Latest / The Cubby and Christine Morning Show / Producer Kristen Shares Her 9/11 Story About Her Dad

Transcript

Producer Kristen Shares Her 9/11 Story About Her Dad · The Cubby and Christine Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: 106.7 Light FM. Cubby and Christine in the morning along
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with producer Kristen. Thank you for joining us. It is
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: 7.05 on this 25th anniversary of September 11th. You know, Christine,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: we all have a story. You know, you and me,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we were on the air. We'll talk about that later.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: But everybody has a story, including our very own producer Kristen.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I think more than any of us in this room. Yeah.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: She has been so touched by the events of September 11th.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And tell us why, producer Kristen. First of all,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: You were born, if you don't mind me telling everybody,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: in 1987. Yes.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: So you were what, 13, 14?
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: 13.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I was a freshman in high school.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: And when this happened. So my dad is a now
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: retired Port Authority detective. And I always start this story
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: with my dad is alive and well and here with us.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Because after you hear the story, you're you know, that's
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: the number one question everybody has. At the time, he
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: was a police officer still with the Port Authority and
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: working in Jersey City. on the morning of September 11th.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: And when everything happened, him and his partner were sent
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: into the city to find out what was happening because
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: no one really knew what was going on, right?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: So they drove into the city. They parked their police
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: van across from one of the towers.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: And.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: One of the towers, the first tower came down and
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: he was there for that. And they lost communication with
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: the police van and with my dad and with his partner.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: And in high school, classes stopped and they turned the
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: TVs on. So we were able to see what was
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: going on through the news and Everyone was sent to
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: their homeroom and one by one you can hear everyone's
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: name being called on the speaker, right? You know, so-and-so
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: come to the office, you know, being sent home. But again,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: no one knew what was going on. So I was
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: sent home and with no communication from my dad. No
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: one knew where he was, what was happening. And, you know,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: I always think about my mom in that moment, you know.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Especially now with you being a mom.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Exactly, exactly. I'll give a lot of in-between there, but
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: we eventually heard from him. He was okay, and he
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: was able to come home. And one of the things
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: that I remember from that day that is something that
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: will never leave my brain, and it's one of those
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: moments that you have embedded, you know?
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: I'm going to try to get through this.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: We got you back.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Thank you. He came home and I remember standing at
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: the front door with my brothers and my mom. And
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: I thought I saw a ghost. I thought I was
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: looking at a ghost still in his uniform, covered in
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: debris from head to toe, his hair, his face, everything, everything.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: And what felt like hours could have just been a
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: couple seconds. I don't even know. I don't remember, but
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: I just felt like we were just standing there just
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: staring at him and nobody knew what to do, what, right.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: What to say, what to do, um, except to just
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: embrace at that point. And, you know, my dad has
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: been through it all. I mean, he has seen even
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: more than, than, than that. And So, you know, in
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: our family, he is known as our hero. My kids
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: call him our hero. And, you know, my kids are
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: so young, they don't understand what today is. They just
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: know it's something.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Because they see pictures. And, you know, my dad has
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: has certain things in his home, you know, from from
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: that day. And, you know, it's just. It's hard to
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: explain because, you know, the whole country was affected, right?
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: The whole entire country was affected. But, you know, us
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: in this room, okay, the three of us, everyone at
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: this station, at our radio station, everyone listening to us
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: right now, we felt it. We saw it happen. We
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: know people now. And it is it is it is
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: so hard. Twenty five years later, still, as if it
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: happened yesterday. So I just want to I wanted to
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: share my story because it's not just my dad. You know,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: my dad has lost friends. He lost friends that day
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: and he has lost friends along the way. He worked
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: down in ground zero. My dad. With the recovery. So,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: you know, I want to thank, you know, doctors that
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: have helped my dad. I want to, you know, thank
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: everyone that was down there, you know, to help with
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: the cleanup. There are so many heroes. There are so
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: many heroes in the city and in our lives. I just,
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: you know, it's just, today's a very hard day.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: It's a very, very, very hard day. Right.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: And I appreciate you coming in. And so does Christine,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: because I know this is one of those days where
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you almost want to take a personal day, you know? Right.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: And I think you would be more than entitled to it.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I think people need to see this day out. However,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: however they can, whatever brings you the most comfort, if
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: you will.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: So thank you, because I know it was tough for
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: you to come in today, Kristen, and to share your story.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you to your dad and your family, because your
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: entire family are heroes. Your dad, for what he did,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: your family, for the sacrifice of your dad. You were
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: there every day supporting him, knowing he was going out
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: there and facing these really dangerous conditions. I mean, we
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: know even more about it now than we did then,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: but at the time we knew it couldn't have been
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the healthiest environment. And also the trauma that he was
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: seeing and facing and dealing with and I mean, how
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: is he with it today? How is he?
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: There's– you know what? My dad's very– he figured out
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: how to– still put a smile on his face in
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: front of his family. I know that it's something he
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: thinks about every single day. And again, his his friends
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: that are gone now or his friends that were even
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: with him. You know, he has a very, very, very
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: good friend. His name is Steve and his wife, Arlene,
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: and they're very good friends of our family, too. And
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: he was Port Authority. He's retired now. And so is she.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: They were there that day as well. They're alive. They're here.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: But there's a lot of people that aren't. And I know,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: I know it's something that my dad, my dad has
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: to live with it every single day. We all have
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: to live with it every single day. But somehow he
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: shows up for his family ever since, even the next day,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: he shows up for his family with a smile on
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: his face.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: You know, another thing, what you've done, you know, it
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: was tough telling your story. I know it was very
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: hard for you to do that, but you are now
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: doing what we all said we would never do. And
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: that was never forget. So we're not forgetting. So what
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: you're doing, even though it's tough, you're honoring that statement.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Never forget. And we'll never forget.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for sharing your story, Kristen. Please
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: let us know what we can do to support you
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: because I know this was really, really hard.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you. And I want to thank the
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: both of you for allowing me to do that because
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: like I said, it's It's just very important. And I pray,
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: I pray we never forget. I really do. Yeah.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: We love you.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: We won't. We love you so much. And again, please,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: thank you to your dad and your family. Thank you.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: We're coming right back. Light FM.