Thursday, September 11, 2008

Seven Years

Seven years ago, I was a very, very nervous first-time mother who had barely taken her newborn out of the house. Early on the morning of my baby's two-week checkup, my husband and I got up, got ready, and slowly and carefully made the drive to the pediatrician's office for our appointment.

We reached the check-in counter about five minutes before our appointment time, and the receptionist berated me, "Do you see the sign? You are supposed to be here at LEAST fifteen minutes before your appointment. I have the right to cancel your appointment because you are late. Don't let this happen again." Standing in an office I had never visited before, whose policies I did not know, in my milk-stained shirt and holding a newborn in a car seat, I cried.

We sat in the waiting area for a moment, and then were called in to see the doctor. "Did you hear that a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center in New York?" the nurse asked. "No," we said. "Was it a small plane?" "I don't know," she replied, as she deftly checked our little girl and went to get the doctor.

We drove back to our house to find my visiting flight attendant mother sitting on the couch crying as she watched the TV. "A second plane just flew into the towers," she said. Scott had to leave for work, but Mom and I sat glued to the TV all day. Because there were no planes flying and no rental cars to be had, my brother-in-law drove my mother to meet my father halfway between our homes. And I continued to watch the coverage through a haze of hormones and sleep deprivation, holding my baby girl.

9 comments:

  1. Mimi was born in the middle of the Katrina aftermath, and I thought THAT was bad. And I couldn't really say anything about it because complaining seemed so trite with everyone else suffering so much more.

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  2. MBM--I still feel that way, but this is what happened and how I felt, and I wanted to write about it.

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  3. It's hard for me to think about where I was and what I was doing that morning. I still don't understand why, but it's just so emotional. I was in school and I was hearing most of what happened through people wandering into class. Then I listened to more on the radio on the way home. A sad time for sure. Not something I want to relive.

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  4. I was at work, frantically trying to beat a deadline. I was also about 16-17 weeks pregnant. Two days after, hubs and I were still glued to all the news coverage--and I felt the baby move for the first time. I remember watching CNN with tears in my eyes thinking, "What kind of world am I bringing this baby into?"

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  5. First of all, that receptionist at the doctor's office was just horrible to do that to you.

    Secondly, I will also never forget that day seven years ago. It seems like it will always be always seared into our collective memories.

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  6. This is a beautiful story. I'm tearing up a bit. I've seen a lot of 9/11 stories today. I love yours.

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  7. Hello! I loved this story. Since I remember so clearly what I was doing that day (packing my bags to head to the airport!) and the attending worries about my brother who we knew was in lower Manhattan, I can just picture you on the same day.

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  8. Wow-- two very intense times, seamed together. It must have been very strange! I'm glad you were together with your family. But I don't care what's happening in the world: bringing a new person into the world, and adjusting to life afterwards, will always be a very, very big deal. No matter how many gazillions of times it's happened.

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  9. Such a sad day. I hope that day made the receptionist think twice about what really matters. ;)

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