10 years ago on September 11, 2001 at 8:46AM I was in my shower at my apartment on 286 West 11th St. which I shared with my girlfriend, now wife...Katie. I was listening to the Howard Stern show on my shower radio (listen to the actual show here) and I remember thinking it was a repeat (he's always in repeats) of the show from the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. I wasn't really focusing on the radio as I was running late for my 2nd day of jury duty. I'm not sure when I realized what what happening but the next thing I knew, I was in my living room inches from the TV watching NY1 (the 24hr local NYC news). At first, they were not quite sure what had happened, early reports were that a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. It wasn't too long before Katie, came bursting in the door telling me that while she was on her way to the subway a black Suburban pulled up and a bunch off guys in suits jumped out and took off running down 7th Ave and that the streets were full of people. Looking down 7th Ave from the subway station, she saw smoke coming from one of the World Trade Center towers. I explained to her what I had learned from the news and that I was going outside to take a look. I snapped a few pictures at Bleecker and 7th Ave and at Hudson and 11th St (below), both towers were standing but were obviously on fire. I went back to my apartment a little before 10:00AM and watched the 1st tower fall on TV. It still doesn't seem real.
Tower number two fell about 30 minutes later and for some reason, after watching that I decided I wanted to go down and see exactly what was happening 1st hand. I guess in situations like that you either want to walk (or run) in the opposite direction or let your curiosity suck you in. Katie was pretty adamant about not wanting me go but I somehow negotiated an hour to go check things out. I put my roller blades on and timed myself on the way down to the site so I knew exactly how long I could stay. When I had gone about as far as I could go I stood around with all the other onlookers wondering what had happened and what was next. Down there, some families were reuniting, others were just lost. I wasn't down there long, and didn't make it to the actual site but it was close enough for me. It was freaky being anywhere close to ground zero (and still is).
Back at the apartment, Katie and I, like most, sat glued to the TV waiting for more news. Sometime, during the early afternoon, Katie suggested that we had better stock up on food because we had no idea what would happen next. I'll never forget that walk to the grocery store because as we were crossing Greenwich St. a fire truck came up the street like a ghost, covered in white ash with papers flying off of it. It was so eerie that I get chills just thinking about it. Even though we had just watched the two towers crumble on TV, it still somehow felt distant. Seeing the ash covered fire truck brought the reality of what happened much closer. As the day finally came to end and the reality of what had just happened became more clear, like many New Yorkers, we took to the street. I remember there being a genuine sense of community out there, no one had to say anything, you just knew you were not alone.
Hardly a day goes by when I don't in some way remember what happened on 9/11. We'll never forget get the innocent people who lost their lives that day.
Jason, thanks for sharing my friend!
Eric
Posted by: eri Matuzsan | September 11, 2011 at 11:36 AM