On the morning of September 11th. 2001 I was safely home on Hudson St. in Hoboken NJ. feeding the twin girls I nannied for when thier father called from his office a few blocks north of the World Trade Center. He asked if we had heard anything on the news, apparently papers were floating by his office window several stories up in the air, people were running away from the area and lots of sirens were sounding. We killed Barney on PBS and turned to CNN in time to see the second strike.
I finished feeding the girls, found out that my boss was safely away form the area and trying to get back across the Hudson and home. I asked his wife if it was Okay for me to go see if I could help out down by the PATH station figuring that whatever was happening people would be coming back to town that way or by the ferry that docks there.
I went to Pier 1 and watched as the south tower fell, we couldnt see it becuase the north tower was still up and blocking the view but we could feel the vibrations of the colapse course up through the ground well over a mile distant. I knew then and there we were at war. I spent the rest of the day volunteering at a triage that went mostly unused. We had a few ferrys and one PATH train. The few folks I saw had horror stories of watching and hearing people falling from the upper floors. All were soaked from decontamination hoses and most looked like the walking dead.
Feb 18 2010