I’m sure that each of us can remember where we were on September 11, 2001.  I was on a TWA flight that had taken off from Dulles around 9:00 a.m. bound for St. Louis.  My flight was work related and was a day trip.  I was defending an expert witness deposition.  Mid-flight our pilot announced that no one was permitted to leave his or her seat.  No explanation why.  The flight attendants were also unaware of what was going on.  Then the pilot came back on and announced that there had been a “National Emergency.”  A woman seated a couple of seats in front of me began to cry.  I later learned that she was on her way to her father’s funeral.  The pilot came back on the intercom and then told us that we were being diverted to Indianapolis.  He said that he didn’t know the nature of the “emergency” but as soon as he had the information, he would share it with us.  I gave my cell phone to the distressed passenger so she could call her family.  After we landed in Indianapolis, the pilot spoke with his wife over his cell phone.  He shared the information about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center but he didn’t have much more information other than we would be deplaned on the tarmac and then transported into the terminal.  In the terminal there was chaos as everyone headed for the rental car counters but there were no cars available.  I tried to call my family but I could not get through.  But for some unexplained reason, I was able to get in touch with my wonderful secretary Cristi who called everyone for me.  There were cabs at the airport so I caught one and asked to be taken to a hotel.  He took me to the Hyatt.  In the lobby, the TV was on.  A pretty large group of us surrounded the TV and then got the complete story. I think we were all pretty much speechless and tearful.   By this time it was around lunchtime.  I decided to check into the hotel as there would be no flights out of Indianapolis in the foreseeable future.

When I got to my room, I called the witness and told her that the deposition would not be happening. But when I called the opposing attorney, she basically told me to pull myself together and we could go ahead with the deposition by phone.  I demurred and told her we would reschedule.

With nothing but a briefcase full of paper and the clothes on my back, I took a cab to Kmart and picked up what I needed.  Although the hotel was connected to a mall, the stores had closed and remained closed for a day.  I forgot to mention that on that particular morning, my husband was going to buy a car and asked for my driver’s license.  Yes, I gave it to him and, yes, I drove to Dulles and parked my car. Little did I know.  I spent the next 2 days in the hotel room watching the news.

The next day, I was on a mission to rent a car.  I explained the issue to all of the rental car companies that had offices in downtown Indianapolis including Hertz, Enterprise and Budget.   No luck.  On the third day, I went to the airport and found the Avis counter.  The Avis manager said that if I had a copy of the license faxed to him, he would rent the car to me.  After he received the fax, he called and advised me to be at the airport the next morning to pick up the car.  When I arrived, the car was ready.  He had mapped out my route and explained how I would return the car to Dulles the next day.  Needless to say, I got in and drove home to Manassas nonstop.  Along the way, my family and Cristi called to keep track of my progress.

I cannot ever remember being so relieved when I pulled up to my house.   But my experience was a mere inconvenience.  The tragedy for the the victims cannot be minimized.  It makes me sad every time I think of the occupants jumping from the Twin Towers as their only option.  I just can’t get it out of my head. Take a quiet moment and remember.