By J. Chism
This adventure I must share.
My wife and I were to go to Alaska for a week and kick around Anchorage, Denali and Seward. We were to return on 9-08, but I decided to stay a while longer and do some excellent salmon snagging at Seward. I was to return home on 9-11!
My homeward bound flight left Anchorage at 2:00 AM, arriving at Seattle at 0600(9:00 AM New York time) My plane taxied to its normal spot at the terminal. The pilot, talking over the PA system said “That’s strange, someone is parked in our space. I wonder what’s up”. We deplaned at another terminal and a bus picked us up and delivered us to our normal terminal. I was sitting on the front seat by the bus driver and the driver commented to us “Hey, ‘know those two tall towers in New York City, somebody blew them up, they’re gone!”
Entering the SeaTac Airport Terminal was a strange experience, all of the TV monitors were off, there was no-one moving around and there certainly wasn’t anyone getting on to a plane!
I grabbed a coffee and sausage biscuit at Wendy’s and made for my departure gate where several other people were already waiting. The clerk said our flight had been cancelled! Still with the blackout in the airport, no one knew what was going on. While sitting next a guy on a cell phone, he spoke to me “Hey, ‘know those two tall towers in New York, an airplane hit them and knocked them down!”
It was now 0800 in Tulsa, so I called my wife and found out what was going on. She told me that all flights everywhere were cancelled and that I should find a place to stay in Seattle or rent a car and drive home.
Going to the Auto rental area, I inquired if anyone was from Oklahoma, thinking I could at least share a rental back to Tulsa. A couple of guys answered that they were going to Houston and could drop me by someplace in Oklahoma. They knew that I was all right because I was carrying my fishing pole. In thirty minutes we were headed for Texas. They drove all night and all of the next day and dropped me off only sixty miles from my house. I was so tired, I wished that I had rented my own car! In another hour I was home….Safe!
Later, while discussing with my wife and daughters the events of 9-11, I revealed that I had an uneasy feeling about the whole Alaska adventure and that feeling persisted until I was in the airport at SeaTac. My wife and daughters had the same feeling! Was it a premonition of disaster? I think it certainly was!
Later reading about some Civil War generals having this premonition just before a disastrous battle eased my mind about it. I also found that many soldiers have that same premonition the eve of their death in battle. I don’t need and explanation, but I do know it happened to my family! I do wonder if there was a similar plot for hijackings on the West Coast? My daughter told me her part of the story….” I clearly remember dropping you off at the airport…all the way at the gate where you boarded the plane in Tulsa, because we could do that back then. Mom and I looked at each other and agreed we had a weird feeling about it. Thank the Lord for that, now I know how to listen to His Spirit in the future!”