Where I Was

I had been in for close to two weeks and hadn't watched much television, but the sets were tuned into the Today show. I lay there for a while, half sleeping, but when the nurse asked if I wanted her to turn the set off, I said she didn't have to. Today switched to a camera turned on the WTC and we all watched the plane hit the building.

Terrible. I don't think any of us wanted to believe it.

Several minutes later we heard about the Pentagon, and we had no choice but to believe that something serious was happening. The term "earth-shattering" came to mind. I asked a doctor whether they just wanted to send me back to my room to they could be ready for emergencies. He said it would be business as usual, but he didn't smile, so I signed my consent form and off we went into the OR.

The last thing I heard as they wheeled me in, as the drugs dripped through my IV and froze my body, was that the Capitol had also been hit.

The Capitol. That's my neighborhood. My family is there, my friends, my home. My cats were home alone and for all I knew my mom was in her office just a few blocks from the actual building.

I went under, terrified that when they were done with me, I'd have nothing to go home to. Let me tell you that terror and sedation are not a good mix. I cannot recall ever feeling a greater sense of relief than finding out that the Capitol still stood.

I remembered that today as we were driving home from Pentagon City Mall, where I went to try to purchase a new charger for my cell phone. There's still a maze of jersey barriers on the streets surrounding the Capitol, and it still seems weird to me.

But I remembered what I thought at the very beginning, for a few terrible minutes, and it's all right. Besides, the street you have to take now feeds directly into my street, that's all right too.

before - after