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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 11, 2008, at 13:02:18
Seven years ago I was showing off my brand shiny new engagement ring. Thrilled to have been surprised the night before my birthday by a dinner out at our favourite Italian restaurant and a presentation of a velvet box and The Big Question! This from the man whom I thought could never surprise me.
Seven years ago I was celebrating my birthday and my engagement, trying to concentrate on doing my job, but still bubbling up with joy at my future.
And then, the UPS Guy came in with the news he had heard on the radio. Are you sure? He has some pretty wild stories sometimes. Then, the FedEx Guy came in a bit later with more news. Uh, he's a more serious guy, there's definitely something bad going on. Someone scrounged up a radio in the lab and we huddled around it, stunned at the news. The owner of the company came out of his hidey hole and scowled at us, suddenly being unproductive. What did we think we were doing, anyways? What could we accomplish by stopping our work and listening to distressing news? Get back to work, everyone. (Dipsh*t, I was thinking.)
I remember thinking - and saying out loud - "well, this changes our lives forever." And one of the people I worked with turned at me with outrage and said between clenched teeth, "this changes NOTHING. Nothing about our lives will change." And I thought, well, I guess I can't really have a dialogue with that person, and I started to become really upset.
Somehow, we put in a full day's work. I went home, grateful that my guy was not out of town that day, because the nation's airports were shut down. We sat glued to the television coverage.
Every now and then I would catch sight of my ring, glittering at me, and I would think dully, "oh,yeah. I have a bright future."
It's a tough day. A tough day.
Posted by WaterSapphire on September 11, 2008, at 21:50:26
In reply to The bitter and the sweet, posted by Partlycloudy on September 11, 2008, at 13:02:18
I will never forget that day...none of us will.
I didn't even realize what day it was until my husband told me. I said, I wish you wouldn't have said anything. Very very poignant memoir...
Posted by seldomseen on September 17, 2008, at 10:40:59
In reply to The bitter and the sweet, posted by Partlycloudy on September 11, 2008, at 13:02:18
It was a tuesday. It was a clinic day and I remember facing a day of being swamped with work.
I was in early. My boss called with wild news about some jet en route to France crashing into a building. She was always getting excited about something, I wrote it off.
I work in tall building surrounded by scientists, physicians. Brilliant minds dumfounded, dazed. We usually sit around and think about sh*t all day. We couldn't get our brains around this.
When the F14s started screaming by it was no longer an image on television screen. This was an attack in real time. Then then helicopters thundered by shaking the building. Off to god knows where, then returning over and over again. The usual "go get 'em boys!" replaced with "is it enough?".
The hospital helicopter was grounded to save the airspace.
I had a student working with me. The most innocent little thing I ever met. She cried and cried. One building after another compunding her fear. What could I say to comfort her? Separated from her parents, far from home. Military mobilizing.
Even I felt like I need to duck when I went outside.
Did this happen yesterday? Is it still happening?
Seldom
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 17, 2008, at 11:14:52
In reply to Re: The bitter and the sweet, posted by seldomseen on September 17, 2008, at 10:40:59
Somehow it's helpful for me to read of other's accounts of that day.
Thank you, Seldom.
Posted by susan47 on September 19, 2008, at 12:06:09
In reply to Re: The bitter and the sweet, posted by Partlycloudy on September 17, 2008, at 11:14:52
The day was like a dream, and because I'm far removed physically, didn't have the same impact on my mind at the time, but in times since I have been able to hear and feel the stories as real, and I remember at the time feeling extreme anger with George Bush, and I still do feel the anger towards him and his reaction and even what must have been an inkling, I do not believe he wouldn't have had some foreknowledge, somehow, that this was going to happen. I no longer believe in good over evil, and I believe evil conceals itself very well in our society.
I, one of many who will never feel the same, about anything, ever again. And the longer we live, the more things we will experience, and see, and looking back upon the half-century I only have lived, the horrors have been very many, and there is no reason to believe they will decrease.
Susan
This is the end of the thread.
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