September 11 Anniversary. Where were you? Share here:

[Kitty 34]

I was subbing in a 5th grade class. We had just settled in and were reading quietly when the Assistant Principal came in and told me that there was a chance that the USA was experiencing a terrorist attack right now.

I remember not "registering" what she was saying but I turned the TV on as she requested. The towers were smoking but at the bottom I read that the Pentagon was on fire. I thought, wow they got their buildings mixed up. It's crazy how things just don't register at first!!!

To this day I will always have a special bond with those children that I had to explain that terrible tragedy to. They are 8th graders this year. They still give me hugs in the hallways and I hug them back.

 

[katerkat]

I had gotten home from the airport - Dulles - late that night and was getting ready to leave for work at about 9 am. I checked my email one last time and read the most awful thing from my then-fiance. He didn't mention the attacks but went on and on about how he can't believe how the world has become. So I got on AOL to ask him what happened and my sister told me to turn on the TV. I started bawling (we grew up in Jersey and that was a familar sight from the Liberty Science Center!)

I worked at a paper in Northern Virginia, so I had to go to work and talk to people about their reactions to it - all the while crying because many of my friends worked in NYC and I hadn't heard from them yet. There was a couple in our coverage area killed on Flt 77, so I spent most of 9/12 talking to their family and friends.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

duplicate post..sorry

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I was in my classroom. I had juniors second period, but I also had a student teacher who was working with almost all of my students by that time. She was doing something with them and I was on my computer--I heard the teacher across the hall SOB very loudly and I ran (ask my students, they thought it was pretty amusing) over to see what the heck was wrong. She had a daughter in NYC who had called her after the first tower was hit, but after the second tower was hit she couldn't get through to her (she turned out to be fine). So she told me what had happened but like a lot of people, I thought maybe it was a little plane. She turned on her TV (it was her planning period) and I couldn't believe it. I went back to my own room, the student teacher and the kids are staring at me like I've lost my mind, I was shaking and I said "Planes have flown into the world trade center, we need to turn on the TV". At this time I don't know if it is an attack or what (it was about 9:15) and in all honesty I don't think the kids thought it was a big deal yet, but I am a big believer in watching history happen. I know now that some teachers, i.e. our foriegn language staff, kept right on teaching and no TV or discussion. I think that's ridiculous for such a major event. I also went next door and told my best friend who was also teaching.
We watched the rest of the morning, finding out about the Pentagon, etc. I remember watching when suddenly a cloud of dust poured from the south tower, saying "what IS that?" and student teacher said "I think that one just collapsed". Between periods 3 and 4 we went down to the office, and while we were walking downstairs the other tower fell as well.
By coincidence I had taken 1/2 a personal day. It was book fair day at the school where DDs were then in grades 1 and 4. You could eat with your kids then shop around at book fair. Open house was scheduled for that night. I was listening to the radio and crying on the way over. The sky here was so very blue as well--did it rain anywhere in the US that day?
There was a sign in the elementary school office asking us not to discuss it with the kids. Well, one of the 4th grade teachers had mentioned it and DD's friends in that class were all asking me about it. I tried my best to explain it without freaking anyone out. Luckily, the 1st grader and all of her friends were happily clueless. So were the high schooler's in the town where we live--the HS was brand new, and the TVs did not have cable yet. I sat with both girls as they ate with their friends, watched them play at recess for a while, shopped at book fair, then picked up DS (age 3) at the sitters' house and went home to watch more TV. Nothing was on except the events, I remember channel surfing to see what people were saying and even MTV and VH1 were showing the WTC. I even snapped at DD#2 and made her cry when she asked if anything ELSE was on. She was only 6 and didn't understand, and I felt even more horrible then. Open house was cancelled. I waited to see if we would have school the next day, which we did, business as usual, since we were in Ohio after all. Some of the kids were worried because we are about 20 min. from a nuclear plant.
You think things are OK after a while, but let me tell you a story. I teach in an insulated little suburban school. It's pretty sleepy out there. But on opening day for the Toledo minor league baseball team the next spring, they scheduled a flyover by some national guard troops. They flew over our school on the way to the stadium. When those fighters flew over I had 18 year olds who jumped about 3 feet out of their seats. That never would have happened before. Luckily I had read about it beforehand and could calm them down.
Robin M.

 

[Blueberry]

DH and I were in the MK and in Fantasyland when another visitor told us what happened, and we were utterly shocked. We noticed people lining up for the phone lines trying to call home and airlines. The characters were just kinda standing by themselves and appeared to be a bit confused as to why people were grabbing kids and walking away from them. Kids were screaming and not understanding why they were being herded away and out....Tempers were flaring among adults as to what to do, since we were in the middle of MK.

DH decided we needed to leave the parks and find out what was going on, so we were headed out of the parks. Announcement was made the parks were closing as we were walking down Main Street..it was pretty surreal. People just looking kinda numb, kids mad and upset and not sure why everyone was leaving. One lady I overheard tell her kids, some mean men are doing bad things and they have to close the parks.

I was mad as could be, how dare they do this to my country and it was hard to hold back the tears for so many innocent lives lost. Forever I will remember those folks in my prayers and honor the memory of them and the brave firefighters and police who lost their lives on 9/11 trying to save them....May they all Rest in Peach and God Bless our true American Heroes.


GOD BLESS THE USA.....

 

[princess pooh]

I had a planning period in my schedule so I had time to go home and do some work. I turned on the TV and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Both towers had gone down by that point but I couldn't believe the footage was from NY. When I got back to school and we had gotten some threatening phone calls (the school is next door to a synagogue and that happens a lot). The police came and some parents who used to be in the army stood watch around the school. Most of the parents came early to pick up their kids. I work with little ones so I had to pretend that everything was okay. When my last student got picked up, I locked my classroom and cried.

 

[Island_Lauri]

Originally posted by nealymouse
What shall I carry today, Fear or Faith ?

Sept. 11 2001 I was sitting with flight 11 ( or was it 88 ? The 1st plane that flew into the tower)

My family and I were coming home from Washington DC. If a storm over Hartford CT had not happend I would have been home already. Instead I was sitting at Boston's Logan Airport waiting for our flight to Portland Maine. Sitting with the 1st plan full of people to die that terrible day. We boarded one gate over they were B25 we were B24. Funny the things you remember.

When we arrived in Portland is when we heard what had happend. I called home to let my family know we were ok only to find out that my beautiful 7 yr old neice died that morning in her Daddy's arms. It was unexpected.

9:30 that night. My 12 yr old DD told me who was responsible for the attack but of course I did not believe her. She had been trying to tell us all day but with the passing of my neice and the towers falling I just could not listen to what she had to say. She had a complete meltdown and wanted to know why her Mother and Father would not listen to her. We listened and we cried. Then called the FBI

She did know. She could ID him, she knew the airport attendent who let this guy go threw the x-ray machine after beeping it several times. My DD has nightmares to this day of this woman saying "OH just go"after using the wand and have it beep over and over again. "Oh just go"

Those 3 little words sent my DD into 2 years of councling because she knew it was her fault that the towers were hit. Of course it was not. but in her very young mind she felt she had the power to stop him from doing waht he did.

I will never in my life time forget Sept 11 2001.

God Bless America and my little neice Prudence

I hope today's anniversary finds you filled with Faith.


Lauri

 

[tiggersmom2]

I was in Dental Hygiene school. I remember that I was in clinicals with a patient...when the first plane hit, I was very upset.....when the second one hit, I knew it was a terrorist attack and I was crying - hard. I let my patient up and told them I couldn't finish.

We all went home and I went and picked my son up early from school. I didn't tell him anything was wrong but he knew it was because I was crying so hard.

God Bless the USA and I pray we never have a tragedy of this magnitude again.

 

[cati]

xx

 

[2MuchOhana]

I was at home and trying to get a little much needed sleep. My Dh was away on business in New Orleans. My parents were here to help me with my dd who was born six week early(due date was Septmeber 9). My Mom woke me up as because DH was on the phone. He told me that he was safe and that he was fine. After that I sat and watched in horror as the towers fell! I will never forget that day! I clung tight to my parents and dd that day. We all cried and prayed dh would get home safe. He did two days later.

Jodi

 

[goofygirl]

I was at work, in an outpatient office in a hospital. One of the morning patients had told us she heard on the radio in her car that a plane hit the WTC and it was hijacked. I don't know why, but I pictured a small plane.


Someone turned on the radio in the office, and then we heard about the 2nd plane, the Pentagon and the Pa plane.

It had been a busy morning and I had not even gotten to my desk to check voicemails or emails.

By midmorning, there were voicemails from worried loved ones, and I tried to access the news websites on my work pc. All were jammed, until I got onto MSNBC, and there was the WTC in flames right there on the site.

When my mom called, she had just woken up, turned on the tv, and asked me "What's happening?" I said "The WTC is gone, there's attacks, the Pentagon is attacked too." She said "What?" She just could not believe it!

People were crowded around a tv in a nearby waiting room, and outside some construction workers had the news blaring on their radio. I saw the Towers fall on tv.

I thought nuclear war was next, and we were all gonna die.

We closed for the day around noon. That day of all days, I forgot my cell phone. I was to always have it in case of emergency.

The ride home seemed like forever. I was so in shock. Seeing the footage today still shakes me up.

 

[ThAnswr]

My husband and I were home enjoying a cup of coffee. The phone rang and it was my mother and she told us to put on the tv because a plane had hit the Twin Towers.

We did and couldn't believe what we were watching. I still feel the utter disbelief watching the first tower come down. It took a moment to register that the tower was falling. And then the horror set in that we just watched thousands of people die.

Of course, we went to pick up my mother and then my sister and her family came here. Our house has always been a gathering spot.

Like typical Italians, we sat and ate and watched the tv, endlessly discussing what was going on. In many ways, 9/11 reminded me of the day JFK was asssassinated. It was that same feeling of loss and fear of what was coming.

I remember standing at our kitchen window and wondering what was coming next and if our lives would just be gone.

My most poignant memory of that day was when our then 7-year old daughter turned around to my husband and said "Daddy I've never seen you cry".

 

[lucysdad]

I was working on the copy desk at our local paper, The Idaho Statesman, so I worked late hours (5 p.m. to 1 a.m.). When I got home, I'd usually stay up another couple of hours to unwind. I generally slept until about noon. That morning the phone rang early and it was my supervisor telling me I had to get into work, that they were calling everyone in to work on special editions. I asked why and he said, "What are you the last person in the world to know what's going on? They're attacking us, they've already blown up half of New York and now they're attacking DC." In the groggy state I was in, my only reply was, "Huh, you're kidding, right?" He said, "Hang up and turn on your TV, after you've had a chance to digest it all, get your *** in here." I showed up at work 30 minutes later to a crowd of people gathered around TV monitors and crying. I'll never forget it, especially since my DD's birthday is 9-10.

 

[natty41]

I was in 2nd hour studyhall and the principal came over the PA and said that an airplane had flown into one of the World Trade Center Towers. So the teacher in my studyhall turned on the TV and most of us just could not stop staring at the footage being shown. It was so devastating...and then out of nowhere, we saw the 2nd tower get hit.

We did nothing in any of my classes that day. Every TV in the school was on and all we did was sit, watch and wait. Definately one of the saddest days I have ever experienced.

Then today after the 9pm news ended, they showed video clips from September 11th and had the Alan Jackson song "Where Were You (when the world stopped turning)" and seeing all the pictures from that dreadful day just brought me to tears. The lyrics of the song combined with the graphic images really hit me hard.