No matter the cliche, I still remember that day like it was yesterday.
I was a department manager at Wal-Mart in Lebanon. All the department managers got to work an hour early and sat around the break room until 7:00 am. I clocked in and went about my day.
A little after 8, one of the managers called over the walkie-talkie to tell me that a plane had just hit the WTC - didn't my boyfriend work in the North Tower?
At first it almost sounded like a joke. I answered back and asked where he had heard about the plane, and he said the lady in receiving had heard it on the radio.
I tried to call my boyfriend Edward, who worked on the 78th floor of the North Tower. The cell phones were already down, and I started to get worried.
I went to the back to see if there was anymore info, and that's when the second plane hit. Now I was freaking out, desperately calling everyone I knew in NY, trying to see if anyone knew where Ed was.
We all sat in the receiving office and listened, first as the South Tower collapsed and then the North. When the North Tower fell, I crumbled. I was convinced that Edward was dead.
My friend Alicia drove me home. I just left my car at Wal-Mart. I remember looking out the car window and thinking it was such a beautiful day as well.
When I got home I stuck a tape in the VCR and just hit record. I still have that tape somewhere...no VCR anymore though.
I finally talked to Ed late that night. He had been late for work that morning, and hadn't made it into the Tower yet when the first plane hit.
Even today, I can't watch Tv or movies from pre-9/11 - it just gives me chills.
