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

[The Mystery Machine]

I was getting the kids ready for school, watching Byrant Gumbel on TV & He said something happened I immediately switched to MSNBC and called to my DH upstairs to turn on the TV and then the second plane hit, we saw it on the news, and we knew it was no accident.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I work in retail and actually had the day off. My friend and I went to Nh to dispute a ticket. THe hearing was over by 9am and we stopped in some small diner for breakfast when it was on the news. We both started crying. My friend Emily is jewish and her family started calling her cell freaking out saying they wanted her home. Her mom thought the terrorists were gonna say this was becasue of usa relationship with Isreal and they are from there. We left and came back to Boston. It was so surreal we listened to the news and just sat there crying. I got home and had a ton of messages from my husband saying to go to the school and get the kids and go home. What sad day... I remeber being frozen as I watched coveraged, thinking how could this happen. Being from Boston you felt so bad because the planes that hit the wtc were filled people that so many knew. I knew several from the TJX company. The planes left from logan ..it was just awful. Hoping that maybe people didnt make it on to the flights.
unfortunatley thay did

 

[monarchsfan16]

I was in Biology class. I was a freshman in high school, and had only been at that school for a week and a half at the time. Certainly let us see quickly how the school handled stuff . One of the gym teachers came running in and whispered stuff to the bio teacher, who then turned around and told us he was done teaching. He was WHITE and shaking, and told us we were in for a long, rough day. Homeroom started about 10 minutes after he made that statement, where we watched on the news. Next period during study, a military recruiter who was in the cafeteria (where my study was held) received a cell phone call, went out into the courtyard to take it, and came back in shaking, and crying. About 10 minutes later they finally (probably around 10:15) made an official annoucement that the WTC, and Pentagon had been "bombed". During lunch one of the girls in my grade, from my town, was called down to the office, where they informed her her uncle was in that wing of the Pentagon, and her cousin was in the WTC. They were still missing. Neither ever made it out alive. We did nothing but watch the news all day in all classes, except for gym, where we went outside, with cops watching us, and Army helicopters flying over the city. The eeriest part was the fact that there were no planes flying overhead, and the school is right in the flight path of Manchester Airport. When I got home from school we watched more tv, and tried to get in touch with dad, who was on business in New Jersey at the time, and actually still, at dinner time had not heard about the attacks. As I was going to bed we received a call from my aunt, saying she had just gotten a call from her cousin that he thought their aunt (my great aunt) had been on one of the planes. She needed their phone number so she could find out for sure. Twenty minutes later we received the worst news of the day, and I don't think anyone actually slept that night.

 

[Mercy]

I was at home, SAHM then, I was messing around on the computer (probably DISing) and watching TV. I had the Today show on and saw as Katie Curic announced that a plane had accidently flown into the WTC. Of course it didn't take too long to figure what was really happening as I watched the 2nd plane deliberatly fly into the 2nd building. I sat there stunned, trying to comprehend the implications of what had just happened. I watched the tv for about another hour or so then I went to pick my kids up from school since I heard they had closed schools in our area. We only live about an hour from D.C. It was all so surreal.

 

[Margie J]

I had just gotten out of bed and turned on the Today show as usual. I was watching the images on the TV and listening to the talk about the "accident" at the WTC. Over time it became clear what was really going on.

I actually decided to go to work that day in Boston which was under watch by then. It was so bizarre to drive in. My side of the highway was nearly empty while the other side was packed with cars fleeing the City. There was an eerie quiet everywhere, few cars and no planes. I wish I could have taken a picture of that scene.

At work there were people gathered around radios listening to what was happening. We also feared for the safety of one co-worker who is Middle Eastern. Since that day he has gotten more than a few questionable looks and attitude from strangers. It's so unfair.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

I was folding clothes and watching the Today Show. I couldn't believe my eyes. I called my husband at work and he told everyone there.

I went to pick both of my children.

Lori

 

[TalkisCheap]

Since I'm homeschooled, my mom and I were home doing school when my grandmother called to tell us to put on the tv. I was in 4th grade and I was so scared. About a half hour after the second plane hit, my mom was on the phone with my aunt to make sure my uncle wasn't at the pentagon(he often makes trips there for work) when we heard the sound of a plane above us. We live about 8 minutes from Walkers Point in Kennebunkport and I remember feeling so afraid that something would happen to Walkers Point, I was so afraid I cried all day, literally.

Just the other day something happened to make me start thinking about the attacks. Especially how long ago it was even though it feels like yesterday. I still get very emotional each time I think of it. Many people my Uncle knew who worked at the Pentagon died...I still pray for their familes, and can only imagine the terrible pain it causes them. I guess knowing my Uncle could have been there, could have been another victom really makes me thankful for what I have, and very sorry for the families that we could have been like(my Uncle was actually there the day before).

 

[Jasminesmommy]

I was at work when the 2nd hit and we were all hudled in one office watching when the 2nd hit. I called my parents right away to tell them to turn on the news. I worked across the street from the Sears Tower and we all got evecuated and had the whole city pretty much shut down a couple buildings at a time.I went home and just watched all day. When my husband got to work he called ma at my job and made me leave but we were already leaving. Very scary when you have no clue what is happening. Going home the trains and buses were packed.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I had just taken my younger dd to preschool at the local JCC. I stopped to visit a friend who ran the senior citizen center there. There is a large tv in the room and the people were watching the news. I was there in time to see the second plane hit the tower.

I remember feeling torn because I was planning a birthday party for my younger daughter and I had to go to Party City that day. I felt so bad that I was buying stuff for a happy occasion while so much bad stuff was happening in the world.

Then I came home and was glued to the tv until I got the kids from school.

 

[fluffernutter]

I was on the phone with my sister who was working in the WTC tower when the first plane hit. She said what the f*#* was that and the phone went dead. Then the news started showing what was happening and I had never been so scared. I thought I had talked to my sister for the last time. I was on the phone with my grandmother telling her what was going on when we saw the 2nd plane hit live on tv. I remember thinking this isnt real-its something out of a movie.
We didnt hear from her for about 4 hours-I remember being numb as I walked to my moms house to be with her -waiting to hear if my sister made it out or not-it was so eeire-not a sound in the street except for ambulances, fire and police cars on the highway to the city. not a soul in the street-everyone must have been glued to their tvs.
she did get out on time thank god!!!, but it was a horrific scene. She was able to walk to a co-workers apt and called us to let us know she was ok. Physically she was okay but mentally she was a wreck. She saw people jumping from the buildings etc and to this day she is not the same. I dont know how she could be! It was such a tragic loss for all those thousands of people who lost their lives and for their families
9/11 a day I will never forget!
-Marcy

 

[Figment22]

At the time we lived about 8 miles outside of Manhattan in northern NJ. I had just gotten back from dropping my kids off at school and was listening to WPLJ radio when Bill Evans, (a local ABC-NY weatherman) came on the air to say that a plane had crashed into the WTC. I immediately turned on the TV. I was so upset just from watching the first tower that I was crying when I called my mom, who lives even closer to the city than I did. She actually could see the tower out her living room window. When it became clear that this was not an accident. I called DH, who was already living part time in SC in anticipation of our move. Little by little, cell phones started to go down and I didn't want to hang up because I honestly was not sure I'd ever speak to him again. It was that scary. Then after the Pentagon was hit there were all sorts of rumors about the State Dept. and other entities being hit. I raced up to the school and pulled out my kids. If our nation was under attack, I wanted my family together. We then headed east to pick up my mom and bring her to our house; again trying to bring my family together. I guess I was really losing it because DH was 900 miles away.

The one thing I will never forget: After I had my mom in the car with us and we were heading west back toward my house (and away from NYC), we were waiting in very heavy local traffic and row after row of fire depts. from various northern NJ communities was heading into the city to help. I remember feeling guilty about my cowardice as I wanted to run away and here were all these wonderfully brave men and women who were heading into NY, not knowing what was going to happen to them. I remember sitting there in traffic with tears flowing. Even though I was terrified, I remember being very proud to be an American at that point.

Two children from my sons' school lost their fathers in the WTC that terrible day and several other parents of kids were in the towers and escaped. Some were injured.

As an earlier poster mentioned, I will never be able to forget the smell, which continued for several weeks as the jet fuel continued to burn. I pray that our great nation will never have to face another day like Sept. 11th. So many of us had our lives changed forever that day, even if we did not lose a family member.

 

[TammiMcMan]

I was enjoying a quiet morning at home with my DH who had just returned from a months stay in Ireland for work. My brother called me, he has an apartment in New York city, but he was at his home in Wakefield when they broke the news. I remember him being so upset, he blurted out for me to turn on the news, something about the WTC and then he hung up. The first plane had just hit and I honestly thought that it was a terrible accident. That the plane had somehow just missed the runway or had some sort of mechanical problem that caused it to crash. But then came the live shot of the 2nd airplane and I knew it was deliberate. DH was on the phone with work as they have offices in that area and as the news trickled in about the Pentagon and that the planes had originated from Boston, I just sat there in shock. I won't ever forget walking to the elementary school to pick up my daughter. It was eeriely quiet, except for the fighter jets that would pass overhead. Over the next few days, we got the news about people we knew that perished in the WTC, family and friends of my childrens who lost loved ones on the airplanes out of Logan. A period of time that I will never forget.

 

[Alice28]

I was driving to work here on the West coast....it was about 6:35 our time when I heard the news. I called my husband when I got to work and told him to wake up and turn on the TV. He watched the second building get hit while watching TV.

 

[Megan's Mom]

I was at work at the Middle school. It was the end of 1st period and the teacher that I car pool with has 1st period planning and had been in the office. They keep the radio on up there low and had heard about the 1st plane. She came to my room to tell me and because I was in the computer lab thought we could find out more information. The internet by this time was basically shut down so no new information. Our principal didn't want the teachers to talk about it for us to even tell the kids what was happening. That is what made it so bad was he wanted things to be normal and of course they weren't.

My DH works at Redstone Arsenal and he said the scarry thing was the soldiers walking around the halls with M16's at the ready. Fingers on the trigger. They eventually sent them home for the day before lunch and I think it was a couple of days before they went back and when they did security was very tight.

 

[preshi]

Disneyworld... AK just sat down for Tarzan show when they closed the park...

My trip report is posted on the other thread.

 

[stm61]

I was teaching a self-contained special ed class. My aide was on the phone trying to make a dr's appt and I wondered what was taking her so long. The school used the Success for All program which is very scripted, the teacher has to read basically word for word what's in the book. I'm in front of the class and my aide hands me a note saying the WTC had been hit by planes and maybe DC also. I'm reading the note, looking at her to confirm this is true, and trying to show no reaction as I read the script to the kids. The principal made an announcement that we were not to let the kids, grades pre-k thru 4, know what was going on. The first break I got I called my guard unit to try to get more info. They were in lock-down and really couldn't say anything over the phone. I got a call a little later informing me that I now belonged to the Air Force, be there at 6am, and they didn't know how long it would last. I told the principal what was happening and tried to make some quick lesson plans for the aides for the rest of the wk. I called my mother, DH was working out of state at the time and I had no way to contact him at the construction site, and told her to consider herself activated, I needed a baby-sitter. I drove to central Jersey to pick her up that evening and it was absolutely eerie. No other vehicles on the road, all you say were the blue lights from tv's in all the houses.
My sister's husband worked in Tower 4, we didn't find out until almost 8pm that he was still alive. His office was completely destroyed when the other tower's fell on it. He's alive because he overslept for the first time in 20 yrs. His train was stopped on the tracks 15 min outside the city. It would have taken right into the basement of the WTC. My twin daughter's godmother's brother was a flight attendent on one of the planes that hit the towers. He's alive because he switched vacation days with someone else the day before and was off that morning.
I've been working full-time at the guard base ever since.

 

[Figment22]

Originally posted by stm61
[BMy sister's husband worked in Tower 4, we didn't find out until almost 8pm that he was still alive. His office was completely destroyed when the other tower's fell on it. He's alive because he overslept for the first time in 20 yrs. His train was stopped on the tracks 15 min outside the city. It would have taken right into the basement of the WTC. My twin daughter's godmother's brother was a flight attendent on one of the planes that hit the towers. He's alive because he switched vacation days with someone else the day before and was off that morning.[/B]

These stories are so amazing. How many of these coincidences have we heard in relation to 9/11? So often people say "It wasn't his/her time." If ever there was proof of this, it was in so many of these amazing near miss stories on 9/11.

This thread is wonderful. As someone who lived so close to the WTC, it's very interesting to hear how people in other parts of the country and the world heard about and reacted to that tragic day. It also makes you remember how our whole nation (indeed, the whole world) seemed to pull together on that day and the immediate aftermath. And yet, 2 1/2 years later, our world is SO divided and our nation politically polarized. Too bad everyone can't regain that feeling of unity that existed in the days after 9/11.

 

[huey duey & luey]

I was at work in an elementary school in Staten Island. I remember someone coming around saying there had been a terrible accident. Then the second plane hit and the school was in chaos. Parents were coming to take their kids home. I couldn't get in touch with my dh because cell phone lines wee all busy. I was able to call my mother to find out about my mother to see if she heard from my aunt who worked in 2 world trade or my BIl who worked in 7. My close friend at work husband worked nearby so she was hysterical, it was really a scary time. They closed the bridges so I didnt even know if I could get home. Finally at around 2 the outbound bridges reopened and my principal let all NJ staff leave. The next day the schools were closed and I started hearing about people I knew who were missing. The following day I was on my way to work and My sister called me to stay off the bridge because they reported suspious activity (meanwhile I was almost on it with no where to turn around), the schools also went in lock down that day. It was a horrible, frightening time.
Tara

 

[CajunDixie]

When the first plane hit I was at the school. I left there and went about 3 blocks down and stopped at a friends workplace and all the guys were crowded around a lil TV and she told me a plane had hit one of the WTC towers....being from small town USA and never having visited NYC I had no clue what the WTC was. I went home and turned on CNN and played back a msg from my mom telling me the WTC had been hit. As I called her back I was watching the scene live when the 2nd plane hit. Just as mom answered I was saying "Holy **** there's another one" poor mom was like ahhhhh honey is that you?

Later that afternoon I went back into the school to pick up the boys. I was a little upset to see my at that time 4th grade son glued to a TV watching everything. Seems his teachers decided they wanted to watch what was going on so one went to the hardware and bought an antenae.

 

[bjgrazi]

Where Were You
(Alan Jackson)

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

Did you weep for the children
Who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below

Did you burst out in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
Stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

The greatest is love
The greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day