9/11 Never Forget! (pics)

Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA)

Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA)

Member Since 2010
Hi L&LL,

This is a remembrance of that awful day: the fires, the sense of disbelief, the smoke everywhere, not being able to walk home (to Brooklyn) until evening because the bridges were closed and no subways were running, our local fire house--a first- responder unit that lost half of it's firefighters--, the air full of office stationary from the World Trade Center, some of it charred, some pristine letterhead, the smoldering ruins and the smell that took months to dissipate.

But 9/11 brought us two of the most wonderful kitties. We adopted Stu from the ASPCA 2 weeks after 9/11 because we thought there would be many cats whose people were killed in the attack. We took him home on the subway because the streets were impossibly clogged. It was rush hour. He meowed and his big white feet were sticking out of the holes in the cardboard carrier. The other passengers were curious. Fast-forward 6 years. Stu developed diabetes. We shot "blind" for 4 years until we were switched to Lantus because Stu's insulin had been discontinued. Lantus dosing was very different and the vet didn't take that into account. Stu was overdosed and we almost lost him. That was when I found this board (in January 2010).
Fast-forward to November 2010. Stu had arrived at the Bridge in September. We missed him very much. Then we learned about Rusty, who needed to be re-homed. It was an easy decision. We "knew" (or thought we knew) feline diabetes, so we stepped up. Rusty came to us via a DCIN relay transport through Canada. Everyone on the board was following his journey. How wonderful was that first night when this splendid kitty jumped up on our bed and snuggled down between his beans. We miss him so much now that he has traveled to the Bridge. We see him everywhere. Soon I will post a remembrance of him, but tonight I just wanted to reflect on the event that was responsible for bringing so much joy into our lives.
Stu, the 911 kitty--diabetes, the link--Rusty.
Here are their avatars:
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And here's the WTC from our Brooklyn roof, before 9/11
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Beautiful story Ella!

I was in study hall when that first plane hit... and I'll never forget the pindrop silence in the room while we were listening to the radio. I tear up still thinking about it. It was horrible for all... but I think it was especially hard on kids. I was actually thankful that the TVs were told not to play the footage anymore.

Here is myself, my brother and my mom in NYC just weeks before the attacks.
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Wow!! I wish I was at my parent’s house so I could grab some photos of me at and in front of the twin towers. (Its a good one too, I was about 12-13, so the pictures are rly awkward which at least provides some comic relief.) it’s bad enough getting bad news about Frosty, but on this day of all days, really sucks.

I was also in HS when it happened, and my dad worked downtown (not in the towers), so I remember calling home terrified. I was lucky and my dad was safe. Not everyone was so lucky. A girl in the grade below me lost her brother who was only 22, just started working at the towers. We retired his basketball jersey later that year.

Thanks for the post, and I’m glad that despite the tragedy you were able to find your babies. I can relate to that part.
 
I don't think any of us will forget 9/11. I had the morning news on TV as I was getting ready to leave for work and they broadcast the first plane hitting. The Chicago news anchors were in disbelief, as was I. NPR was on the radio as I drove into work. More disbelief. As I walked through the ambulatory care center to my office, there was a TV on in a waiting room with patients and staff crowding around to hear the news. I couldn't pull up news feeds on my computer -- the systems were overloaded with people trying to find out what was happening. The hospital was put on alert. Essential personnel were asked to not leave. Chicago didn't know if the city, with it's skyscrapers, was a target. Driving home, the streets were empty -- which was an eerie sensation if you are familiar with Chicago traffic. Many of us were networking with colleagues in NYC both to make sure they were safe and to see if trauma teams from out of state needed to be mobilized.

As bad as the day of 9/11 was, at least for me, the days that followed were worse. The pictures and stories of the loss, heartbreak, and devastation that followed were traumatizing. While those days are now "history" for many people who were not alive at the time, I hope we do not forget either how painful the events of 9/11 were or how heroic the first responders and the crews that followed and everyday people were. It was the worst of times and it brought out the best in people.
 
Wow, thank you for sharing. Beautiful. Here are some photos I took when I took my mom to NYC a few months ago. The fire station is right next to the Trade Center memorial pools. The first photo is hard to read but it says "the citys bravest".
 

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A lovely story of how Rusty and Stu came to be with you Ella.
It was late at night here when the story broke. My SIL rang us about 11.30 pm and told us to turn on the TV.
We all sat up and watched the TV for most of the night and watched in horror as the second plane hit the tower and later when they collapsed. It was just so unbelievably terrible.
When I got to work the next morning a colleague of mine was worried sick as her son was visiting NY and was visiting the Twin Towers that day. She later heard he was OK.
So many innocent lives lost and so many families and friends devastated by the loss of their loved ones.
 
So lovely to see this remembrance post, Ella. I was thinking of you on 9/11 because of Stu, and also because I was thinking that I would be sad not to see your annual post about your memories of that day. I’m so glad I came here and found this post. And, of course, who could forget the Rusty transport? Not me, not ever.

My own memories are of working as an air traffic controller at one of the many Canadian airports where dozens of aircraft were forced to land at the nearest airport in order to immediately clear the skies. It was so eerie seeing the darkened planes lined up to park on runways and taxiways everywhere for days, and to see the radar screens empty of targets save for military and air ambulance flights.

Thank you for your post.
 
First one is obvious. The second is Gander Newfoundland, turn left at the middle of nowhere. This is where so many international flights had no choice but to land. That is a very crowded runway!
The show "Come from away" tells the story. Gander airport is definitely not a destination, simply a refueling airport. In a town of 11,688 over 10,000 stranded passengers were welcomed into strangers homes and over packed motels.
Newfoundland is affectionately known to Canadians as The Rock.
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I was at home, never usually watch CNN in the morning. I had two VCR's and let both machines run all day. We've all seen the polished and edited documentaries but the raw footage still puts a pit in my stomach. Before we knew what was really going on a TV commentator asked residents to please not flush their toilets or have showers because the fire fighters needed all the water pressure they could use. That seemed to be an insignificant statement at the time but it's just something that really stuck to me.
For every conspiracy nut out there you have no understanding of the meaning of respect. There is a centuries old saying, "A peasant cannot kill a king". I wouldn't even know how to respond to that.
We stand together.
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Noah & me (GA) said:
First one is obvious. The second is Gander Newfoundland, turn left at the middle of nowhere. This is where so many international flights had no choice but to land. That is a very crowded runway!
The show "Come from away" tells the story. Gander airport is definitely not a destination, simply a refueling airport. In a town of 11,688 over 10,000 stranded passengers were welcomed into strangers homes and over packed motels.
Newfoundland is affectionately known to Canadians as The Rock.
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The play “Come from Away” is amazing and I highly recommend it. I laughed and I cried.
 
Out of disaster came something good, with Stu and then Rusty finding their forever homes.

I was in Chicago, at a trade show that day, supposed to fly home on the 12th. First notice was in a meeting with someone who lived in Washington and got the call about the Pentagon - strangely enough, most people seem to overlook that first plane. Then the TV's lit up everywhere with pictures of New York. I went back to the booth where I was working with colleagues from Pittsburgh - who also were impacted but not remembered as much. Two people I worked with that day were impacted closely, one lost his brother in the Pentagon, another lost a cousin in the Towers. All I could think about was getting home, and away from the hotel that was now near the tallest building in the US. It was several days before we could rent a vehicle, three days driving non stop. A day that will never be forgotten, no matter your nationality.
 
9/11 is one of those days that is imprinted in a lot of our minds forever, kind of like the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.

Looking at some of the photos of how young some were during 9/11 @CassAndGordy and @Bronx's dad , just 2 that came to mind, they might not even know who President Kennedy is! LOL

Thanks for all that shared their photos. I will never forget that day as one of our doctors lost her brother in the 2nd center. When she heard on the broadcast that it was hit and where, she got up and excused herself from the patient and left the office to be with her family....... that is the closet it hit to me and DH has a customer that lost her business that day but fortunately not her life.

Never forget!

ETA: But blessed were your kitties that came to you after that day.
 
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A touching tribute. I find it so upsetting - I was driving to work when the first plane struck. Once at work, no one could actually do any work. Someone brought in a small portable TV - it was an awful day - I remember feeling sick all day...very sad.

Happy to see your kitties avatars and the wonderful mama they found at that time.:bighug:
 
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