Monday September 17, 2001.
I flew out of Logan Airport on my way to San Jose for a week-long business trip.
It must have been the first full day of "normal" flying out of Logan after September 11th.
It was one of the eeriest things I have ever experienced. Everything was "almost normal" even as it wasn’t the same at all.
The airport was virtually empty. The plane was nowhere near full, which almost never happens on a Monday morning. The few of us that were traveling talked to each other much more than usual, as though sound could dispel the unreality of flying on this day, from this airport.
I was on American Airlines, and you could feel the sadness of the clerks and flight attendants. And at the same time, they did their jobs as they always did, clearly using normalcy and routine as a coping tactic.
As I suppose all of us who were not personally affected by the 9/11 tragedy were doing at the time.
We all know where we were when we heard about the first plane hitting the first tower, just as previous generations remember where they were when Kennedy was shot.
This is my other most clear memory of that time in our collective lives — the departure lounge at Logan Airport on Monday September 17, 2001.
Hi Susan. I agree, everybody will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on 9/11, and then the first time they flew after it. The first time I flew after that was about a year later and I was flying by myself. Even though it was a year after the attack, I remember feeling as if at any moment something could go wrong. I wonder if we will ever board an airplane again without thinking about that horrible day.
It is strange how one event can literally change everything involved in our lives, even something as simple as taking a short flight. The fact that something can still have such strong effects on people five years later is just proof of the frailty of the human spirit. My imagination runs wild thinking of the reactions of your fellow passengers in the event that they were doing the unthinkable, they were flying on the fateful anniversary of Sept. 11. This leads me to think of the dynamics of the human mind. We give attention and apprehension to things that are highly unlikely. Most people probably avoided flying on that day at all costs and were appalled at those of you who went ahead with it. But really, what are the odds of a similar occurrence on that same day. In actuality, you and the other flying that day were probably on the safest flights to take off all year. It is just interesting to me how easy it is to hold on to our fears, rather than to move past them and see their realities.
It is amazing how there are people that think that America has forgotten about 9/11. I have flown several times since 9/11 and every time I see a plane or get on a plane I think about that moment. We have to move on with our lives though if we always think about that moment and nothing else we will never have normal lives. There are certainly moments that we will never forget and that is one of them.