It is hard for me to believe that it has been 10 years since
the attacks on the World Trade Center and Washington, D.C. Some days it feels like
they happened just a few weeks ago, but other times it feels as if it was a
million years ago. While the focus of this blog is to document the ups and
downs of my third decade, I think it is important to remember the key events
that influenced the person I am today and the person I will be tomorrow. There
is no doubt that the events of 9/11/01 had a huge impact on me. They catapulted
me from the cocoon of late adolescence into the reality of adulthood.
I was 20 on that day. I lived at home while I was in
college, and decided to participate in an internship program. This was the
first time I had really lived on my own. My internship at Walt Disney World
started in late August of that year and was enjoying my newfound freedom. Even
though I had an early shift on that day, my roommates and I had spent much of
the previous night out with some tourist friends we had met. I wasn’t worried,
because all I had to do that day was great guests as they entered the
attraction where I worked, and at 20 I didn’t need a whole lot of sleep for
that.
About an hour after I started work, one of the trainers in
my area came around and asked me if I had see anything suspicious. He told me
to keep an eye out for anything strange and let management know immediately if
I saw anything, but did not say much else. About 30 minutes later he came back
and told me what was going on in New York and that park leadership was deciding
the best plan of action. Not long after, he came back to tell me that the park
would be closing shortly and I should tell guests it was due to a national
security situation. At that point no one knew what would be the next target,
but an American Icon like Walt Disney World was definitely not out of the realm
of possibly.
We cleared the guests out of our area and lined up to wave
goodbye and answer their questions. It was strange to see the guests quickly
filing out of the park on beautiful, clear, sunny day. Closely following the
guests, were security personnel and police officers with bomb sniffing dogs
looking for anything suspicious. Once the guests had left the park, we were
taken to a conference room with a television and given the details of the day’s
events. This is the first time I saw the haunting images of the twin towers and
the pentagon. We were told to go back to our apartment complex and wait for
further information and instructions.
I spent the next 24 hours glued to the television along with
my roommates. We were all far from home and not sure what was going to happen
next. Sharing this experience is part of what cemented my friendship with these
amazing women into what it is today. Since we were all away from our families,
so we made our own family.
I was very lucky because I did not know anyone who died in
this tragedy, but it has impacted my life in so many ways. That day was the
first time I really realized we never know how much longer we have on this
earth and it is important to say “I love you” to the important people in your
life. It was also the first time I realized that safety is not guaranteed.
