Lisa Nelson's Notes

9/11-01

I am grateful to say, being 1 1/2 miles from the World Trade Center kept us from harm's way.  I am so glad I rescheduled my babysitter for tomorrow, because I had originally planned to be right there, a block away, first thing this morning.  Thank God for those unrealized hunches!  I will miss my running route destination, which was the World Trade Center (and back). 

I wonder if they will ever be able to build anything there again, or will they annex the grounds to the Holocaust Museum, which resides next door?  All of us here are reviewing those decisions in our lives where we decided not to work there any more, or give up the financial world, or any number of other possible paths which might have kept us in that locale. 

This has been a day of connecting with loved ones. 

Nothing works today.  No cabs, no banks, no transit system, many of the roads closed or blockaded.  I have two dollars in my wallet.  As dusk approaches, cranes are being brought in from far and wide.

The sidewalks are crowded with people wearing walkers with cinders all over their feet.  The city has been turned into a tragic walk-a-thon.  Cars drive around with an inch of cinders on the hoods.  Trucks with spools of cable wiring are coming, and ambulances going.  Sirens everywhere. 

Pray for peace.

9-12

The city has been transformed to a state of shock. 

The sky is filled with new sounds, unfamiliar sounds of air force traffic.  Military personnel in camouflage and Jeeps and Hummers have filled the neighborhood, since the armory is two blocks away. 

The banks have closed, grocery stores have closed, delis have run out of basic food supplies.  Many restaurants shut their doors with notes posted saying they could not carry on with business in light of the tragedy. 

Ruby has a classmate whose father worked on the high floors of the Tower.

Schools are closed.  The streets are so deserted that you can stand in the middle of Madison Avenue for several minutes before you would see a vehicle coming.  Now, as the business hours approach, the only traffic noises are sirens.  This might be the safest place on earth right now, the city is so war ready. 

Pray for Peace.

9-13

Two nights ago New York City streets were deserted and the only active site near my home was the Armory two blocks away.  It looked like a full service military installation, abuzz with camouflage uniforms, Hummers, Jeeps, all personnel armed and posted on any given corner nearby. 

Today the Armory has become the civilian center where families missing lost ones are circulating photographs, trying to exchange information, crying openly, walking in their dazed exhaustion.  Virtually every person is walking about, holding out their personal flier with the photograph of a smiling family member, all of whom had no idea what their fate held for them when those photos were taken.

News crews and their transmitter trucks are lined up outside my apartment.   They have had to park their vehicles away from view of the thousands of people searching for their missing loved ones, because they cannot bear to watch the sorrow.