September 11th Remembered

Today is a sacred day; a day to reflect and to remember and to hope that our future will never see another event such as the day, nine years ago.

We all have our stories to tell - I'm sure that you remember where you were and what you were doing. I know that you remember the horrible shock and the sadness of all the lives that were lost.

On that day, Gary and I, with our friends Liz and Ed were on a Princess Cruise Ship entering the Istanbul Harbor. It was the last day of our ten day cruise through the Mediterranean and we were going to spend one day in Istanbul and then prepare to leave the ship the day after. It was a dream trip and still one that I'll not forget. We just reached our room a little after 4:30 p.m. when, shortly after, our neighbors yelled "turn on the TV to CNN" NOW .... which we did. The first plane had already hit but we were stunned to actually watch the second plane hit - like all of you - it seemed like a nightmare. As I reflect on that moment it was like time stood still - it was difficult to wrap our minds around an event that was unbelievable. Within an hour all TV communications except for BBC were off so for the next two days they were our only source of information.

We immediately picked up the telephone to call our family to find that the ship had no communication. Later we discovered that the communications between the ship and the U.S. were completely shut down.

To the credit of the ship's Captain, we were kept informed about the status of our safety concerns; scuba divers were under and around the ship 24 hours and we could see armed guards on the pier.

The ship's intercom kept us informed and "calm" while they explained that they were doing everything that they could to deal with our return to the U.S. Air flights were curtailed so we were only able to fly to countries other than the U.S. We were very fortunate to have booked our airline tickets through the cruise line because they took responsibility to get us home. Those that booked their flights privately, were asked to leave the ship on schedule and deal with their return flights at the Istanbul airport. We stayed in communication with our cabin neighbors and they ended up in London for two days until they could book a flight to the U.S. Another couple flew to Paris to find that the hotel they booked wouldn't let them stay because they were afraid that U.S. people might put them in danger (they ended up in a B&B about an hour outside of Paris).

We remained guests of the ship for two more days before they bused us to the Istanbul airport to board a charter plane. It held 500 passengers so we were the first plane to head back home. The pilot explained that we had no clearance to land in the U.S. so he was uncertain if we would stay the night in Shannon Ireland where we landed to refuel or if we would be cleared to land in the U.S. (I later learned that the the city didn't have enough lodging to accommodate us all so Shannon Ireland people had rallied to take us in their homes to spend the night).

As it turned out, while refueling in Shannon, the pilot was told that we had clearance to land at JFK. We were the first International flight to land at the airport after the tragedy. I remember when the airplane prepared for landing. There was only one runway lit and we were the first and only airplane in the entire airport - when we landed at about 11 p.m. we were taken through Customs, put on a bus and taken to a hotel near the airport.

Finally we had a room about 2 p.m. but communications by phone were still difficult. We finally we able to phone Lori and Pam and they passed on the information that we were OK. The next day at the airport was bedlam but we eventually arrived in California about midnight the following day.

I'll never forget the view when we took off in the airplane from JFK - seeing the huge plume of black smoke surrounding the site of the crash - I still cry when I think or talk about it and I believe that I always shall ..................