An E-Mail From My Mother

Written in her typical tangent thought trail, here is an e-mail from my mother about an entry I made on 9/11:

"I had the same thought yesterday about your calling me on that fateful day because I too had not had my tv on that morning. And you were right, it was the one time Dad had not left me his itinerary so I didn’t know his airline or flight #. I remember making frantic phone calls after you and I hung up to Alicia and Carmen. Alicia is like her Mom so at first she panicked and got tears in her voice. But Carmen remained cool and collected and said she would do some research because I did remember that Dad was connecting through Amsterdam (not Prague). She called me back about a ½ hour later and said there were two flights coming from Amsterdam, so he was probably on one of them. Later that afternoon, he called to say his plane had been turned around and returned to Amsterdam and when they all got off the plane, that’s when they were told the truth. That’s where he had to stay for the extra 5 days until he could get another plane home. I remember leaving you voice mails because the cell phone lines were down/overloaded and hoped you knew he was all right. Scary time I hope no one has to repeat. Have you watched any of the tv specials? Dad did watch the controversial ABC docu drama and thought it was pretty good in the sense it portrayed the amount of territorial egos, pc that ruled the day instead of putting the good of the country first, and the general bureaucracy that hinders real action and decisions from taking place. I didn’t watch it as I find reliving the horror too emotionally draining. I watched a CNN report that Christiane Amanpour did on how we got to where we are. She included the life and rise to power of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. She interviewed boyhood friends and others that worked with him and then distanced themselves from him as he became more and more extremist. She tied in how the Taliban was involved, and other interesting connections."

09.11.01

I spent most of my day with 9/11 on my mind.

Driving into work, I listened to the Howard Stern show on Sirius. Instead of treating today like any other day, Howard decided to rebroadcast the recordings of his show from five years ago on this day.

The show brought back vivid memories of where I was when the planes hit the Trade Center and the Pentagon.

It made me feel numb again.

I spent the whole day at my desk listening to the show while working -- six hours of archived recording.

Right now I am at home watching President Bush address the nation about today's meaning ... what we're still doing in Iraq ...

Every once in a while I feel like I did five years ago -- a temporary feeling of not feeling safe; scared.

It can all still happen again. I think that is what makes me scared the most.