by Elizabeth G

Created on: February 11, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

I am truly amazed that it's been five whole years since September 11, 2001. Time has passed so quickly, although for those who were personally affected, five years can seem like a lifetime when you are in pain. Certainly, a new life began for them on that day.

9/11 will forever be one of those "where were you when" days. I was working in the same office building I currently work in, although for a different company. It's a small building, so it's oddly coincidental that two of my jobs have been located here. I had been at work for about 45 minutes and was busily checking e-mails and getting my day started. The co-worker sitting next to me said "hey-there was just a major plane crash". I went to CNN's web site and it wasn't loading. Neither were any of the other news web sites, due to the abnormally high amount of Web traffic trying to access those sites. Someone had a radio, so we listened to the reports on the radio.

For the next few hours, rumors started flying everywhere "I heard the USA today building was bombed!" And "I heard the FAA building is under attack". We all decided to leave the building and stand outside. I remember that the weather was gorgeous and every one was remarking how today was such an "average" day, and who would have expected this? We were advised not to go home because they thought the roads might be dangerous. But then an hour later, we were sent home.

I remember my drive home. I lived just four miles from the office, so it was a quick drive, but a memorable one. Vertical Horizon's "Angel Without Wings" was playing on my CD player. I started to think about how this would affect my eating for the day. And I wondered if my aerobics class would still happen. And then I realized that I was so caught up in my own bubble of food obsessiveness, that I was really numb to the big picture. Thousands of people just died. Children lost their parents, wives lost their husbands and vice versa. And yet all I could think about was what I would eat when I got home. I was unable to cry, and I just felt chilled by the whole thing. I had been feeling numb for the past few months, and I thought that maybe an event like this would bring some emotion back into me, but it did not.

I was on the fast path towards anorexia and I didn't even realize it. All I knew was that food and exercise were always top of mind, and nothing else in life seemed to matter to me.

I arrived home and turned on the news. I watched as they repeatedly showed the planes crashing into the towers. I was dumbstruck. I was glued to the news all day until it was time for my aerobics class. It was smaller than usual, but there were still about 5-6 of us. The instructor started the class by saying "I feel like I should probably say something, but I am not sure what to say, so let's just have class".

I don't remember much after that. I probably just went home, showered, and fell asleep.

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