. Life went on, I suppose.
So this Sept. 11, I found it fitting that I ended up at another Best Buy, doing my best to contribute to the economy. The Oldsmar Best Buy had their grand opening, and the first 50 people got $20 gift cards. I suppose in retrospect it's probably silly to stand in line for an hour and a half for $20, but hey, free money! I picked up my brother and Spencer and we sat on the sidewalk while we waited, Spencer lathered up in sunscreen and an umbrella shading him. Christen and I had decided to get me a new radio for my car that was compatible with my new Sirius radio. I bought my brother a new CD for waiting with me (The Toadies' new album) and Regina Spektor for myself and we went for Winghouse afterward (the boy can devour wings). I always have a blast with my brother. We can talk about anything, always have been able to. I wish that I spent more time with him. So seven years we come full circle to yet again being in Best Buy, buying CDs.
Tonight Acie and the gang are coming over to watch the USF game, and I'm making mojo pork kebabs with mojo chili sauce, black beans and yellow rice and corn bread mini muffins. I'm slightly worried about the mojo sauce because I made it myself, and I've made it before but I couldn't find the recipe I used last time and I couldn't find a good recipe this time so I sort of winged it. I'm excited to have people over, and none of them have seen the new house yet (well, Tom saw it when he helped us move, but not with things actually put together). Having people over means we get to enjoy our friends as late as we want, but Spencer still goes to bed in his crib on time. If we were to go over someone else's house, we do have the playpen we could take to set him up in a bedroom, but nothing is as comfortable as your own bed, even as a 7-month-old.
2 comments:
you're right on the "where were you" moment. It's sad, my students had that as an assignment in their history class, and most don't remember. They are freshmen in high school, some sophomores. They were only little kids.
I will never forget. I live just next to a major airport, and it was silent for days afterward. Weird, and chilling just to remember.
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I was driving into work when I heard about the first plane. We were having four hour data modeling sessions in the mornings and afternoons and I was leading the meetings. I was trying to keep everyone focused on work but they kept watching the news on their laptops. After the second plane I gave up and we all sat in the conference room and talked about what was happening and how horrible it all was. One of my co-workers was worried for his cousin who worked in one of the towers. He never made it out.
There was something about that day that was completely unbelievable.
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