Jonathan and his partner Rachel lived through the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York. A few years later, they decided to move to Trouillas in the Pyrénées-Orientales and cultivate vines there. A change of life necessary to rebuild.
September 11, 2001 shattered lives. Some experienced this trauma as a wake-up call to change their life. This is the case of a couple of winegrowers who have been living in Trouillas in the Pyrénées-Orientales for 15 years. Of British and New Zealand origin, Jonathan and his partner Rachel lived in New York and worked in IT a stone’s throw from the World Trade Center. September 11 is for them an old and painful memory but also theevent that changed their lives.
The day that everything changed
September 2021, Jonathan has one eye riveted on the sky, the other on measuring the degree of his harvest. His daily life is like that of any winegrower in September. A daily life in the great outdoors, alone in the middle of his vines that this former computer scientist from a New York bank was far from imagining before September 11, 2001: ” 20 years ago I was a computer scientist and I imagined that was my future. I wanted to continue, my job was not unpleasant and it paid off well. If 9/11 had never happened, I don’t know if I would have continued or not. This event changed everything. I have a certain gratitude today, I’m not saying it’s because of that but for me it’s thanks to that that I’m here in Trouillas in the vineyards with my family. »
Because Jonathan and Rachel have decided to change their lives, flee the metropolises, and create a wine estate after the trauma of September 11, which they experienced very closely. Jonathan, witnesses the first impact on the way to his office a stone’s throw from the Twin Towers: “We lived 500 meters from the World Trate Center. My office was across the street, so for us the Twin Towers was a part of our life. We ate in the towers, we had cocktails on the 110th floor. That morning, I was going to work. I walked like every day in the park to go to the office. And I saw the first plane that hit the first tower just before 9 a.m. At that moment, I saw the big ball of fire and I said to myself what is this, is it a small plane or a military plane that hit the towers? Is it possible for the towers to fall? At first I thought to myself probably not.“
Trauma
The couple, who lived in New York, moved to the other side of the world – September 11, 2021
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© FTV – LL Galy
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But Jonathan and his companion are far from imagining what is happening before their eyes.
In my head I told myself that it was not too serious yet, I did not think that the towers were going to fall. I told myself I will continue my work. And at that moment, the other plane came from the other side to attack the second tower. And that’s when we realized it wasn’t an accident but an attack.
Before continuing, ” the trauma did not happen right away. It’s like we’re in an action movie, for us it wasn’t real. We saw it happen but at that point it was about how we could protect ourselves. The trauma happened a few days later.“
Images etched forever
A few photos in the family album are there to recall the chaos: unreachable friends, an inaccessible Manhattan apartment and a 10 month old baby to shelter.
The stress we endured at the time of September 11 I remember it with precision and when I look at the photos the stress immediately arises.
Hard-to-watch footage for the couple – September 2021
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© FTV – LL Galy
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Images that they avoid watching over and over on TV on each anniversary date. September 11 remains deeply inscribed in their history, but today the date is that of the harvest more than that of the commemoration of a painful memory.
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