I had jut arrived at work this morning when my co-workers told me what had happened. No one could believe it. No one did any work all day - they just kept wanting to talk about it and to find out what the latest developments were. I was at a meeting between 10 a.m and noon e.s.t. and, as I walked back up the street towards my office, I heard one of those blaaaat sounds that firetrucks make (the horn they use in addition to sirens to get other traffic out of the way or when they need to go through a red light.) Then I heard regular sirens (fire, amulance, police, the stuff you always hear when you live/work in a city. All I could think of was that something was going on here too. But it was just the usual city noises I might not notice other days. While I was in the meeting, one of the people attending was called away. Her home office is just next door to the American Embassy here in Toronto - they were evacuating all the offices in that area, in case someone might decide to attack the Embassy. The transit system was put on rush-hour service and many buildings were being evacuated, just to be safe. I left work early because i wanted to be with my kids - I wasn't sure how much they had heard, what they might have been told and I wanted to be with them. Because we don't have a TV at work and because we're discouraged (forbidden really) to download any software that could allow us to watch TV on the net and because those few who had downloaded it anyway couldn't get onto the sites due to traffic, we were pretty much relying on a couple of radios and any updated newspaper reports on the web. All day long, I kept thinking about my jmdl brothers and sisters in NYC, in Washington, anywhere in the US and God knows where else - are they OK? did they get home? are their families OK? I'm still having a hard time taking this in, even though, as I type this, I'm feeling a chill go over my whole body. I can't even give blood because of my recent surgery and I'm not even sure if my blood is safe anymore. I wasn't able to read any of your posts until just now because I can no longer access my yahoo account at work. Reading the various posts you all sent over the period of this day is, in many ways, more chilling than anything I've seen or heard in the media - because, even if I've never met you, I feel that I know you all, and you're all part of my big world-wide family. When I read your posts, one after the other, it was a chronology of the day so far, written in real life terms. So glad to hear from you jmdlers in the areas that were hit, that you're safe, that you're home - glad Hell made it home safe and sound. Wishing you lots of love. Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca
