unliterate.net, sans-confusion since 2004

Ahh, Fall. 22 of September, 2021. I was supposed to have court today but lawyers felt like it could be delayed another 3 months.

The first day of fall started off as any odd day would. Molly and I decided to take the newly minted 3-year-old to the Strong Museum of Play, eat some food and then come back to Buffalo. We jumped on the 490 in Rochester, sailed west to hook up with the Interstate 90, and then cruised at the normal pace. Due to the gas tank being a bit low we decided to turn into the reservation at Pembroke and fill up.

Travelling northbound into Indian Falls Molly noticed a tan pickup truck on the right side of the road, and I had noticed a huge white semi truck in the field and what appeared to be a mess/entanglement of a vehicle below the rear of the truck. We did not realize what we were driving by, and we thought it odd for such a situation to exist. Obviously there were not emergency vehicles around, no sirens or lights, and we were both questioning what we thought we saw, arguing over the existence of the semi truck/pick up truck. Regardless, we drove the next 4 miles off to the reservation, got some gas, and then departed.

There is going to be millions of stories that reflect back 20 years ago to the day that “America was attacked” and “Where we were”. This is one of those million stories, and coming across this story would be a 1 in a million chance.

I was almost 20 years old and waking up in a bed at 563 E. 2nd Street in Jamestown in an upstairs apartment. I had just had an amazing night with my 17 year old girlfriend, woke up, moseyed my way out of the bedroom to sit on her 23-year old brothers couch and prepared for the morning.

My usual poison in the morning was Mountain Dew, Marlboro or a Newport, and “Wake Up” on Headline News. After grabbing my 2-liter and lighting up I turned on the television. The news was on fire, reporting on something hitting the World Trade Center. Fire was plentiful but reports were scarce.

At 8:46am American Airlines Flight 11 hit the World Trade Center between floors 93 and 99. The news was scrambling to make sense and stating it was some tragic small aircraft. The World Trade Center was on fire and that’s pretty much what news cameras were focused on.

At 9:03am I witness it on the news. Flight 175 hits South Tower.

Where was I? Sitting on a couch, smoking a cigarette and drinking Mountain Dew watching a skyscraper get hit by an Airplane live on television.

That was my 9/11/2001

And so I don’t forget a classic saying: There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.

Thanks to timeline.911memorial.org to help me get my facts straight

Unfortunate Shock and Awe

9-11-2021 – 20 Years Later