The Day My World Stood Still

Story of 1 family on 9/11, from the perspective of a young girl.

We were watching the TV coverage like everyone else in the world. My brother was on the phone, trying to call everyone and getting through to no one. Dad was on his cell phone, trying to find a way home for just himself. This was supposed to be our vacation of a lifetime. Mom and Dad had taken us out of school for the week and we were at Disney World, the "happiest place on earth". Is it wrong to be upset that this had to happen on our vacation? Of course, the more I thought about it the happier I was that it did happen during vacation. I mean, Dad was a fireman and Mom worked on the 45th floor of Tower 1. It could have been really bad if we had been at home. What about our friends and family though? Wasn't there a field trip sometime this week to one of the buildings at the WTC? The more I watched the coverage the more scared I was. This was our New York, how could anyone do this to us? Was Disney World next? There were a lot of people in Disney, maybe someone would see it as a good target. This was really scary and everybody was going crazy so who could I talk to about it? I had to be strong for Mom and not let her see that I was scared and Josh would probably just laugh at me and tell me I was being silly. How was this horrible day going to end? Would Dad be leaving us here and going home to help? What would Mom do? I know she had to be worried about her friends at work.

For most of the night we were all on the phone talking to anyone we could get through to. Someone from the hotel came and told us that night's stay at the hotel was free and they hoped that our family was okay. It was really nice, they even invited us to the restaurant for a free dinner. Everyone at the restaurant was really quiet and we all watched the TV coverage on the bar's TV. Right before we left someone started signing the National Anthem and we all joined in. I saw Dad and Mom start crying. After I saw that, I couldn't hold back my tears anymore and Dad picked me up and held me. He wispered in my ear, "I love you, Jessie." I even saw Josh cry, even though he tried to pretend he wasn't, and Mom pull him close to her as we sang before we left. It was really sad but at the same time made me feel really good. It felt like we were all from the same place even though some of the people weren't even from the U.S.

Dad left late that night after I went to bed. Mom said he wanted us to try to have fun for the rest of our vacation and it was better if we didn't come back to New York for a few days. We tried to have fun that day, although we didn't really leave the hotel. We went swimming in the pool and played games with some other kids. They were from Georgia and were really nice, especially after they found out where we were from. Dad called that evening and told us that some friends from his department were trapped in the buildings. He was really sad but glad that he could help with the efforts. He said that there was a message on our answering machine at home letting Mom know that everyone from her office had gotten out okay.

We spent the rest of that week at Disney World and were actually able to have some fun. I'm glad we were there when it happened. Going home was one of the hardest things I've ever done. We went to a few memorial services and we found that a lot of people we cared about had died. My Uncle Landon died, he was a police officer. I think the whole experience has made me a better person. I know that a lot of good people died but a lot of good came out of it too. I am still mad at the people who did it, but Mom said that is okay. They say that the people who did it are Muslim and one of my friends who is Muslim has had some people be really mean to her. Mom says that is wrong and I agree. She lost her sister who worked in Tower Two and she is just as sad as I am about all this. People can be really mean but I am glad for all of the people in the rest of that nation who have sent their condolences to us. It makes me feel good. I think... we may be all right.

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