Where were you on 9/11?

For our generation, 9/11 is the "where were you when Kennedy was shot?" question.

I was in Greece. Specifically, on a beach made of sharp volcanic rocks in Santorini. It was overcast and I was not enjoying lying on a "beach" that jabbed, poked and drew blood. That night, we were waiting in the tiny airport for our flight to Crete when in the bathroom I overheard that planes had been hijacked. Great. I'm going to be on a tiny plane, flying at night over the dark Mediterranean Ocean and planes are being hijacked.

After a bumpy flight, we shared a cab with 2 Americans (a mother and daughter) to our hotel. The mother said that she heard there were bombs going off all over the U.S. "They bombed Chicago! New York! Washington, D.C!" I was really freaking out and it was only when there was a mix-up at the hotel and we had to sit in the lounge while it was sorted out that I saw the footage on CNN of the World Trade Towers being hit.

In a way, it was good for us to be in Greece (I was starting a new job in the Financial District in November) and pretend we were Asian tourists, cameras around our necks and all. Which is not to say there were any outright anti-American sentiments, in fact, Athens felt very quiet and in a state of mourning. We just felt that it was better to lay low. Obviously, we were unable to fly back to NY. Our hotel was kind enough to accommodate us at a reduced rate and we made a daily journey to the airline office to find out when we could get home. I was also fraught with worry over friends, family and loved ones in NY and DC. We didn't have access to a telephone or computer so we were pretty much glued to the TV.

We made it back 4 days later and thank goodness everyone was fine. There were a number of near misses. This person was late to work and her train was stopped and turned around. Both M and my uncle were on their way to the Pentagon. M remembers being stuck in traffic and seeing a large dark cloud of ash and soot envelope the car.

I look out the window at the rain while I write this and think that the heavens are shedding tears and remembering the lives lost along with us. This was a horrible tragedy and that out of the ashes we must be better to ourselves and each other.