Taking a few days off

This is unrelated to diabetes, so if you're not interested in every little detail of my life, you can skip this post and know I'll be back later next week.

I was born in Brooklyn. Grew up on Long Island. I have been to NYC countless times. And while I have wandered the States for a good chunk of my adult life, I was on Long Island on 9/11.

On that fateful Tuesday morning, I was sleeping in. My filing for disability was underway, so all I had was time. One of my housemates came charging into my room to say, "Someone flew a plane into the Twin Towers!" 

By the time I reached the TV, the second plane had hit. My housemates and I watched in horror as they collapsed. Time seemed to stop moving. The only thing happening in the entirety of the world was the terrorist attack on New York City. I remembered a time when I was in my early twenties, when I stood beneath the towers, captivated by their majesty despite being a NY native.

As the talking heads on numerous news channels began their repetitious recap of what we'd all seen and speculating on all of the details, I gathered up my "wandering stuff" and left the house. My "stuff" was a backpack containing a CD Walkman, a good book to read, and usually the means to take some insulin. I had no real destination. I just needed to not be surrounded by other people.

My feet, however, seemed to have a plan. They brought me to the nearby public library. After proving that I did indeed have a library card, I logged on to one of the computers - my only access to the internet back then - and e-mailed a friend in TX. This was my exact message: Today, they blew up my home. That was it. I could find no other words. I was too shocked to do anything else, so I wandered back to the house and crawled into bed.

Since discovering it, I've watched the following documentary on every anniversary of 9/11. I own the DVD, so I'm not reliant on streaming services. It was made by a pair of French brothers, Jules and Gedeon Naudet. Purely by accident, they caught the first collision on camera. The documentary is disturbing and filled with adult language, so I'm not recommending this for people easily upset or for children. But if you have the time, I suggest it be watched to find out what it was like to be in the Tower lobby as history unfolded. The link I'm providing was put up just under a year ago, so there's no telling when or if it will be taken down. It's simply called 9/11. I recommend you look for it using the brothers' names as well to narrow down your search if you ever need to find it again.

Optimistically, I'll have a new post for 14 September, but realistically I should say it'll be 16 September.