I will NEVER forget that day.
I was away from home, working in Montgomery, Pennsylvania. My sons and daughter were at home in Va Beach with Dad. My boys were only 3 and 6, my daughter was 16.
We arrived at work and someone turned on the tv in the lounge and said, "OH MY GOD! A plane just crashed into the World Trade Tower!"...we all went in and watched in horror. We all thought at first, as many did, it was a plane accident, but as we are watching it and see the second plane plow into the other tower, we all knew that it was a terrorist attack! I remember when the towers were attacked in 1990. When the car bomb was set off in the garage! Many folks have totally forgotton that day!
The hardest part of work was .... I had worked for a funiture liquidation company. We travelled and closed furniture stores for various reasons (i.e., going out of business, bankruptcy, chapter 13, etc)...and within the sale, we had the rug guys come in and sell their perisan rugs. Many of these guys did not speak English and if they did, it was very little.
There was alot of tension around the office following that. Mike, who ran the Rug Department and was an American Citizen, but born in Persia (he was in his late 50's then), was a really nice guy and I had work other sales with him. I remember him coming back from lunch and he told me and a few others, how he and his workers were pulled over and questioned and searched. I trusted Mike, as I knew him for many years, however, the guys that worked for him, I wasn't too sure about....that fear was setting in.
I remember my son calling me at work, because in his little mind, he could not understand where the plane crashed in Pennsylvania to where Mommy was.
In 2004, I took my boys to NYC and we walked all around Ground Zero. To think, I saw the tower's being built, never ever thinking I would see them fall!
Last year at work, I made myself a memorial for me to wear and I made one for each of my co-workers (I work in a grocery store, I work with alot of folks!)...and everyone wore them!! That made me feel real good! Well, this year I walked in with mine, as I will wear it every year, and quite a few asked if I made them one. I told them I didn't do it this year, hoping they would remember themselves. The girl in floral took out her red, white and blue ribbon and gave everyone a strip of ribbon to wear.
Here is a pic of the one I made last year and wore again this year. Of course, I added the pins I wore on 911's previous, my co-workers did not have the pins on theirs.
God Bless All those who served and still serve...as well to all the NYFD and NYPD and all emergency personnel and even the citizens who stepped in!
Annmarie
PS: Each pin has a meaning to me...
The Cross on the top is GOD FIRST
The red, white and blue angel is for all the people lost on 911
The American flag is for the country that I love and proudly served.
The Twin Towers is in rememberance of a marvel I witness being built and then seeing fall to the ground
The Yellow Ribbon for all of our Service Men and Women: Past, Present and Future
The Red, White and Blue Cross: GOD AND COUNTRY!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!