Not Forgotten...

This whole week I've been so busy preparing for Dylan's birthday tomorrow. Last minute shopping, final preparations for her party and just getting her excited in general. Of course, part of my prep work included trying to decide how I could adequately and appropriately pay tribute to my soon-to-be three-year old. I went back to last year's birthday post, and as I read it I was reminded of something about Dylan's birth; in no way, shape or form did I want her born on the 11th. Not at all. It was not a day I wanted her to have to share with such a huge tragedy in our country. I was adamant about it. My daughter would not be born on September 11th. And that was when it hit me; today was the 11th.

I knew that it was coming. I'd been seeing all the news events and the local tributes and all of the made-for-tv movies, but it didn't really sink in that it was here.

September 11th was such a different day for me than for most people I know. To me, it wasn't the 11th that haunts me. It was officially the 12th... and the 13th. I had friends who lived in NY at the time and I can't imagine what this day was like for them. I don't think anyone can understand what it must have been like to be there. But I can't even comprehend what they day must have been like for millions of Americans.

You see, on that day, I was on a plane. I was coming home from my first trip to Europe. I was with two friends, and originally, our flight was supposed to stop at JFK. Instead, we changed our tickets and ended up taking a non-stop flight to LAX. After my trip was over I scrapbooked my trip, with a special few pages dedicated to the September 11th tragedy. Part of those pages included quite a long journal entry about how I was affected that day.

Because this blog is partly a journal for me, I wanted to copy down those pages of my memories of that day...

This morning Diana and I woke up in our London hotel room at 4:30 so we could meet Nikki and Aileen out front to catch our cab to the Heathrow airport. They were meeting us at 5:15 for the 40-minute cab ride. We arrived at the airport at about 6am and checked in. We sat around the terminal until Nikki and Aileen boarded their 7:55 non-stop flight from Heathrow to San Francisco. Diana and I then waited until our 8:50am flight was ready to depart. Once situated on the plane, we settled in to watch movies and remember the trip we just had. Diana and I were already planning our next trip for the following year.

After my second movie ended, I turned on the "map" feature so I could track our flight and see where we were and how much time was left before we were to arrive in LA. The screen showed that we were somewhere over Canada and there were 3 hours and 48 minutes left before we were to reach LA. Instead of turning on a new movie, I watched the screen a while longer and noticed that our "time to destination" had changed from 3 hours 48 minutes, to 58 minutes. I noticed on our map that our destination had also changed. At first it looked as though we were going to Chicago, but as the map zoomed in, I saw that it was Winnipeg, Canada. My first reaction was that United was nuts because they had some other plane's flight path tapped into our monitors.

After seeing the same information a second time, the captain came on the PA. He said: "Ladies and gentlemen, some of you may be watching the flight pattern on your screens and notice that our intended destination is Winnipeg, Canada. We have been requested to land in Winnipeg and that is all I know. I don't know why we are being asked to land, I can only tell you that there is nothing wrong mechanically with the plane. We'll update you as we learn more."

Of course, we cracked jokes and said there was a bomb on the plane, or wondered if we were picking up passengers because our flight was so empty and we even took bets on how long we would be on the ground, but no one knew why we were landing. We landed at about 11 or 11:30 am Central time and once on the ground the captain came on again and said we were not going to the airport terminal but being requested to go to a remote location. Then the thoughts of a bomb became more real.The "remote" location turned out to be a military base. We saw the jets and the carriers and then the Army vehicles as well. We knew there must not be a bomb on the plane, because the captain came back on the PA and said that we were being asked not to deplane but to sit and wait for further information.

After about an hour, we received our next update from the captain. "There have been 4 or 5 plane crashes and there are 7 or 8 planes missing." We didn't know where the crashes had taken place or anything else but that. A half-hour later the captain told us that 2 planes had hit the World Trade Center, one had hit the Pentagon and another was on the ground being held by hijackers, and now there were 4 or 5 planes unaccounted for. We were also told that the US airspace had been closed.

Little by little we were learning more information about the events in the US, especially NY. We finally heard which airlines were involved and upon hearing that some were United, Diana and I immediately wondered if Nikki and Aileed were ok as they had left an hour before us. We had no idea where the planes originated, only that three were headed for LA and one for San Francisco. We were starting to receive updates more often now and our whole flight was panicking. Only two phones on the plane worked and it took roughly 10-15 minutes to find an open line. We were told that another flight with 350 passengers was going to deplane before us and that it would be 4-5 hours before we could get off the plane. In the mean time, they had patched our in-flight audio system to a local radio station so we could hear the news about what was happening. This was the first time the severity of what happened really hit me, but you can't imagine anything like this happening until you actually see the video footage.

Finally at about 9pm local time, I was able to get through to mom and dad. I used the phone on the plane, and it cost me a fortune. It was $10 just to connect the call, then $10 for each minute. I knew that mom was tracking my flight and that she must have known we landed in Winnipeg, but I also knew that she would want to hear my voice. With all the time changes we had been through in the last two weeks, when I heard that the first plane hit the WTC at 8:45, I immediately thought that mom was already at work and hadn't seen the tv nor really wondered about me because she could track the flight. Once I got through and talked with her, she told me that it was at 6am when Shanen called her and told her to turn on the tv. They were both panicking and wondering where my flight was. It didn't help at all that one of the United flight numbers was 93, and my flight number was 933. Mom told me during that phone call that there were many anxious moments and that she was hysterical. She also told me that my friend had called her even before she had left for work wondering if she had heard from me. I talked with both mom and dad before hanging up, letting them know that I was ok and that I would call again when we got off the plane.

Finally at 11pm our plane began to deplane. In groups of 20, we were led off the plane. My group of 20 finally got off and 11:30. At the bottom of the stairs that led from the top of the plane, an armed guard from the military base met us. Passengers had their own military escort and we were asked to take all of our carry-on luggage and put it in a line flat on the ground. Our guard stood behind us. There were floodlights so we could see, and police officers all over the place. From the right side of the line, a police officer led his canine down the row of bags so that the dog could detect any type of bomb or anything else that might seem dangerous or suspicious. Once the dog finished, a second dog was led back up the row of bags, then a third dog to check again. It would normally seem to be a little overly cautious, but in light of the circumstances, everyone was glad that such precautions were being taken.

From there we were asked to retrieve our bags and to accompany our guard to positively ID our checked luggage. I grabbed mine and off we went through 4 different customs stations. We showed our passports and spoke with the customs officials and police officers, and even after such a long day, everyone wsa very friendly and had continuous words of encouragement. We were even told that we could stay in Canada for up to 6 months, which sounded like a good option at the time. When we reached the fifth station inside the hangar, there were long rows of tables so that each of our bags could be hand searched. My first thought was "how embarrassing" my second thought was, "thank goodness that this is being done, I wouldn't want anything to be overlooked." Our guard then followed us into a side room where at least 30 police officers were waiting to question us individually. This is where my military escort left me. I met with a very nice lady who took all of the normal information (ie, name, address, phone number, where we were headed, what we were doing) then she asked if I was scared to fly again and how this had affected me emotionally. I told her that I would be fine getting on a plane again, because I knew that they wouldn't let us back in the air until everything was safe and secure.

We finished chatting and she walked me outside to a city bus that was waiting to take us to the provided hotel. (I was originally in a separate hotel from Diana and Frank, but after telling the representative from Canada Air, she found me a room at the TraveLodge so that I could be with them. She said that at times like this, it was important to be with friends and not be alone. She was great.) We got to our hotel in downtown Winnipeg and checked into our rooms and I opened my door at 12:43am. All in all I had been awake for 27 hours, but I didn't go to sleep then. I turned on the tv, and for the first time, I saw the tragedies that had occurred throughout the day. The images that I had in my mind based on the radio accounts were nothing compared to what I saw on the tv that night. I was glued to the television and couldn't turn it off. Finally, at about 3am I fell asleep with the tv on and the night was finally over.

What my journal entry didn't cover was what happened on the days that followed.

I had seen a local college and assumed that if there was a college, there must be an institute building. If there was an institute, there had to be a singles ward, which meant a bishop. Diana and I called the bishop the next morning, and his wife came and picked us up immediately and took us to our home. We watched the news and she made us lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches never tasted so good. She showed us around Winnipeg and we had dinner with the bishop and his wife that evening. It was so comforting to know that no matter where we were, or what our circumstances were, there was someone we could turn to for help and comfort. It was an amazing lesson to learn.

We never got an exact time we were going to leave Winnipeg to return home. We got some falst alarms now and again, but eventually, we left for the airport. We had a flight to LA, the only flight leaving Winnipeg that day (there were three flights diverted to Winnipeg, ours and two others). We went through some serious security (where they confiscated all the swiss army knives I bought in Switzerland for family members...and that I never got returned. They were supposed to be mailed to me.) and finally boarded our flight. It took hours of sitting around the airport but finally on Thursday the 13th, we headed home.

It was an eerie feeling arriving at LAX. For anyone who's been there, you know just how busy that airport is. This day it was anything but. I have a picture of the terminal board listing all arriving and departing flights. On that board every single flights said either delayed or cancelled. Our flight was the only flight that said arrived. Walking outside, there were no cars. Just the bus that was going to take us to an off site parking lot to meet our families and hundreds of police officers. Officers walking around, officers in cars, officers on motorcycles and officers on bikes. No limos, or hotel vans or car rental transports. No one dropping off or picking up. And the most eerie sound of all...no planes taking off or landing over our heads. It was completely silent.

I'm not quite sure how to sum up all that I felt over the course of those few days, or even how I feel about those events now. I do know that Septemeber 11th changed America and nothing will ever be the same again.