9/11/01

[stephanie74]

My thoughts and prayers for all of those who lost their lives that day.....

[tyco]

Originally posted by njstacked2

Well...I was waiting for 9/11/01 to post something...but I am glad you did....The day means so much to .....

It has been almost two years since my life has changed...almost two years ago since I was down stairs in the WTC right where the PATH TRAIN was...sipping my protein shake....The little cafe in the basement made sick Protein Shakes...I was...getting ready for my second day of work on the Goldman Fixed Income Trading Desk....drinking a protein shake reading the WSJ...watching the thousands of people walk by getting ready for work...10 minutes later my life changed forever...There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about 9/11 and all the thousands of people that died....I am going to Jersey City (Exchange Place) to light a candle....Remmeber 9-11-01......

yea I was in the same place coming off the PATH at about the time everything happened...........it's still weird that at that time it was just a regular day to work until I got to the top of the escalators...........crazy stuff. I remember every moment after that like it was yesterday...........I still am a bit shook up over everything I saw...........god bless....

[nycchic24]

like so many others, i remember this day like it was just last week. (actually i probably remember this day better than any day last week) :

i woke up for work late, and was scrambling around my house to get ready.. ., i remember looking outside my window and the day seemed perfect -- Sunny, 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. I had just left a message for my boss that i would be a couple minutes later (she is anal) when i heard the dj on the radio announce that the top of the world trade cente was on fire. i switched on the tv and sure enough it was, and i thought to myself how funny/odd. i called my parnets house in boston and told them to switch on CNN and called my old roommate (who lives 3 streets away from the WTC. ). I thought i better get on the train/subway quickly before they shut it down or I'll never get to work. AT this time, mostly everyone thought it was still an accident. No one guessed it was a terrorist act. when i got on the subway, the second plane hit and at that point everyone knew. All trains stopped immediately and i was stuck in the subway for about 30-40 minutes. that was the most nerve-racking period, you cant go anywhere, you cant get off and you are cut-off from the rest of the world. only getting limited information from the conductor. they finally pulled up to the platform and let us out, i walked up the stairs and almost as soon as i hit the sidewalk, the first tower fell. i coulndt believe it. i really didnt know what to do then.. . all cells were inoperable, payphones were 15 people deep on the sidewalk. i was 60 blocks from my house or 40 blocks to work. i walked to work, which is downtown. i hoped that the phones wer still working and i could grab my friend who lives in CT. I will never forget the scenes i saw on the streets that day, walking to work. and i swear, since moving to nyc, this was the only time i saw people give two cents about anyone else besides themselves. It took me a while to walk those blocks - stopping to listen to the radios in the cars, watching the tv's in the stores. stopping to catch my breath and not believeing what i was seeing. and then the second tower fell. there was a scream and then the loud rumble. again i had to pinch myself, and icouldnt help but let the tears fall. finally made it work and made my calls to my friends and my family. got my friend and started my walk back to my apt. (amazingly we caught a cab that day so we didnt have to walk100 blocks) once we got to my apt, we were glued to the tv the rest of the day. My bf at the time worked for Fox news and was down there the whole day. (he would soon be covering Ground Zero for the next two months) I didnt hear from him until later on thgat night when he called me from the studios. and oddly he remained largely unaffected to the whole event although he was so close to it. later on that night i found out that a girl i grew up with was on flight 175 with her bf. (rip lynn goodchild) they were flying to LA to connect to Hawaii on vacation. I went back to massachusetts that weekend for the memorial services.

last year, i attended her memorial service in the city. her whole family came down. Eerily i remember 9/11/02 pretty well. it was sunny, and hot. similar to the year before, but strangely extremely windy that entire day.

[deeelite1]

Wow Sue.. that just gave me chills. Sorry for the loss of your friends.

My whole life I've lived in New Jersey and never went to the WTC.. so weird that the first time I went to the top to do the tourist thing was two weeks before it went down.

Still have the admission ticket and pictures.

[njstacked2]

Tyco...who do you work for? I have fond memories of the escalators...I miss running down them because I wanted to catch an early PATH train and running up them because I was late...I also think about the lady selling AA batteries and Mach 3 Razors outside the WTC....Also the guy selling Bootleg CD's....did they make it....or did they just sit there and think nothing was going to happen?

[nycchic24]

Originally posted by deeelite1

Wow Sue.. that just gave me chills. Sorry for the loss of your friends.

My whole life I've lived in New Jersey and never went to the WTC.. so weird that the first time I went to the top to do the tourist thing was two weeks before it went down.

Still have the admission ticket and pictures.

thanks dee. actually i used to live downtown, 3 blocks away from the WTC, i moved to my apt on the UWS 3 weeks prior to 9/11. the bldg was not damanged, but they didnt have weater or power for 2-3 weeks. i went back a month later and the whole block was still covered in dust and debris. i avoided ground zero like the plague until my mom came and visisted over a year later.

[dogekid]

did anyone watch the documentary that those 2 french brothers did on that firehouse?.. the sound of the bodies hitting the awnings made me nauseous.

that whole thing still seems like yesterday. i was still in philly for work back then, but i remember that weekend going into the city and bringing in dog food for all the police dogs that were helping find bodies down there. so sad...

[njstacked2]

Jason...I saw that one...I have a video titled..."En Memorium" it is by far the best....

[Kittyk]

I saw it and cried the whole time. My other uncle works in the Pentagon. It was his section that got hit. Thank God he was at a meeting in a different building. His wife had just had two youngs twins at home. Unfortunately some many people weren't as lucky as him and my family. I read they buried the last firefighter yesterday...

[roddigga]

digga had a crazy view of the trade centers from his desk, not a day goes by at work that i dont think about that day!!!!!!!!!!!,

last years aniversary i was right by the harbor in tears along side of 100's of people all facing in the direction of the towers, similar to the day they went down............................

this year should be no different!!!!!!!!!!!!

my prayers go out to EVRYBODY. b/c we were all affected by 9/11

HOLLAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

[krismgl]

I remember being on the Path w/2 of my girlfriends and a guy we met on the train that i became good friends with. It was weird bc i worked in Tower 2 (88th flr) and he worked in 7. We were chattin and he asked me how i wasn't afraid of the elevators and i said the only thing i was afraid of is a bomb going off in the building or something.... i said that that Morning... which struck me to be crazy. we got off the train and i asked my friend what the time was and she said 843a. i was late but whatever... we said bye to our friend that worked in 7 and then all of the sudden we heard people running towards us. Naturally the 1st that ran through our minds was someone has a gun... so we split up and then i met w/one of them in the vestibule (by Sam Goody/Structure) and her and I stuck together. We went across the street - to the corner of trinity and i looked up and seen the 2nd plane smack right into my building --pretty much my floor - i started screaming... it was awful. i can't even watch that on tv at all... that picture is still embedded in my head... SICK !!! we ran to my bf (at the time) building and he was getting off the elevator.. luckily. we got to his house in SI at like 6p then they opened up the bridge to NJ and i took his car to take my friend home to her family.. i was shot... up for 3 weeks just watching CNN-- it was terrible... i don't even want to be in the city that day.. bc i am deathly afraid of being here...

sorry needed to vent.

[xrapturex]

Originally posted by dogekid

did anyone watch the documentary that those 2 french brothers did on that firehouse?.. the sound of the bodies hitting the awnings made me nauseous.

that whole thing still seems like yesterday. i was still in philly for work back then, but i remember that weekend going into the city and bringing in dog food for all the police dogs that were helping find bodies down there. so sad...

our office did that too...we send over stuff for the animals, and we also had volunteers that stationed themselves in front of one of the churches down there...hanging out food, drinks, blankets...all kinds of stuff.

It felt like there was much more to do and so many more people to help than to sit behind a desk all day.

[eccentricmofo]

Very weird variety and range of emotions that went on that day, as well as the many months that follow.

In retrospect... I can summarize the way it directly affected me in one phrase.

Those few months were the most intense, horrible, and oddly beautiful days of my life.

Great stories from the crew, amazing how details are so vivid isnt it...freakin two years after..and still. I remember every single damn detail.

But I wouldnt have it any other way. I felt it woke me up into a world, as if I have been living in a surreal one for the first 22 years of my life.

I mean people get little enlightenments here and there, thats life, thats growing up.

Those few months and everyone that followed... Thousands I can guess.

Thousands of changed views, perspectives of life, idealogies..even religions.

Ive know a few people that lost faith from that event, and many more that gained faith.

Ok, Im on a rant but all in all. I said in another thread, that I started before I read this one, giving a hyperthetical about what peoples views were with attending the memorial this year.

Fuck it, Im still going... I need to get rechecked into reality. Routine routine routine makes some feelings soften a bit. I mean not fade away completely, but soften.

ok.. im done for now..

[thrillfire]

I was actually in Savannah, GA when my bf called me in the morning and told me that WTC was hit and the pentagon and he said the white house too.. i guess there will always be exaggaration to something that's already unbelievable...

I didn't believe him and just laughed at it.. than he told me to turn on the tv, i had a really ghetto one that didn't work, so i hooked up my comp to internet through dial up from america online and started reading... it was so bad... my parents called later... they saw it from where they work. I had a flight to Newark for a wedding that was originally suppose to happen on WTC in two days and it was one of the first planes to fly to Newark but I remember seeing the smoke rising up that was lit by all the lights when we were coming down. it was such a horrible feeling...

I still get chills everything time i thik about that day...

One of my professors from Seton Hall died... I went to Seton hall for the rememberance for 9/11 and the people who were from seton hall who perished, my prayers go out to all lost.

[danwilson]

Hi, I lost a good friend of mine. Steven Cafiero. I knew him since the 6th grade. He got a job at the World Trade Center a week before Sep 11th. He was on the 92nd floor above where the plane hit on the South Tower. He was talking to his mother on the phone about the plane hitting the North Tower. His mother said, how he saw the plane hitting the South Tower. I can only imagine how frightened he was. He was such a good guy. Here's links about him. http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=steven+cafiero&fr=slv1&n=20&fl=0&x=wrt

[danwilson]

http://www.evangelist.org/htm/0905stev.htm

GRIEF PROCESS

Glenville man still mourns son he lost at WTC

BY KAREN DIETLEIN

STAFF WRITER

It was pouring in late August 2001 as Steven Cafiero watched his son walk to his car from the dry warmth of his father's kitchen.

A surprise visit had brought his son -- also named Steven -- to Glenville from New York City, exuberant with news about an insurance job he had just landed. The two men had sat in the backyard until dusk fell, talking about the future.

As Mr. Cafiero watched his son walk away, a terrible feeling -- one he had never felt before -- seized him. "That night, I went out in the rain after him," Mr. Cafiero remembered.

Final contact

A phone call on Sept. 9, recalls Mr. Cafiero, centered around a discussion of the HBO drama, "The Sopranos."

That was the last time Mr. Cafiero would ever hear his son's voice. Two days later, Steven would become a victim of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.

"Words can't describe the grieving," Mr. Cafiero said, his hands clutching a black-and-white photo of an athletic, handsome young man. "In the past year, my family and I have been going through grief that is so deep that there is no bottom. There is no end."

New job

Steven Cafiero III, 31, had been hired as a client specialist at an insurance brokerage firm located on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center. A proud smile crossed Mr. Cafiero's face as he recalled his son's considerable excitement.

"He took to the job right away," he said. "He was very good at it. He was a very ambitious gentleman -- and he was a gentleman."

Before AON, Steven was a limo driver. He enjoyed telling his father about chauffeuring Shaquille O'Neal, Al Pacino and Harrison Ford, who, according to Mr. Cafiero, "sent Steven birthday cards."

Memories

Mr. Cafiero said of his son: "He lived the kind of life some of us don't get the chance to live in a lifetime. He was starting to go up in the world. So ambitious. I have great memories."

But memories are all he has: Steven was one of the thousands of men and women who disappeared without a trace, lost in the rubble. Although the mayor's office sent Mr. Cafiero a small red urn containing dust and ashes from Ground Zero, a gaping hole remains in his life that he knows may never be filled.

Even though relatives in New York City spoke to Steven at his office the morning of and during the attack, Mr. Cafiero has found it hard to place his son at the epicenter of the violence.

Mr. Cafiero said that Steven's last words, as reported to him by relatives in New York, were uttered just as the second plane crashed into the floors below him: "Oh, my God."

Memorial

Shortly afterward, Mr. Cafiero planted a sapling in his backyard in his son's memory, near the chairs in which he and Steven held their final in-person talk. He returns there periodically to pray and to remember.

"I go at night, and I sit in his chair -- and we talk and I pray. I pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be. I say the Pledge of Allegiance. Whenever I see his picture in the morning, I tell him that I love him, that I miss him -- and I tell him to rest in peace."

A singer, songwriter and entertainer, Mr. Cafiero turned to the healing power of words and music after his son's death. He has worked diligently on a poem to chronicle the events of Sept. 11, and the feelings of fear, terror and loss that cascaded across America.

"Every moment that I had spare went into this poem -- when I was at my job, when I was on my breaks, whenever I got a free moment in the stockroom," he said.

A year later

Mr. Cafiero does not welcome the coming of the first anniversary of the attacks or the reminders of the loss that he experiences every day through the media and through the lawyers dealing with survivors' and families' remuneration. His fiancee, Carol Krutz, feels the fatigue brought on by the anniversary, as well.

"It never goes away," she explained. "We're always waiting for a phone call. Maybe they found something. We read about Ground Zero, and they keep asking about what they're going to build. A memorial? A mall? And then there's money and this fund and that fund and the Red Cross. Every day, we're dealing with something. It's a constant reminder."

"End it," said Mr. Cafiero. "End it. It's not helping our grief."

Faith's aid

Mr. Cafiero, a parishioner of St. Margaret of Cortona Church in Rotterdam Junction, turned to his parish family for help after Steven's death, and he remains grateful for their support and understanding.

The church held a memorial Mass for Steven, at which they played a song Mr. Cafiero composed for his son only a few months earlier.

"Our priest, Father Dennis Murphy, gave one of the most moving eulogies I have ever heard," he said. "Father said that 'God didn't judge that day; they all went to heaven.' It's terrible -- that finality of never seeing him again."

Musical comfort

Mr. Cafiero plans to attend the memorial ceremonies at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, where he will receive a rose given by the city in his son's honor. Meanwhile, he will continue to sing and perform for the elderly in nursing homes, for developmentally disabled residents at the local ARC, and for friends and family at weddings.

"He's wonderful" at the nursing homes, Ms. Krutz said. "He sings the old-time songs for them. One by one, he'll sing to them, kiss them, ask their name and tell them how pretty they look. At the ARC, the people want to dance and jump, and he'll sing and pull them around so they're dancing in their wheelchairs."

Even those experiences, however, cannot alleviate the pain left by his son's death. Picking up a copy of his poem, Mr. Cafiero read, brokenly: "This tragic day our eagle stopped flying/joined by the Statue of Liberty crying/September eleventh, two thousand and one/is also the day I lost my own son."