My own September 11th, 2001

I live 40 miles from New York City... Guess what I did on my 19th birthday.

I've been living in America for about 3 years now. I've had fun since I set foot on the soil of this great land. My first birthday, when I turned 16, celebrated here was not as much a ball as the the other two birthdays celebrated in the years 1999 and 2000. Tragedy struck this year because my Birthday falls on the 11th of September.

I had planned many things for my 19th birthday. After classes in college, me and my friends were to go on lunch, then watch some movie and then go to a club or something. So, I woke up that morning and my mother wished me a "Happy" Birthday. My dad and my sister followed by congratulating me as I proceeded to exit the house to go to college at 7:45 in the morning. As I stepped outside, I looked at how beautiful the skies were that morning. The sun shone bright and a light breeze was touching my skin. Thank you God.

I unlocked the car, got in, and started the engine. I turned on my favorite radio station, 100.3 FM, and began my day with the beat of The Wiseguys playing "Start the Commotion." I started driving down to the college.

I came to class just in time... 8:00 am. It was my Spanish-I class. I wished a good morning to my "El Professor" and proceeded to be seated on one of the "los asientos." So, we started learning about Spanish speaking countries, and states with a large hispanic population in America. We had a little class Quiz on the same day. I scored a 100 points. My professor has this strange habit of leaving his cell phone on during class. People sometimes call him in the morning and he generally answers the calls in class, telling them that he'll call them back later. On this fateful day of September 11th, his phone rang at approximately 9:13 am during class. He looked into the Motorola phone that displayed his wife's phone number. He said to the class... "Oh, its my wife... she can wait." He forwarded the call to his mailbox and continued teaching.

We got out of class at 9:20 am. I went to a computer lab to check my email. While I was in the middle of reading an email, a black guy's cell phone rang. He talked and suddenly looked worried. He packed up his bag and as he was leaving he asked everyone in the room if they had friends or family working in the Twin Towers in New York. On getting a negative response, he said, "A plane crashed into one of the Towers." He left. Every one figured he was talking Bu!!$h:T.

Evacuation of the college was under execution. Every driver was struggling to get out of the college first. I started the car engine and turned on the radio. I looked at the chaos that the parking lot had become. I didn't move my car... just listened to the radio. At this time, both towers were burning according to the radio waves. Every station confirmed the event.

"Oh, my God," said the voice on the radio, "You won't belive this but the South tower is collapsing."

I had left the parking lot for more than an hour now but the traffic was jammed. All the talks in the radio were making me depressed, but I wanted to listen. Both the towers were down. I had tried to contact my family and friends, but no connection was available. I knew that no one was at my home, so I decided to go to a friend's house.

It took me another hour to get there because of the heavy traffic. I rang the bell and my friend's sister opened the door. She told me to follow her into the living room. As I slipped my head into the room, my senses recieved the first visual of the event. My jaws dropped as I watched the videos of the towers being played over and over again. I just sat there staring at the TV for another half hour. By this time, my cell phone had come back to life and I had given a call to my father and mother. My sister had called me. We were all fine. Two of my friends showed up at my bunker. It was around two o'clock. We stayed there for another 2 hours watching the news.

I could have cried. I was heartbroken. We were all weeping inside. Fingers were pointing towards Terrorism at this time. Osama Bin Laden was a prospect to take the blame. My friends and I made up our minds to stick to our original plan and shove the terror up the terrorists' behind. So we had a little evening snack at a decent restaurant. We rendezvoused at the movies with another friend later. The theater was barren. We seemed to be the only customers. On the brighter side, we had the seats of our choice... 12th row-center. We got out while the sun was still out. We were still feeling a little low. So, we headed for a lake we were aware of.

"So, no party tonight, huh?" my friend asked as he threw a pebble in the lake-water. I smiled. Then we all started laughing hysterically as the sun dropped past the horizon.

I am 19. I look back on September 11th and realize how much my life has changed since that day. My mind thinks of the first image of the incident that I saw on the television screen at my friend's house. I remember the words that the radiostation host spoke as the south tower came collapsing down. I remember the black guy bu!!$h:TTing us about a plane crashing into the north tower. I remember my professor's phone ringing as his wife tried to inform him of the tragedy. I remember him disconnecting the call. I remember learning about the hispanic population in the world at 8:45 am eastern time on that day. I remember the beautiful sky and sunny breeze as I stepped out of my house that morning...

I remember my mother wishing me a Happy Birthday, a "Happy" wish, a wish,... a wish frozen in time.