5 years ago

[vernacular_life]

• Five years ago I was at our apt in downtown Baltimore, awaiting the delivery of our new refridgerator. That morning, I was rushing around filling up all of our coolers with perishables so they could haul the old ones away.


• We both had several bowls of cereal in an attempt to use up the milk.


• We were watching the Today show when they put up the video of the first tower with a small-looking hole in it.  Judd saw the second plane hit.



• In a daze, I drove out to 7-11 to get a couple of bags of ice for our freezer stuff. When I came back, they reported that the Pentagon was hit



• We switched to DC local news and heard (incorrectly) that the Mall was hit and the Old Ex bldg was on fire. I can remeber hugging Judd and saying "when will it end??!!"
• I was on the phone with Judd's mom when the the first tower fell


• Our apt was right next door (>100 feet) from a federal reserve bank - my parents wanted us to leave (but to where?!) We stayed put.
• My boss called to tell me not to bother coming into work - everyone was leaving. I saw some of my coworkers walk past my apt, and my friend Jay with a bag (2 pairs of steal toed boots, 2 hardhats, a resperator and a couple of pairs of jeans) to head up to NY for disaster relief.


• Our refridgerator was finally delivered around 3. The drivers said that it had taken 3 hours to take a 40 minute trip.


• We made pasta with sundried tomato alfredo sauce for dinner. I think I ate about a pound of pasta that night.


• We had friends come over in the evening - no one wanted to be alone. For some reason, we watched the Big Lobowski (comfort movie?). I kept wandering into our bedroom to watch the news.


• I had a lot of friends in the pentagon and didn 't hear from them for a few days, as most were working 48 hours straight.

I was suppose to have a meeting at Arlington Cemetery the morning of the 11th, but it was postponed until the 13th. The building that I would have had the meeting in is about 1/4 mile from the pentagon, directly under the flight path. The streetlights in the parking lot were knocked down from the landing gear (?) My colleagues in that building thought that the plane was landing on their building it was so loud.


The next morning walking into work was surreal. I've never heard cars drive so quietly before.  Even the birds were quiet.  People were polite, letting pedestrians cross, stopping at yellow lights, holding doors open. 

I dont think I listened to music for 2 weeks.

Comments

[effy.livejournal.com]

Wow. That seems so surreal.

[lkell.livejournal.com]

yes ... it really was quiet. And people really were nice. Though that stopped pretty soon after.

[angelgirl8.livejournal.com]

the quiet was a big think in nyc. the no honking, no yelling thing lasted for weeks.

our comfort movie was 'bring it on'. sounds about the same, huh?