#9112011

I wish I could really say I have some kind of compelling story to remember 9/11 by. Although I remember it quite well, I wasn't actually up when the planes took their course towards Lower Manhattan. Like now, I was a second shift worker who used the 8am hour to sleep, so it wasn't until my sister woke me up at about 10:30am Central time and told me to flip on the TV until I knew anything.

This isn't like today, where a simple press of my iPhone's home button pops up the latest AP news alert after the swipe and I react immediately. I had to turn on the TV, and even then, I didn't need to go far, for the Weather Channel (then the channel I watched before I turn off the set) was even reporting it. Now, they show regular news all the time, but then, it was very rare for them to go out of format. I quickly hit channel down to MSNBC and saw a dark cloud in front of what looked to be buildings. A skyline with the towers I usually pictured visually to the WB's "Felicity" promos then set to Madonna's "Power of Goodbye". It was now gone, all in an instant.

And then, all the channels that could were covering it. A few channels up, VH1 and MTV had WCBS's coverage. A bunch of other channels were just in still screens, knowing nobody gave a damn about who wore it best for once, like E! and HGTV and Food Network. I couldn't even really process it besides my mother's sad wailing when she found out.

A few hours later I had to go to work, and on the way in the bus was much quieter than usual. I remember small snippets of tuning to a local station and hearing Rick Dees on his syndicated show describe everything. Of doing what I always did after a striking event; stopping at the nearest place which sold newspapers and collected and bought the extra editions. I was just quiet and numb. Everyone was. Even in good old, Sheboygan, there was just...shock.

And then my work, it was eerie. Just after I got there, the FAA canceled all flights until Friday. Instead of confirming and taking reservations like I usually do, I was calling them and telling them that we had to cancel them and we would hold their ride when we knew they could go out. I know that day we lost a few customers forever, not because of dissatisfaction, but their fear of ever getting onto a plane again. The entire week until the 20th, when Bush spoke to the joint session, was like that for me. Just moving around in this fog, lost on why anyone would ever do this to anybody, how anyone could have a disregard for human life. Events were canceled. Premiere week for TV, the best time of year for me, didn't feel like it usually did.