9/11

Today is the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 disaster in New York. Carleen and I have just watched a documentary of footage shot by the general public as the Twin Towers came down and memories of the day it all happened came flooding back.

11 September 2001 (Bethesda Rehabilitation Hospital)
"Wake up, wake up, you have to see this!" says a nurse as she shakes my shoulder.

"Wha... Wha... What?" I splutter as I slowly open my eyes to see the night nurse turning on the TV.

It's only bloody 6am, what the hell can be so important that they needed to wake me. Its the first bloody descent night's sleep I've had in ages and she decides to wake me!

"Holly shit! Is that real? What's happening? When did this happen?" I bombard the nurse with questions.

"It's live. It's happening now. A plane just crashed into the World Trade Centre!" She replies.

A moment later the footage switches to the second tower and we witness the plane slam into the side of the building.

A million thoughts are going through my head. Is this an accident? Is it happening anywhere else? Are we safe in Australia? Oh, my god, I hope Carleen is safe? Why?...

This is no accident and that this is no minor incident. What I can see is beyond belief and I don't want to believe that it's true. I can't handle the fact that not only is my own world in turmoil, but this could be the start of the end for the rest of the world. I begin to sob.

The panic that is gripping the entire western world is palpable and I am lying here helpless, unable to be with the ones that I love to comfort them. I hope Carleen isn't watching this. I hope she will be here soon. I need to hold her.

Oh no! Someone just jumped! I sob uncontrollably...

Oh my god! That building just collapsed. Will it ever end!

Oh my god! Make it stop! Make it stop!...

By the end of the day, I was completely exhausted and I had shed more tears than I thought it was possible for any individual to have. I thought the tears were over and that I had come to terms with my own plight. Now what was I to do. That evening the images that shocked the world were indelibly etched on my memory and forever more those images will transport me back to that hospital bed and to the raw emotion and heart ache of 9/11/2001.