A Recipe for Coping
I was on holiday when all of this happened. The first real holiday my husband and I have taken since the birth of our son Nicholas. Nicholas is eight months old – and we thought it would be “fun” to take our child on holiday, and enjoy our first holiday together as a family. We didn’t have a care on the world, other than getting “there” and relaxing.
Our destination was San Diego, California. We have family there who hadn’t met our son yet; we thought perhaps a five-day visit with family would be nice. Sea World thought would be fun, and then slowly work our way north, stopping in Disneyland along the way, and then a leisurely return up the coast to our home in Oregon.
The morning of the attacks, I called home, “just because” – no real reason, something said, “call home” so I did. I wanted to check in, say hi, and let our family know we might extend our holiday an extra day, as we were enjoying ourselves, with not a care in the world.
My brother in law answered the phone and said, “Are you guys okay?” I said, “Yes, why?” (My mind was thinking back to a conversation I had with someone the day before about a small earthquake that was centered in Hollywood, California, about an hour from us. One in which we didn’t feel at all.) My brother in law said, “You better turn on the news, terrorists have attacked New York City, and the Pentagon.” I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. I hadn’t had the news on much during our holiday, because we were on holiday, and escaping the daily grind. I grabbed the remote control, turned on the television, and sat down slowly, my mind gaping at the scenes I was witnessing on CNN. I softly told my brother in law, I would call him back and hung up.
I called for my husband, and remember saying, “You are not going to believe this, but we are being attacked by terrorists” He sat next to me, as we held our son, and just watched the scenes unfold. It was unbelievable. I kept thinking in my head that this was just a special effects stunt by Steven Spielberg. Oh, how I wish it really were. As I clutched my son to my chest, and sat as close to my husband as I could, I started to weep. I was horrified at what I was seeing. The buildings blowing up, the plane being swallowed up by the building, people jumping from the windows up the building, and finally the collapse of both towers.
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