NEVER FORGET

I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter. My best friend called and woke me up and told me to turn on the TV and about 10 minutes later the second plane hit. I am pretty sure that was THE moment fear over came all of us. It was a strange thing living in Boston that day. I can’t remember at what point the news broke that both those planes had come from Boston but I remember starting to frantically call my friends whose husbands travel for business. My husband travels a ton and luckily he was home in Cambridge that day. Luckily, everyone I knew was accounted for safe and sound. My friend who called me, her father had just come in on a red eye from CA on one of the planes that later went into one of the towers. He walked off that plane at 6:30 am and about 2 hours later that very same plane was flying into a building. My heart aches over this day. I am sure I will never get over it. It is as if the wounds are as fresh as they were 6 years ago.

The Story of L and My Mother
This is a story that came about because of 9/11. One week earlier I went for my 7th month check up and a new nurse was going through my file and accidentally told me what I was having. I was so pissed. I did not want to know. My mother had been desperate for me to find out what I was having but I really did not care and wanted to be surprised. My mother cared. She wanted a granddaughter. I am the 5th generation of a girl born first on my mother side. She was positive I was carrying on the tradition and was having a girl but, yeah, like we can plan those things!

When I called to rant to my mother that the nurse had told me what I was having my mother said “so so so what is it?!?” I told her I wasn’t going to tell anyone and she was so disappointed. The week of 9/11 my parents head out to SF and eventually get stuck there because they can’t fly home. By the time they started running flights again I think everyone was terrified of flying especially cross country. I called her that morning crying, telling her I was so scared she was getting on a plane. I then just blurted it out. I said “ I can’t let you get on a plane without telling you you’re having a granddaughter.” She was so excited. We didn't tell anyone else but I am so glad I told my mother that day.