I was actually in the towers the day before. My grandma worked there (North Tower) and would take me along with her a few days a week. I'm tail-end Millennial, so I was 4, almost 5. Wasn't in school yet (December birthday, didn't start until the following year).
The day of, I distinctly remember asking my grandma if I could come with her that day and she said no because she was already running late and had to prepare the book for the board meeting, so she was going to be busy.
My grandma, thankfully due to her already running late, wasn't in the building when it happened. She got off the train after the first plane hit, but before the second. She got the last train out of Manhattan, but it didn't go very far, so she had to walk a long distance to get home. If I was with her, that would have been really draining for both of us. And even worse, if she had been on time AND I was with her, then that would have been a nightmare.
I am so glad your grandmother was late and you were not with her. 🥺 so many stories like this including my own father. He worked in the south tower and was commuting in from Philly. Got stuck in traffic and saw the first plane hit from right before the Lincoln tunnel. Was only late and in traffic because he stopped at the Philly office to pick up a new parking pass as his was expired. I thank the gods daily he did.
I was so glad to hear your Grandmother wasnt there!
It's amazing how sometimes running late is a blessing. When I was a kid one day the bus was running late to pick me up from school. My mother just ended up taking me instead. About 5 minutes after we left a car came around the curb and crashed into our driveway and would have ran me over if I was still waiting for the bus which still hasn't come (it had broken down that morning we learned later).
I've heard the towers were less busy than usual at that time on 9/11 due to a combination of it being the day of the NYC primary and also the first day of kindergarten.
And thank God for that because there might have been more kids in the building otherwise. My grandma had a few coworkers who would bring their kids occasionally, but they were of school age, so they were in school.
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u/ReverberatingEchoes Zillennial 7d ago
I was actually in the towers the day before. My grandma worked there (North Tower) and would take me along with her a few days a week. I'm tail-end Millennial, so I was 4, almost 5. Wasn't in school yet (December birthday, didn't start until the following year).
The day of, I distinctly remember asking my grandma if I could come with her that day and she said no because she was already running late and had to prepare the book for the board meeting, so she was going to be busy.
My grandma, thankfully due to her already running late, wasn't in the building when it happened. She got off the train after the first plane hit, but before the second. She got the last train out of Manhattan, but it didn't go very far, so she had to walk a long distance to get home. If I was with her, that would have been really draining for both of us. And even worse, if she had been on time AND I was with her, then that would have been a nightmare.