Remembrance 2

I remember being woken up by my mom telling me one of the towers was hit. Odd I thought. Odd. Strange. Something not quite right. By the time I had gotten clothes on and made the first of many calls to check on her I was in time to hear the news announcement of the second plane. By the time I was opening the car my mom was at the door saying I couldn't get into the city the roads were blocked. It didn't matter to me but she was right. Route 280 was blocked before West Orange ended. The detour brought me passed the Highlawn Pavilion and the Eagle Rock reservation and its views of New York City.

I don't remember my dad ever crying. Always stoic but when he got home the first thing he did was hug me tight and cry. God I never realized how much I miss him. He was said he was so glad I was at home and not in the city. Me, I didn't have the heart to tell him that I wished I was there. Everyone knows how bad the cell phone service was that day. I barely got in touch with anyone that day. My ex and her friends always cut through the towers to get to
Pace University. A friend of mine worked across the street at the time. Another friend of mine worked in one of the towers. Funny how I never called her at work before that day. Some friend I am, huh. Anyway everyone also knows how the day evolved. A day. One day. But then I remember it taken SO long. Phone call after uncompleted phone call. Messages upon messages. Me attempting local roads trying to bypass the highways being detoured here and there. Learning of the Pentagon by radio and being glued to the TV when I finally resigned myself to the fact I wasn't going anywhere.

The day of horror brought out good too in people in different ways. As the day went on I found out everyone was safe. The ex had gotten on one of the boats that ferried people between
Jersey City and Battery Park. Once in Jersey City a man was offering rides to anyone heading towards Livingston. When she arrived she was covered in soot. Kind of like images of coal miners or fire fighters. Instead of black soot though she was covered in gray. Gritty to the touch and smelling of dust. She cried in my bed while trying to call her parents and tell her she was alright. It took weeks of washing to get rid of the glass and grit. I remember her crying saying she did not know where her friends were in all of the chaos.

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