Sunday, September 11, 2011

Review: That Day In September


Do you remember where you were?



I can remember exactly where I was the day our country took a hit to the face, a gut punch, and changed us forever.  I happened to be doing home care nursing at the time and was at a patient’s house.  The day started like any other lining up the visits for the day, making sure that I had all the supplies I needed, and that all the patients for the day knew I was coming. 

I was at the first patient’s house.  I was chatting with the patient and family, had drawn some lab work, changed the IV dressing and was starting the IV medication when the patient all of a sudden said “What the hell?!”  For this patient to have said that, I knew that something was wrong.  I turned toward the television and saw it.  The images that were shown looked like something out of a movie.  Debris falling, smoke, fire, people running and people in shock.  The reporters were in shock, stumbling over their words, and trying to get all the information they could to share with the world. 

In That Day in September Artie Van Why shares his personal account of September 11, 2001.  He worked at a law firm just a short distance from the World Trade Center.  He felt the shake of the building as the first plane hit; he saw the second plane hit, the debris, the smoke, the fires..Everything I saw on television at that moment, he was living it.  In his book, he shares his thoughts, his fears, his feelings and his life surrounding that day.  As I was reading this, I could remember all the images I saw, but I could see them as if I were there.  He also shares how he dealt with life in the weeks after the attack and since that day.  I found myself nodding to some of his thoughts and feelings “yes, I thought the same thing”, or “I feel the same way”; even though I live in the Southeast and was hundreds of miles away.

Mr. Van Why self-published this book because he wanted to get his story of that day out.  He wanted to do it for many reasons, one to help remember the lives of those lost that day and two to help the survivors know that they are not alone.  With the 10th anniversary of that day being here, I can’t think of a better way to remember the lives of everyone touched by that day than to read this story and be reminded of what a wonderful place we live and the hope we all have. 




1 comment:

Siobian said...

This sounds like an interesting book. Yesterday I just kept remembering being in computer class and someone running in saying we had to turn on the tv now. My computer teacher was short and couldn't reach the button (the tv was hung from the ceiling) and finally one of the guys got up to help her. I remember just staring at the tv screen in disbelief. I haven't read any books about 9/11, this sounds like it may be my first. Thanks for sharing.