It’s been 10 years since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and we continue to feel very real aftershocks. In the hours, days and weeks following the tragedy, no one could imagine how much our world would change—how our concepts of peace and freedom would shift and morph, and how our sense of national security and global terror were irrevocably changed. The Frisky staff took the time to share our personal experiences of 9/11, and hope that this will inspire you to recall your own feelings and experiences in the comments. We see this as an opportunity to remember, memorialize and come together, and we hope you’ll join us. Earlier, Amelia shared her experience. Here is Ami’s.I had moved from New York to Los Angeles less than a year before the attacks happened. I was still very connected to the city, visiting often and plotting a way to move back. My two roommates, who were also from New York, woke me up at 6 a.m. and we sat glued to the television for the next 48 hours. My boyfriend at the time came over. Everyone was afraid to leave the house. Nobody went to work for the next three days as we feared we would be attacked next. The freeways were vacant. Quite a feat in LA. For the first 24 hours, I was frantically trying to get in touch with my friends in New York. I felt so connected to the city I had lived in for four years, that I felt like it was happening to me. I experienced every feeling along with the citizens of New York, only remotely. It was lonely.
Source: KQED
I was 23 years old at the time. I mark the day the towers fell as the day I became an adult. In the subsequent months, I grew the courage I needed to live my life boldly and authentically. My boyfriend and I decided to move in together. I started therapy. I decided to quit my career as an actress, which was no longer making me happy, and go back to grad school. I started cleaning up my financial mess. I started taking ownership of my life and my decisions. It was the beginning of my journey to the center of myself. For that, I am grateful.
To this day, I have been unable to visit Ground Zero. When I was in college, I went with a boyfriend of mine and we lay between the Twin Towers and looked up. It was dizzying, it felt like we were falling upward. I remember thinking in that moment that the world was an amazing place, full of possibility. I want to hold on to that memory.
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