I do. I was on my way to work and I heard the radio announcer say, "we are hearing that a plane, possibly a private plane just hit one of the twin towers'. Memories grabbed hold of me and I remembered hearing about the stories in the early 20th century, when radio was the only means of hearing the latest and the greatest. I remembered my grandmother sitting by her radio, listening to the then Pastor Milton Mathis. He was pastor of the Prayer Garden COGIC, in San Jose Ca. The announcer would come on, and she would say, " We are live, from the Prayer Garden Church of God in Christ, 651 N 6th St, San Jose Ca'. The broadcast came on at 11:00 PM every Sunday evening. When Pastor Mathis would pray, my grandmother would place her hand on the radio as a point of contact. By faith, she would take in, and agree with the prayers. Sometimes for others, sometimes for herself. My grandmother, Lettie Ann Smith was a strong women in God. She was a saint, and I loved her with all my heart. She was the first Jesus I ever experienced, she allowed Him to live through her, and He did. She was a quiet, prayerful women, who had suffered the ending of slavery in her day. She lived through Jim Crow, and many other inconveniences of being a beautiful, but black women. She had 15 children, my mother was the baby of the bunch. My grandparent were married for 70 years, prior to her leaving this earth and moving to her eternal home.
Radio was once king
Even though television had been around for a while, they never seem to mind not having one. Grandmother and Papa were content, and with her eyes of faith, she needed nothing more to see. So, when I heard the radio announcer on that day, September the 11th, I was transported back in time without even realizing it. I actually thought it was a drama being played out as in days gone by, days before my time. New York, Planes, What? It was real dramatic, too dramatic to be true. I pull into the parking lot at work, then up the stairs to punch in. As a Medical Assistant, it was my duty to beat the physician there, and usually I did because he was being held up at the hospital, discharging patients and whatnot, but today was to be unlike other mornings. I walked into his office to turn on his computer as I did every morning, except this morning he was already seated. He was in his leather chair, seemingly glued to his computer screen, streaming in the news, the news about a second aircraft hitting tower number two. I was so taken back, I was startled as one jolted out of an inopportune nap, I could not believe it was true, the story that I heard on the radio, the story that I dismissed as fallacy, was neither. It wasn't just another story, nor a fallacy, it was real, a plane really did hit tower one, and another plane had just hit tower two.
