oral history

So around here they've been encouraging everyone to go to the Library of Congress and record their histories of 9-11. The Library of Congress has decided that the 5th anniversary of 9-11 was appropriate due to the fact that 1 year was too soon but within 5 years you still vividly remember where you were, what you were doing, how you found out, but it's not so incredibly emotional. I still have immediate tears thinking of that day. I won't be able to make it down to the Library of Congress with my work schedule so here's my oral history. On September 10th I was pregnant. I didn't know I was pregnant but I was. I had been having these terrible migraines for the previous week. As I was getting ready for be another one hit me. I was up all night long with excruciating pain. Knowing that I would be useless if I went to work that next morning I called in sick. I taught 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies. Dealing with 93 12 and 13 year olds while recovering from a migraine was not my idea of fun. So at 5 am pacific time I called in sick. Knowing that I didn't have extra lesson plans waiting on my desk I drove them into school at 7am September 11. I drove to school knowing something was weird. I just couldn't put my finger on it. We lived on the incoming flight plan into Sky Harbor airport. It was only later that I realized there were no airplanes. As I got to school I saw one of my students already there and asked how she was doing. I had ridden to school without the radio on so I was still clueless. She was all excited and said "A plane flew into the buildings." Not knowing what she was talking about I went into the office to distribute my lesson plans. As I walked in Several teachers and the office staff including assistant principal were all standing there around the TV. One of them turned to me and asked "Is this the reason you called in sick? Don't you know we need you?" No knowing what she was talking about (I couldn't see the TV) I asked her "What are you talking about? I've been up all night with a migraine." Seeing that I still didn't know she pointed to the TV. I stood there in silence, stunned for a good 5 mintues. That's when all the teachers went into action... except me. I went home. I turned on NPR on the way home to hear that the Pentagon had been struck. I listened as a reported ran through the neighborhoods close to the pentagon in order to see what was going on. The roads were closed near the Pentagon so he was running attempting to get close to see what was happening. I was in tears on the way home, finally realizing that there were no planes. I arrived home and ran into the apt. Kevin was still sleeping. As I turned on the TV I yelled for him to come in that "The US was under attack". Kevin came flying in from the back room. He saw what was happening and told me that he thought that I had meant via planes and such like Pearl Harbor. They were planes. We sat there in front of the TV all day long shocked. We cried as the towers came down. We were horrified as we watched Ashley Banfield on Fox as she huddled behind a car trying to get closer as dust cover police tried to tell people to get back. We watched as the clouds came billowing out obscuring the view to downtown NY. It felt like we sat there for days. I know I went to work and Kevin went to school but I can't remember doing so. We would come home and sit and watch repeats. This morning as I woke up I watched video of that day. I sat today in utter horror remembering what happened. It was like it was happening again. The memories were still that fresh. The emotion still raw. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be so close to the actual events. I look out on the street right by our house and I can see capital Hill. I can drive 5 minutes down the road and be right by the Pentagon where one of the planes struck. What an overwhelming feeling to be here now.