Where I Was On 9/11

I was 21 years old, recently graduated from college, living alone in the attic of a two-story house in Seattle’s U-District.

I had three things planned for that day:

1. Go to my job as a student advisor at Kaplan Test Prep
2. Study and take a practice LSAT exam
3. Go on a first date with some guy named Eric

None of those things panned out.

It wasn’t even 6am when I was awakened by my cel phone. It was dad on the line, telling me to turn on the news. Groggy-eyed and half-asleep, I reached for the remote and turned on my TV as dad explained something about a tower in New York…a huge explosion…I didn’t really understand.

Seconds later, I nearly dropped the phone as I watched the second tower fall, live on television. Wide awake now and confused as ever, I got out of bed and sat on the floor in front of the TV in disbelief. What’s going on? Is this real?

After getting off the phone with dad, I sat in front of that TV for hours. I was shocked and transfixed. I snapped out of it when my boss called to tell me I didn’t need to come to work that day. The office would be closed because our company headquarters was based in New York.

For some reason, I had the gall to ask him if I could still come in to the office and study for the LSAT and take a practice test (WTF?!). I probably just needed a distraction. Maybe I was in disbelief about the whole thing. It certainly wasn’t because I was desperate to practice my logical reasoning and standardized testing skills. Bleck.

Whatever the case, I ended up not studying after all and would spend the day with my friends Abby and James. I made some Hamburger Helper (beef stroganoff), and Abby ordered an extra garlicky pepperoni pizza from our favorite little place on the Ave. We watched the news all afternoon at their apartment, even though there were no updates.

I remember the three of us sitting there looking at an image of a cockpit on the TV while a reporter went on and on about basically nothing. There wasn’t anything to say since it wasn’t clear what exactly had happened to the World Trade Center or why. Still, we continued to stare at the screen and watch as the media replayed footage of the attack over and over again.

I was supposed to go on a first date with Eric, an MCAT student I’d met at work, and ended up calling him to cancel.

He was like, why?
I was like, WTC.
And he was like, so?
And I was like, byeee.

Or something like that. Never heard from the guy again.

Anyway, that was my 9/11. It wasn’t profound or interesting. Just mine, that’s all.