Inspired by leopardspot, where were you on 9/11?

[jwsqrdplus2]

DH and I are both military. He is a fighter pilot, and they were supposed to be night-flying that week (training missions at night), so he was home. I was 34 weeks pregnant with DD2 and I was already at work. DH called me to see if I had heard what happened. I hadn't, so I logged on to cnn.com. Then I started telling the people that I worked with. We turned on the TV in our office area in time to see the second plane hit the WTC. I called DH, and he said he was packing for a several night stay on base. After the plane hit the Pentagon, our base was locked down. DH was on his way in and we talked on the phone. I remember him saying to me, "I don't know when I'll see you again." Which is incredibly sad considering that our offices were across the street from each other at the time.

He flew several misson over the next few days including escorting AF1 and intercepting an airliner that had a problem passenger to escort it to the nearest airport.

We saw each other again on Friday, Sep 14.

 

[tigercat]

My dh, oldest dd and her dh, my ds and my oldest dgrdd were all at a hotel. We had stayed the night there and were heading out to a campground. We were getting our stuff packed and getting ready to go down for breakfast when my dd rang our room and said to watch a certain channel. My other dd, her dh and my other dgrdd were at home near a major city in Ontario. We had been told that parts of it were being evacuated. We called her and were trying to get her to come up to us. If we were in the middle of no where camping we would be safe. We had our breakfast and since it was also a sports bar there was a big screen tv there so we could watch it. We really didn't know what to do. We ended up going to the campground (which was good because the hotel we were staying in ended up being filled with people from planes that were grounded) and keeping up on the news with a short wave radio. That night though we went to use the phone and met up with several guys. We asked them where they were from and they told us the States. I asked them how they were feeling about the WTC and they didn't know anything about it. They had been out fishing all day. They really freaked out because it seemed that 2 of them were in the military and knew that they would be called up. It turned out that they could not cross the border for a couple of days so they had to stay put. They told us though that in contact with their family they were called up and were told to get to their base.
tigercat

 

[ValerieK]

We live about 20 miles outside Washington DC. I was on my way to work, but I was stopping at a store to get a set of pans that were on sale. I went in the store, found the pans and was in line when my mom called me. She said that that a small plane hit the WTC. Be the time I got to the car, the news said that it was a large plane, then the second plane hit. My drive to work is past Dulles International Airport. One of the planes flew out of Dulles, I think the one that crashed in to the Pentagon. It was pretty strange going past the airport and no planes were on the runway or in the air. It wasn't too long after the second plane hit that I went past. The FAA had shut down our airspace pretty fast. I got to work and we all huddled around the TV. Everything shut down here. All of the tall buildings were evacuated and everyone was sent home. When I finally went home about noon, the traffic going west out of the city has so backed up, luckily I was going back east. Everytime I look at those pans, I remember that day.

 

[DSNY FN]

My wife and I were in the car on our way to Toronto. We had won some money in the lottery so we were on our way to pick it up and were playing cd's so we didn't hear anything about it. We finally heard about it on our way home around 2 PM when we saw all the signs on the side of the road about delays at the borders. I called my mom to ask what the heck was going on and that was when we found out.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I was at work at the hospital. Someone came in and told me what happened. We went next door to the doctors' lounge and watched on the TV in there. I remember seeing the second plane deliberately turn right into the building. It was horrible! Ended up getting a call from DS's school. They were sending the kids home early. Everyone was to be gone by 11:30. What a horrible day. Had trouble getting through on the phone to my sister in northern VA. But eventually got her late morning.

 

[twinmomplus2new]

I had just dropped off my older Ds at school and was showing my new minivan to a few friends. ( We had picked it up the night before) They were walking around the neighborhood, I had the radio on in the van and they broke in to tell about the first plane hitting the Trade Center. I told my friends and before the story could come out the windshield on the car and the ground started to vibrate. All of a sudden 4 Jets flew over the neighborhood. In quick succession. I said to my friends oh my god have you ever seen the fighters leave like that??? Somthing is wrong. they laughed and said oh stop it!!! It was obviously just an accident. Less than 5 minutes after the jets scrambled, The news came on about the 2nd jet. I took the twins and went home and sat on the couch and cried all day. Called the schools and they wouldn't let us pick up the kids. They said everything was on Lockdown.
I called friends in Colorado and California and asked that they not send the kids to school. It was awful.
We live right behind the base. and are accusstomed to the jets. But never had anything like this. Night and day, They left in shifts, One patrol would leave and another would come back. The roar of the engines was sickening everytime they changed shifts. I thought I was going to be sick. They scrambled several times in those first few days in addition to the patrols. I still am not ok with the sound, to this day, When the jets take off I stop and look up and count how many are leaving and how fast.

 

[annemariec]

I was six months pregnant, in my kitchen doing dishes. My mother called to tell me what was happening and told me to turn on the TV. It was after the first plane hit. I turned on the TV in the kitchen. It was mahem. I was in shock and then I saw the second plane hit.

I had to hold onto the counter for support. I cried and cried. I cried more that day than any I recall in my life. I felt so sorry for all those people. People like you and me, gone. I felt sorry and hurt for our country. I worried about what kind of world our unborn child was going to come into.

Words can hardly express the emotions of that day.

Annemarie

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I was at work.I began counting what shift would have been on at the NYFD because I was hoping he was off. He was, but being married to a Fireman I knew that he would go back . I know how it effected the enitre U.S. but I sure did feel like I was the only one scared for my family that day . It was torture not being able to get my Grandparents on the phone for 2 days . When I went back to NY for my cousins funeral it was the longest flight into JFK ever.

 

[Serena]

The stories are so painful to read. Even more painful to know that it isn't just stories, it's people's lives.

I was a crossing guard at my youngest dd's school. A man was late dropping off his little girl and he was hurrying. I thought because he was late, no, because he wanted to get back home to watch the news.

He told me what happened and I ran into the school to find out anything and they all had their mouths closed and wouldn't say anything. They kept it that way all day. The kids knew nothing.

I raced home to see it on tv, just in time to see the second plane. I went from the tv to the computer all day. Checking in, talking, hugging, crying.
I picked up my oldest from school, she was too far away for my comfort. Kelsea was 30 seconds away, and was safe. I let her stay. I also filled up my gas tank and went to the store, just in case.
I will never forget how it felt being here with you all then. Never.

 

[goofygirl]

I was at work, in an outpatient office in a hospital when a patient came in for her appointment and told us what she heard on her car radio, this was around 9:30am.

We turned on radios in the office, I went to a waiting room where there was a tv and a crowd of people were watching it. That's when I saw one of the Towers fall. What a shock!

I had calls from home asking me if I heard what was happening. We closed the office around noon. I saw the high school across the street had let out too. I thought it was odd to see the students acting so happy. Yes, they got out of school. But didn't they know WHY?? It was not a time to be happy.

I went home stunned, and stared at the tv for hours. I remember everything about that day, even the weather. It was such a clear day.

 

[newmousecateer]

DH and I were in WDW. I went out to take pictures of the resort (CBR), and when I came in DH said "take a look at the news". He went to take a shower and the second plane hit. I told him "honey, these are not pilot error accidents!!"

While at Tony's eating breakfast, the waitress told us about the other planes, and told us all of the staff was on alert for evacuation.

We were on Alien when it just stopped and they announced the parks were being evacuated.

 

[MerryPoppins]

I was at home. My kids were getting ready for school and we had the Today Show on tv.

I'll never forget the feelings of shock and fear. I had just found out I had breast cancer a few days earlier and was awaiting my mastectomy. I was kind of numb anyway and as the events of 9/11 unfolded I remember thinking it felt like the world as I knew it was coming to an end.

Please don't misunderstand what I'm about to say. I almost hesitate to say that it helped me. I don't want to give the impression that I'm in any way thankful that anything so horrible happened. But it kept my mind on other things and kept me from obsessing on my own circumstances. I kept telling myself how many people in our country were in worse situations than my family was. My prayers weren't just about my cancer, but for the families of those who were missing and injured. I thought a lot about how my kids needed me around. It actually gave me strength to try to stay positive and fight.

 

[Shellie722]

I was on my way to work to open the resturaunt I worked at and I was on my cell w/ my then BF when he said that the WTC had been hit by a plane but at the time they thought it was an accident. I listened to Howard Stern telling what he could see from the station he was broadcasting from the rest of the way to work and I remember somebody saying it didn't look like an accident then just as I got to work Tower 2 was hit. None of us were even attempting to set up for opening/lunch rush b/c we were glued to the televisions in the bar area and on our phones calling family and friends all over the country. My manager's Mom lived in PA right by where the plane was crashed by the passengers on board and he was desperately trying to get ahold of her and his family in that area. My zone (or section) partner's Dad was in DC for a meeting at the Pentagon and had been in NYC the day before, he didn't know any of this though until his Mother called him at work to tell him and I remember thinking how awful b/c they didn't know what time he was supposed to have been there or what section and couldn't get ahold of him for several hours. I spent most of the time I was at work trying to call on of my best friends (and a fellow DIS member) who worked for a law office in NYC that I thought may have been in the WTC, thankfully she was still in the firms older office and not there. I remember being scared to death b/c I couldn't get ahold of her until late the next day and how glad I was to hear her voice on the phone when I finally talked to her. I rember how much scarier it seemed to me when I looked up and there were no planes in the sky b/c I worked right in the middle of the busiest air traffic lane and lived just 5 minutes from the airport. We never did get fully set up that morning but it didn't matter, very few people came to eat anyway, I only had 3 tables the entire shift and they were all regulars who had to get away from their tv and I was the only one w/out a tv in my section since I was on the deck that day. I remember coming home and having CNN on all day and being online at the same time until I got so overwhelmed by it all I had to get out of the house and me and a friend of mine were going to donate blood when they came on the radio and said for anybody not already in line at the Red Cross to wait until the next morning and we just started driving trying to find somewhere to be besides in front of the tv.

I went to the airport that same week before the planes ever took to the air again to buy our plane tickets to WDW b/c I was determined I wasn't gonna let the cowards who attacked us make me live in fear.

I still think about 9/11 and how much the world seemed to change all at once almost like there was no innocence left but also how united we seemed to be as a country durring the weeks that followed.

 

[MomofKatie]

MerryPoppins, I understand- when something like that happens, it makes you stop and take a good long look at your life. All the everyday stuff that you think is such a big deal kinda melts away and you realize that you are darn lucky. Lucky that your loved ones are safe from harm, lucky that you aren't going through what all those poor people are. Lucky that even though you might have frightening health problems, you have a chance to recover and move on. I think that's how we ALL felt to some extent that day.

Hope you are doing well now- pixie dust goes out to you!!!

 

[pjlla]

I was at my first Tuesday morning meeting of a new ladies Bible study. We were just getting started when someone came in and told us about the first tower. I left the room to call DH to see if he had heard from his brother, who works in NYC. Then when I returned to the Bible study, someone came in again and reported about the Pentagon. We immediately went to prayer. It was great to not be alone at the moment, as I would have been most mornings at that time! After prayer we were dismissed. I was at the church where my DS was attending preschool, so I was close to him, but DD was in elementary school about 40 minutes away. I called and they weren't telling the kids about and there was no early dismissal, so I left her in school. As soon as DS was done with preschool we went home. I was so glad to have DD home from school that day and DH home from work that night. I needed to have all my "little ducks in a row" so to speak to feel secure. BTW, DBIL worked several streets over from WTC.... he had great difficulty getting out of the city, but he did eventually and was perfectly safe. He was commuting between NYC and MA at the time and it was several days before he was able to get home........P

 

[BrerMom]

Teaching 2nd hour. 9th graders. I couldn't deal with my own emotions until I got home. I noticed the similarities to the Oklahoma City Bombing, on a much larger scale and as an attack from outside the U.S.

I'm not sure which would be more difficult - teaching high school where the kids want answers or teaching elementary where the teachers had to pretend everything was peachy until the kids were dismissed. Middle schools were different everywhere, even within districts. Some treated the kids like elementary, some like high schoolers, and some gave minimal info. My own kids were oblivious when they got home.

 

[nealymouse]

This was also printed in our local Maine paper Sept 11 2002



Wow. How can I ever forget that day? Our family was invited to Washington, D.C., to be part of a huge adoption celebration on Capitol Hill on Sept. 10. The day was hot but beautiful as I looked at my three beautiful adopted daughters sitting on the steps of the Capitol while so many people spoke of the need for more foster and adoptive parents. I knew we were leaving that night for home, so I just tried to soak in the many sights and sounds of this day.

We arrived at Ronald Reagan Airport and checked right through. I was so surprised it was so quick. I made the comment to my husband that we should have stayed longer in the city. We boarded our American Airlines flight on time but sat on the tarmac for four hours while we waited out a storm in Hartford, Conn.

Our flight was to Logan (in Boston) with a connection to Portland, so we knew we had missed our Portland flight when we arrived in Boston five hours later. We thought about renting a car and just driving home, but the counter person for the airline said that we should just stay the night. They would put our family up in a hotel and we could leave at 8:10 a.m. on Sept. 11.

At 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, we were sitting in Logan at the American Airlines terminal with (passengers on) Flight 11. Of course, I didn't know until the whole country knew who (the hijackers) were or what an impact those people would have on my life or the life of this country.

(Later) I was grateful I was alive, but so sad for the 88 people I sat with for 30 minutes before they boarded that ill-fated flight.

Arriving home, my husband told me I should call my sister and let them know we were OK. As I tried to tell Tracey we were OK, she told me my 7-year-old niece had died that morning at home and we needed to go to my sister's home right away.

Shock like that day should never happen to anyone. Even though I did not know anyone on those planes or in the twin towers, I did have a very special little niece to grieve for that day and forevermore.

I guess my only peace for the whole day was that someone as special as my niece Prudence would never have to realize how scary this world really is.