September 11, 2001 - So where were you?

There are these certain benchmarks we all share.  Maybe it was where were you when the Challenger Space Shuttle explosed for our parents it might be when John F. Kennedy was shot.  Newer ones could be where you were when you heard Michael Jackson died.  But I think for a long time the one benchmark will be where you were on 9-11.  Did you see it on TV as it happened?  Were you in NY.  Did you know someone in the Twin Towers.  So many questions, such a shared experience between the entire country.

So where was I on 9-11?  I was at Good Samaratian Hospital in Downers Grove, IL.  In the psych ward to be exact.  It was my first hospitalization and one I'll never forget.  I actually was taken there on 9-9.  That was terrifying enough.  There were only a few things I remember about being there.  One is the nurse telling me I would be signing away my rights to own a handgun for 5 years.  Well there went me asking Santa for a gun for Christmas.

You know back in 2001 they still let you smoke in hospitals.  There was this little room you were allowed to go into 4 times a day.  You non-smokers do miss out on a great bonding experience.  I've bonded with smokers at hospitals, office buildings, outside airports and malls.  You name it.  We are a friendly group.  But I digress.

I remember the TV being on in this "community room".  I had heard about the first plane hitting the Twin Towers and went to watch the TV.  As I walked in I watched as the plane went into the tower.  Except I thought I was watching tape of the original plane.  It wasn't until a little while later that I realized what I had just seen was live as the 2nd plane plowed into the second tower.

Let me tell you, if watching those two planes destroy those buildings wasn't surreal enough, adding where I was at the time to it.  It was indescribable.  Then the pentagon and the plane that went down in PA.  And as all this was going on in the "outside" world, I felt strangely comforted to be where I was.  In this little secure world of my own.

Of course any helped I had hoped to get in my time in the hospital was soon gone as the focus for everyone became the attacks.  Life did seem to stand still for several days.  We were stunned.

But I'll never forget where I was 9-11-01.  And I've got a story to go with it.

Oh the other thing I remember was my roommate.  A very quiet woman, don't think she said 2 words to me or anyone else.  But as I layed in my bed one afternoon she sat straight up and started screaming like someone was trying to kill her.  No words, no actions, just screaming.  Weirdest thing.  I've had weirder experiences in psych wards but this is in the top 5.