Where were you on 9/11/2001?

[Rafiki31]

It is something you will never forget right? I can remember exactly where I was standing and how scary it was! I was in the local court fighting a traffic ticket.... it was a day filled with fear, confusion, & sorrow.....

Share with us, where were you?

 

[pls5286]

Working on an ambulance in Conyers, Ga.

God be with all those who lost their life in the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania Field.

 

[goofy4tink]

I was in my guest room/office, hanging new shades and curtains. I think of that day every time I look out the window I was working on at the time.

 

[swanmom]

I was starting the phone chain for my DD's school - calling parents to tell them that the schools were closing and giving them the instructions to go pick up their kids. (We are in a suburb of NYC,) Never, will I ever be able to forget the mother who answered by saying "I can't leave the house. My husband is in Tower 1." (No, he did not make it home.) I will never, ever be rid of the feeling that I had that morning or the sadness that I feel on this day each year. Nor do I think I would want to. So many good people died that day, the immediacy of that sadness every year seems appropriate.

 

[emer95]

I was at home on a gorgeous morning with my baby girls, who were 1 and 2 years old at the time. We were watching Sesame Street and getting ready to go to the playground. My husband called me with dread in his voice and said, "Turn the TV to the news." I remember standing in my living room with the phone to my ear, crying as I watched the 2nd tower get hit. I called every family member just to hear their voice. Remember not knowing when it would end, and being terrified there would be more and more planes crashing? All of the neighbors came outside to talk to each other, which is something we never usually do.
God bless everyone, especially on this day.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Getting the kids off to school on the bus. I was watching the news as I do every morning and I told the neighbors to go and turn on their TVs. I also called a friend who I know does not watch news and called family as well.

It was Bryant Gumbel who I was watching with the intial hit and then flipped to MSNBC who confirmed the attack.

I watched TV all day and cleaned the house spotless.

Such a horrible day.

ETA...I just figured out the ages of my kids. My oldest was in 5th grade and my younger dd was in K.

 

[SeaSpray]

I was home watching "Good Morning America" that morning, so I saw exactly when the news was breaking; I was still watching when the second building was hit, they had the cameras facing it, so I saw it as it happened. I remember posting on one of the first threads about it, here on the DIS, as that morning unfolded. One of the most scariest days of my life... After hearing about the plane strikes in DC and PA, we just didn't know what city or landmark would be hit next.

I left my DSs in school that day because I didn't want to panic. We're not very far from Boston, but I was close enough to the schools that I knew I could go grab them quickly if Boston got hit (especially because they were announcing that those planes originated in Boston!). DSs were only in 5th and 8th grades back then....

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I was en route to a Bible Study. I heard about it on the radio and it was believed it was just a small plane.

Got to Bible study--only my 2nd week and 2nd time having my daughter watched by other people--and it seemed like every time someone walked in, there was more happening. To say I was about ready to lose it was an understatement. We prayed a rosary and cancelled the rest of the meeting and I went home and stayed glued to the television.

I do remember that in a post Y2K world, I didn't know what to do--so I went to the grocery store to stock up on stuff. (Kind of lame in retrospect.) But so many rumours were floating around and I felt so incapable. I recorded the events (not sure why I had conspiracy theories floating or whatever--but I knew that recording them as is, would preserve the event as it actually happened versus reediting and repackaging of the story over the decades.

I remember being uplifted by the stories of miracles and only wish there would have been more. People stuck on trains, people taking an unheard of day off. I recently reconnected with a friend who lived in NYC at the time. We lost touch--and I completely forgot she was in NY--I knew her from New Orleans and in recent years, I was more concerned about her parents. In any case--she took an uncharacteristic day off or morning off and at the time she worked in one of the smaller buildings near the site. Until speaking with her, I haven't known anyone in my life personally affected to that level.

My dad did know a family on one of the planes that perished. I think they were relocating to Australia or something. He used to work at the Pentagon but hadn't in many years by the time that day rolled around.

 

[emma'smom]

School administrator in an elementary school in the Bronx. We were getting the new preschoolers in line to start the day and a parent came running in to tell us what was on the news. The problem was that the only station left (whose antennas were not on the WTC) was the spanish speaking channels. So, I couldn't understand what was happening....the parents had to translate.

Then....lockdown....and finally rapid dismissal. I still can't believe we got every child out of that building and into someone's care by safely by 5pm. We could see the towers from the classroom windows....and then there was just smoke and no more towers---just lots and lots of smoke!

The teachers were frantic, regular phone service was out, cell phone service was spotty---email still worked. It was crazy.

The thing was...it was only the 3rd day of school (in a school with lots of turnover of students/teachers and reshuffling of classes at the beginning of the year and it was a HUGE school), so parents/extended family who did come for their kids didn't know who their child's teacher was, teacher's were still working for class lists that had been hand-updated (so no detailed records)...emergency cards hadn't been reshuffled to keep up with first-few day class switches or hadn't come in yet.

It was hard to quickly locate students when everyone was so frantic.....

 

[MIGrandma]

I was at home, turned on the Montel Williams show at 9:00 and saw the second plane hit the tower. I just sat there in shock, could not believe what I was seeing. A very sad and tragic day.

 

[brios86]

I was living in Bolivia and in school. I was sitting in math class when this buy came up to me and told me what happened. I just looked at him and laughed. I told him thats impossible and would never happen in the United States of America. It wasn't until I got home from school that afternoon that I saw my mom crying in front of the TV.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Never, will I ever be able to forget the mother who answered by saying "I can't leave the house. My husband is in Tower 1." (No, he did not make it home.) I will never, ever be rid of the feeling that I had that morning or the sadness that I feel on this day each year.

 

[olena]

I was here DISing. The radio broke in to say that a small plane had crashed into one of the towers. I posted a blurb about on the CB and went to turn on CNN to see if they had anything. After a while, I saw the other plane hit the other tower and it hit like a chill. It was no accident and it really hit home. Then the hysteria really ramped up with reports of a crash at the Pentagon, jets scrambling and speculation running rampant on all the news stations.

DH was asleep upstairs and I went upstairs to tell him about when the first plane crashed. After the second tower was hit, I told him to get up (he'd been working late the night before). He ended up working from home that day...albeit briefly. What a horrible, horrible day.

 

[Diva of Dragons]

I was sound asleep when my friend called and just started babbling about it. I couldn't even wake up enough to comprehend what she was saying. After I hung up and trudged down stairs and turned on the news. Then I called my husband and said, "why the heck didn't you call me?" He wanted to let me sleep and not freak me out. I told him he always needs to be the one to call me in a crisis because he is calm.

The rest of the day is a blur. Oddly, my strongest memory of 9/11 is the few days afterward with no planes in the sky. We have A LOT of air traffic here and it was so surreal not to constantly see and hear planes and helicopters.

 

[Pikester]

I was home with my 3yr old and my 4month old watching the Nickelodeon channel. My Mom called me from work to have me turn the TV on the news because she had heard about a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers in NY. I put on Good Morning America and saw the second plan hit the other tower. The rest of the day was spent watching the news and hugging my kids. I saw both towers fall and I cried many times that day.

 

[swald91]

I can remember the exact part of the street I was driving-after dropping my daughter at school & running another errand-I heard on a local radio station about an apparent fire at the WTC-they were then transferring to NBC-I made it through my door & turned on my tv just as the 2nd plane hit...VERY sad...for those families that lost loved ones-know that many people will NEVER forget-NEVER.

 

[TaraPA]

I was in WDW, sitting waiting for the Indiana Jones stunt show to start!

 

[mjkacmom]

I remember every minute. I remember getting a phone call, asking if I was watching TV. I remember seeing the smoke while driving my baby to the pediatrician, listening to a man on a local radio station saying they were in the tower, but safe. I remember the other moms at the pediatrician, trying to call their DH's, as was I (all were in NYC). I remember getting back into my van, and hearing the tower fell (knowing the man I was listening to 1/2 hour ago was no longer safe). I saw the smoke. I remember listening to siren all day long, and seeing no planes in the sky (did see a couple in the beginning). I remember watching TV, trying to find a way for DH to get home.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I was on a flight to Dallas (business trip). We landed just as the North Tower was struck - the first tower hit. God smiled upon me and my family that day. You see, I worked on the 97th floor of the North Tower. My office was directly opposite the strike. No one that was on one of our floors at the time of the attack made it out alive. Had it not been for that trip, I would have been in my office, as I am an early bird.

355 co-workers and friends died that day.

It still seems unreal...

 

[LBAK]

I was driving to work and I could see so much smoke on the horizon wondering what was going on. On the radio our morning show was broadcasting what happened and all I could think about was my DH was in the North Tower for a meeting. I tried for much of the day to get him and finally about 4:00 he was able to call and tell me he got out. The absolute worst day of my life. My DD had 7 friends that lost parents that day, 1 friend lost a parent in each tower. I pray for everybody on the day.