[Anniee]

I don't know if anyone's said this yet, but I know this much. That morning was such a f*cking nightmare that when I try to recount it I get things mixed up order-wise too. I can look back and be sure that I saw the second plane hit live, but I know I really didn't because I didn't turn on the TV until the second plane hit. I DID see the first collapse, and I didn't see the second because I was outside looking for signs of panic in the streets and wondering why the hell there was none. I was also looking in the sky for fighter planes and bombs. But the rest of the morning was all running around losing my mind screaming, begging my husband NOT to go to West Point as he was supposed to do, and for god's sake the PENTAGON had been hit and he couldn't leave, and just WAITING for air raid sirens and bombs to start dropping because we were in the dead center - south of NYC, North of the capitol, east of PA - right in the red area in NJ where they told us would be the FIRST place to be hit when the shit hit the fan and the bombs started dropping. I didn't feel slightly safe until all planes were grounded. So no, I don't remember all the exact sequences PRECISELY either, but the morning is still burned into my mind like a curse.

I can only imagine as the president, being in charge, knowing DC was also under attack, was also mind-bogglingly traumatic. I don't think it was a lie at all but merely the recollection of one of the most horrible days in our nation's history.