It was strange to reaccess the memories of exactly what we saw and heard in "real time" -- the confusion over whether it was a small plane that hit the first tower, the pictures of the second plane striking the second tower and with it the realization that this was no accident, the reports of the Pentagon under attack, the reports of bombs in other federal buildings (not true), the towers falling. I remembered how grateful I was for the ex-pat Bronzers board(s) and the folks who were there, including you.
Having that place, and each other, and watching the list of which Gotham and Mayberry Bronzers had checked in grow was really something else. I was amazed none of us were lost. You lost co-workers, didn't you?
After I got home from taking the children to school yesterday, I put the TV on. For about a minute. Then I shut it off, and reviewed the old board, instead. You're right, it was really strange to reaccess the memories. It also reminded me of the day, itself. I didn't have the TV on, because I didn't want the kids seeing it, so I got a lot of my news from Bronzers.
I had a little TV in the kitchen, and I turned that on in the afternoon. Julia came in the kitchen, and saw the shots of the towers on fire (they'd already fallen, I think) and yelled, "Fire! We gotta get outta here!"
I had to explain to her that it was far away. When I told her it was in New York, she mustered up all of her indignity, and with hands on hips, said, "New York Titty?" like it was her old stomping grounds. She still wasn't talking correctly, then, hence the "T" where the "C" should have been. That was only a few months after she'd patted my bum and told me she was "torry Bucky died," when she caught me crying, the day after The Gift aired.
Ben came out in the kitchen once (on 9/11, not after "Bucky" died) saw me crying, and when he asked why, I showed him what was happening on the TV. He told me not to worry, because it was only on TV, and so therefore, it wasn't real. I think that broke my heart, more than anything.
My mind's memory says I waited hours and hours for my mum and Scott to get out of Boston. I think the board clock is frelled now (for one thing, it's on the half-hour when real world time is on the hour), but still, they were home fairly early. I do remember wanting to take Ben home with me after the tea party, and really having to fight against that, because I knew it wasn't rational.
It was odd when people starting talking about it here, yesterday. I've read those WXing Buffista posts, and probably started lurking around then, but my online memories of the day are all Bronzer-related, and...I don't know, it was almost like seeing someone else's family talk about something that happened in my family.