| Where were you on 9/11/2001? |
|
|
|
| Written by Aneal Roney | |
| Thursday, 11 September 2008 | |
|
It's been said a ton of times that you will never forget where you were when the worst terrorist attack on US soil occurred. In remembering the tradgedy of 6 years ago, I thought I would share where I was.
I am originally from NY - Long Beach, Long Island to be exact. This is where I lived until I was about 12 years old at which time I moved to the Poconos area of Pennsylvania. My Dad lived on Long Island until I was out of college and moved to Colorado. My youngest sister was still living on Long Island back in 2002 and as I have mentioned on BowCast episodes, Long Island is where I walked into a pro shop and bought my first "new" bow - a Reflex.
I am sure there are similar stories from 9/11/2001 for those of us who live out West. Of course, September is the heart of the archery deer and elk season here in Colorodo.....that fact made for a pretty surreal experience for me.
I had been up in the high country for 8 days from September 5 through September 13th. I had come back down into a ski resort town to grab a shower and call one of my sisters to wish her a happy birthday on September 10th. I headed back up into the hills with nothing else on my mind except where to find my next elk to setup on.
Fast forwarding, I headed out of camp and back down to Denver on September 13th. I had a couple of other guys in camp with me during that trip, and I distinctly remember the comment one night before climbing into my spike tent - "There seems to be a lot less planes flying at night compared to years past." I didn't even give that brief comment another thought.
As I was driving on I-70 East back down to Denver, I tuned into my favorite "Rock and Roll" station here in Denver. After a few minutes I found it strange that I kept hearing DJ blurbs similar to, "We are finally getting back to playing music after the events of the last few days." What did that mean?
As I continued my long drive home, the confusion for me began to grow. I was starting to get other "News" blurbs that were saying things like, "All US Airports are now back in operation with limited service and schedules." Now why in the world would all US airports have been closed?
You see, on September 13th, what was surreal is that the radio media had already made the assumption that EVERYONE on the planet knew what happened on September 11th. I, however, had no idea - and the radio DJ's and news blurbs were not helping me much with the assumption that I had an inkling of what they were talking about. I knew something bad happened by this point, but was frantically trying to tune to AM stations and piece together the story.
I remember that it wasn't until I was 20 minutes outside of Denver (The end of a 3.5 hour drive) that I started to piece together that something tragic happened in NY. Of course, I became a little frantic at this point. I heard about Pittsburgh (most of my family leaves in Easter Pennsylvania - only about 1 hour outside of NYC) and my youngest sister should have been in school on Long Island.
It was somewhat of a blur from there - getting home, turning on the TV, getting visuals, making calls back to my family in the Northeast. It took a couple of hours, but everyone was accounted for and was doing fine. We all spent some time on the phone talking about how devasting this event was.
Today, I hope we all take a moment to think about the fact that we live in the greatest country in the world. Take a minute to give your kids and spouse and extra hug (or two), and remember in life - anything can happen. I encourage us all to smile ear to ear when we think of our family, friends, and the opportunities we all have to get out and do what we love in the outdoors - hunt with a bow and arrow. Let's remember those that were lost in this tradgedy, and resolve that although tragic, we are a better country today due to the events on 9/11/2008.
I do, however, suggest that while you are in the mountains, woods, or a tree stand this fall that you forget for a short time some of the day to day realities that await you back at your home. You'll piece together the events you missed while you were away hunting when you get back home. For now, enjoy chasing your quarry.
Where were you when you heard the news of 9/11/2001? Post a comment to this blog entry and let us know....I am sure there are some other stories/perspectives from the BowCast community.
Cheers, Aneal Trackback(0)
Comments (3)
  written by aroney, September 12, 2008
JDoubleA,
I hear you buddy....I remember flying into Newark that same year and hit me hard when I looked to the sky line and saw the towers gone....it felt like I was flying into a city I had never been to before. Aneal report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes: +0
 written by DeRyderM, September 12, 2008
I woke up hung over on 9-11-01 and stumbled into the main room of my fraternity house. The t.v. was still on from the night before. There were pictures up and the newscasters were talking about the terrible accident that had occurred. It was not quite 9:00am yet and I watched from the t.v. as the second plane smashed into the building. At that point there was no doubt in my mind what had occurred.
The couple years leading up to that point had been a haze. I was close to done with college and still making choices that can only be seen as 'youthful indiscretions'. After that event I did a lot of soul searching and was able to come to terms with the direction of my life. It was a slow process for me but I think in many ways a lot of us grew up b/c of it and have had the chance to examine what is really important to us. Another thing that will always remind me of September 11th is one of my fraternity brothers from that house. We called him "Jdub" After 9/11 many of us were still rattled, angry etc. for some time to come. Since we were in a public policy, political theory college at MSU it was much of the talk. One night over beers J broke down and told me just what it is that for him, he could not let go. He was ashamed our country had been attacked. He loved this place so much he couldn't sit on the sidelines and deal with it. The only answer for him was to leave college after two successful years and join the UNITED STATES ARMY. J is heading back to Iraq for the 3rd time with special forces, he is now a Green Beret. He did two tours in Afghanistan with Intel before this. He had the opportunity to come back to school and had planned to last summer. They asked him to stay and he would not tell his country 'no'. The last 7 years of this man's life have been given to his country and his countrymen. We enjoy the freedoms that we have b/c of people like J. When someone says soldier, this is the image that comes to mind. We owe the men and women that protect our country for everything we have and the lifestyle we have been blessed to live. On 9/11 I always do something that I love and something that reminds me of what a great life I have and how fortunate I am to share this country with people like you all. This year I took a very long lunch, shot 2 extended rounds at the screen course at the local archery shop and finished up by calling J and then his mother to thank them and let them know what great Americans we all believe they are. GOD BLESS THIS COUNTRY! report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes: +0
Write comment
|
|
| Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 September 2008 ) |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
On that day I was at work, my mom called me to tell me that "something" hit the World Trade Center and they think it's a private plane or something.
I went and turned the TV on at work to see what was going on. I saw the second plane on the news, I knew right then something horrible was happening. All of us became glued to the TV. Not long after we all got sent home.
I remember driving back home and seeing the smoking skyline as I watched the smoke cloud tears ran down my face. I called my wife, she had no clue as to what was really happening and why I was so upset.
My brother in law was in NYC, he was in a building in midtown. He struggled to get back home.
My father in law was making a delivery in NYC in and saw and heard the first plane, it flew right over him. He didn't know what was happening and knew that plane should not be that low. He struggled getting out of the city having to go miles and miles around to get back home.
I am thankful that I did not personally lose anyone on that horrible day but do know quite a few people who did. A friend of the family is now retired NYPD, he lost his partner.
When I was in high school we would take what is called the PATH train from NJ to NY, we would sometimes goto the World Trade Center. Two years ago, I took the PATH from NJ to the World Trade Center site, I couldn't hold back my tears.
Like most people I will never forget that day, never forget the people who lost their lives, never forget. Every time I look at the NY Skyline, I remember.