Every parent’s nightmare , all rights reserved

Robyn - Description of the Accident

The Terror of 9-11, a true story.

“Mom, what’s going on? I’m afraid.”

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning when our nineteen year old daughter, Lindsay, reported for work at a nearby bakery. It was 6:00 am and she had many things for which to be thankful. She planned to “retire” when her baby was born the next month. We were very excited anticipating the welcome of our little Emily Hope to the family. The following day, Wednesday, she told me they were not allowing anyone to interfere or come over to visit. It was their own special day and they were setting up the crib and the rest of the accouterments for the nursery.

First Terror

In West Palm Beach, Florida on the same morning, at 7:45, my mother boarded a plane for Pennsylvania to visit my sister and her family. While watching the morning news, every station seemed to break away to cover the events of September 11, 2001. The visuals of those horrific scenes will forever be ingrained in our minds. Within a few hours, more and more details were revealed. I remember that we had become aware that the airports were closing and my siblings all over the country began to wonder where our mom was. My sister, Sherry, who lives near our mother, said she would run over and check the flight itinerary that Mom left on her desk. Sherry had not really thought she would need to know any of that until the two week vacation began to draw to a close. Under the present circumstances, we had to have the flight numbers to find out what was next. After a few agonizing hours, we were told Mom’s plane had landed in Charlotte, N.C. and she would be returning to West Palm Beach on a Greyhound Bus. Honestly, it just seemed crazy. Poor Mom would miss her visit with Kathy and of all things had been stuck on a bus.

Mom, Is this the end of the world?

Lindsay called me from work probably about six times during the day. She asked me if it was the end of the world; if Jesus was coming back; if we were all going to be killed by these people who could do such a thing. She was very nervous about all the scary possibilities. She had been diagnosed a few years before with a panic disorder and had always been quite timid about current events for one reason or another. I teased her husband, Bill, about having the news channels set under parental controls because the news made her so nervous.

This An excerpt from a unpublished book, to be continued.

Steve Bloem