Friday, December 08, 2006

Flashback to 9/11

I'm a long-time poster on a Chicago message board and have many friends up there. On 9/11 we were all frantic to touch base with everyone who worked downtown after they started evacuating people. Not knowing any details, and hearing that Chicago was a target was nerve-wracking until everyone was accounted for. Today, I was merrily chatting away on IM with my friend in Chicago when he says they have to evacuate, sirens are going off, alarms are sounding and everyone is being told to get the hell out of the building. His only information was a shooting and possible hostages a few floors above him. After the news this morning about the 'lone terrorist' and his bomb planting plans of course my mind jumped immediately to that. Fortunately, he was one of the friends posting on 9/11 with us so he knew I'd be worried. As soon as he got outside he called to let me know he was OK and give me what little additional info he had. I didn't realize just HOW panicked I was until I actually heard his voice either. It meant a lot to me that he called from the middle of the confusion in single-digit weather while he was wondering how the hell he was going to get home, just because he knew I'd be worried if I didn't hear from him.

I'm thankful he's OK but you people up there have GOT to stop scaring me like this!

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