Encino Woman Recalls Being in New York on 9/11

Submitted by Encino resident Nancy Hope Rubin.

On Sept. 11, 2001, like any other Tuesday, I woke up and plugged my phone back in. I noticed about 30 extra messages, all asking if I was OK.

Baffled, I turned on the TV and saw what was going on in my beautiful New York City. I was speechless from shock. I knew I had to take my dog out first thing, so I grabbed an umbrella and a painter’s mask and headed for the street.

We lived within walking distance of the Twin Towers, so at first, words really couldn’t describe what I saw, smelled and heard. It was like being in an eerie dream.

People walking dazed and confused, covered in dust and blood. Men in suits carrying briefcases, barely able to see through a calm sand storm, and yet their ties were all still knotted at the neck, as though the world as they knew it had just stopped. Debris was floating from the skies, sticking to buildings, with shards of glass and steel dancing in front of my eyes. There were sounds of silence and frenzy. I was holding the umbrella, shielding my dog as she did her usual business, with time feeling like all activity was in slow motion.

I got back home, numb, but well enough to go volunteer my help. Once again, I walked inside into what felt like a movie set. The city had closed off my area to traffic and set up a police and Red Cross emergency meeting area in the park.

I had brought my largest wheeled cart with me and decided to gather up bottled water from every venue I passed and bring the bottles back to the park. When I arrived, the number of people had tripled and so had the silence. It was then that I felt a momentary revenge on the attackers—they had chosen to hit New Yorkers, a really tough breed who don't think much of fear and are able to not ask why and just deal. 

The following weeks and months felt like the event had brought out the compassion in everyone and a new sense of unity and American pride.

Two years later, I became quite ill. Doctors had agreed that the ulcers blanketing my intestines was an environmental reaction to what I had been breathing in since 9/11. They told me to get out of the city as fast as possible.

My first thought was remembering three days after the attack, when the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Christy Whitman, had announced that the air was safe to breathe. Thanks, Christy.

We sold our co-op in a day and headed for Encino. The ulcers disappeared in a matter of weeks.

The experience taught me to be better prepared and less afraid of terrorism, because that's what they want.