Where were you on 9/11/2001?

[kristilew]

I had just dropped the dogs at the kennel - we were supposed to fly out to WDW on 9/12. Needless to say, that trip got postponed.

Spent the rest of the morning trying to get hold of my brother and other friends in Manhattan, and praying. (they ended up being ok, but part of the mass walking out)


We were on one of the first flights out of here for our rescheduled trip the next week.....only we three and two business travelers on the plane. MCO was eerily quiet when we got there. The next few days, we walked down empty streets in all four parks, Pooh sat down with us at Crystal Palace and "ate" lunch with DD b/c there were only about three other tables with guests.

 

[Mkrop]

I was at home with DS4. He was off from preschool that day and he was eating and watching Clifford. My mom called to tell us about the first plane. DH was downstairs working, so I yelled down to him what happened. We both thought "oh what a horrible accident" Then he ran upstairs bc the second plane hit. We never turned the TV off after that.

 

[kacaju]

I was in the car driving to Target. I had just left Home Depot and the DJ's on the radio said a small plane hit the Trade Center. I so clearly remember looking out the car window at the sky, thinking... how the heck could they have hit the Trade Center, there is not a cloud in the sky.

I tried to call DH since we have family and friends that worked in the towers. Couldn't get through to him, so I went to Target. Not much was going on then, no one except a woman in the parking lot as I came out knew at that time what was going on. This stranger and I exchanged words of disbelief and I went to the oral surgeon.
By now I knew just how bad things were and the Dr. had the TV on, it was my first look at the burning tower.

After I left there I drove to the Pharmacy to fill my Rx. I ran into Kohls while I was waiting for my Rx. On my way home form the pharmacy DH finally called me. He works for a public utility so he was put on high alert and came home to change clothes and grab a few extra things in case he would be stuck at the office all night. All of a sudden he started screaming, the f**** tower is falling Holys*** my DH who NEVER curses was screaming every one and more.. I got home as fast as I could. It took us many, many hours to find out dh's brother was OK as well as other family and friends.

It was the most horrible day of our lives. Our town lost a few people that day.

 

[DawnCt1]

I was at work. The weather was spectacular. I wasn't paying attention to the time. My admin. asst. said that her DD just called and a plane had hit the WTC. Her DH woke up late and missed the first train into NYC. He is NEVER was late for work. I forgot the name of the company but he worked for the company in the WTC that lost the most employees. Their floor was hit. I told her that it was probably a small sight seeing plane and that I was sure everything would be fine. When I heard how big the plane was, it crossed my mind that it was intentional. When the second one hit, of course we knew. Her DD couldn't get in touch with her DH because the cell towers were out or overloaded. We ran through the time frame out loud, several times, "He couldn't be in NYC yet, it isn't possible", but of course, the fear is there and her mind wasn't at ease until almost 12 noon. By then of course, every computer in the company was tuned into the news and tvs were brought out into the common areas so people could be informed. It was awful.

 

[golfgal]

I was at home, on the internet when someone posted to turn on the TV. I turned it on and watched. We were posting back and forth about how strange of an accident that was, then the second tower was it and we knew it was a terrorist attack. The site I was on deleted all the history of that day on the site. I wish they would not have done that. I would have liked to go back and read everything-what a great detail of history.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I was at work. The weather was spectacular. I wasn't paying attention to the time. My admin. asst. said that her DD just called and a plane had hit the WTC. Her DH woke up late and missed the first train into NYC. He is NEVER was late for work. I forgot the name of the company but he worked for the company in the WTC that lost the most employees. Their floor was hit. I told her that it was probably a small sight seeing plane and that I was sure everything would be fine. When I heard how big the plane was, it crossed my mind that it was intentional. When the second one hit, of course we knew. Her DD couldn't get in touch with her DH because the cell towers were out or overloaded. We ran through the time frame out loud, several times, "He couldn't be in NYC yet, it isn't possible", but of course, the fear is there and her mind wasn't at ease until almost 12 noon. By then of course, every computer in the company was tuned into the news and tvs were brought out into the common areas so people could be informed. It was awful.

Cantor Fitzgerald lost the most employees (658). They worked in the floors directly above ours. But the strike was on our floors. I worked for MMC. Does either of these company names ring a bell? If he worked for MMC (Marsh), I almost certainly knew him...

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

I was on a field trip w/ my 3rd grade class in NY. We heard a little info. on the bus radio. Got back to school to find crying parents wanting to pick up their kids.

We had to keep smiles on for the kids' sake. I was dying to leave and go hug my own kids, but I was the teacher, so I had to stay at school until everyone was picked up, which ended up being the normal end of day time.

For many weeks after that, kids would play with blocks during recess and reenact the twin towers falling.

 

[downsouth]

I was in Atlanta at software training. We were on the 3rd floor with an FBI field office on the second and an IRS office on the first. We were ushered out of the building quickly by the FBI agents and our class cancelled. It was one of the weirdest things driving north thru Atlanta on I-85 at 6:00 pm and being the only car on the road.

 

[Tantor]

At home with my 5 year old daughter at the time and my DH was supposed to fly to Albany that morning. When I put on the news I remember my daughter saying" is Dad on that plane??"
My heart goes out to all that lost family and friends on that day.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I had just dropped my 3yo DD off at her first day of Preschool. I was driving home, when the radio station that does not have news breaks announced that a plane had hit one of the towers. They (the DJ's) were talking about how it may be a terrorist attack, nobody was certain. While they were talking, they got word that the second tower was hit, and it was now for certain a terrorist attack.

I got home, and woke DH up and told him to put the tv on, the world trade center was hit and it was a terrorist attack. I called my dad, in case he was busy running around and didn't have the TV on, and I called a friend that I knew wouldn't know because she didn't have her tv on during the day.

In truth, it didn't affect me at all during the day. I was in denial, or I was just busy with my life, I had a 5 yo, a 3 yo and a 1 yo. It wasn't until later that night, the kids were in bed, Dh was at work. I was laying in bed watching Peter Jennings. He had been at that desk from the first minutes. It was 12:30AM. They had been showing the video clips of people jumping out of the buildings, over and OVER. People walking around dazed, covered in ash..those images over and over. It was until Peter Jennings announced, and he sound exhausted, that he was going home and he was going to hug his girls. I just started sobbing and sobbing. It just hit me all at once, the reality of it all. I cried myself to sleep. It was 3 days later when I found out that a guy that was a year behind me in the very small private high school I went to, was killed in the towers. That hit me pretty hard.

9/11/01 was a crazy messed up day. I'm glad my kids were too young to remember it.

 

[Alyssa88]

I was in my 9th grade social studies class. My friend and I were passing a note back and forth about a boy (and I can't seem to rememmber anything about him beyond his gender now, lol) when our teacher came back from the office with the news. A freind of mine had an uncle or worked in one of the towers and the rest of our day was spent comforting her.

 

[Pixiedust34]

I was just about to leave the house for an errand when the phone rang. It was my sister with the news. Our parents were at the airport in Boston that morning for a connecting flight and we were on edge concerned about their safety until we heard from them later in the day. I spent the day glued to the TV and making phone calls. Such a sad, horrific day that was.

 

[Piecey]

Home sick from school... as was one of my friends a few houses down. We were both home sick, alone, and so she came to my house (I was on crutches) and we did a puzzle while we watched the news.

I was in 9th grade.


DH was in boot camp.

 

[disneyismyname]

I was a in high school (10th grade). I was in my art class..which was 3rd period,
when our principal came over the p.a. and told the teachers in a panic-like voice to turn on their t.v.'s to the today show. No more than 1 minute after the teacher turn on the t.v. the second plane hit. I was in complete shock.

 

[paintnolish]

I was sitting in a rocker, breast feeding my 3 month old baby. My mom called and asked if I knew what was going on. Of course, I did not. I had a toddlr watching Blue's Clue's. I turned to NBC in time to see the 2nd plane crash. I remember saying, "That's no accident," since we had been trying to decide if the first hit was an accident. I spent the next few days glued to the tv.

 

[SC Minnie]

I was at work. The radio station I was listening too came on with the news when the 1st plane hit. People started gathering around radios as news was spreading. After the 2nd plane hit several people went into one of the conference rooms where there was a tv and turned on the news. We were in there watching as the building fell. It was surreal. Everyone just stood there in silence.

Our corporate HQ at that time was in a high rise in Portland OR and they were all sent home for the day. There wasn't much work done in this building that day either.

I went home at lunch that day and put out our American Flag. By the time I got home in the evening every house on our street had their flag out.

 

[Epcot4Me]

I was in my dorm room, junior year of college. I had just showered and saw it on the internet (about 9). We didn't have a tv, and I don't think I understood at that time what was really happening...seeing is different than reading a short article.

I went to my 9:30 class, we had the class as normal, but about half the class was not there. When that ended is when I really found out what had happened, as I had missed about 20 calls from my boyfriend at the time who was frantic as he couldn't get ahold of his dad who worked in one of the towers (he ended up being fine, it was before he got to work). Spent the rest of the day glued to the TV.

My school was in western NY, Rochester, and there were tons of students from the NYC surrounding area. It was horrible to see them all trying desperately to get ahold of friends and family. A truly terrifying, horrible day.

 

[Trish Bessette]

I was at work all alone...the guy in the office next to mine came by and said a plane just hit the twin towers and he has a small TV in his office. I went over and we saw the 2nd plane hit. I will never forget looking over at him and saying "This is no accident, we are under attack"

The rest is history.

 

[Jennasis]

I was at home watching tv before I was supposed to go to work at the news station. That day was supposed to be an election day on Long Island and my station had wall to wall coverage planned that night (I was a cameraman/editor/truck operator). I happened to flip onto the Today Show and they were talking about the "small plane that hit the tower." I remember thinking "what idiot in a Cessna didn't see the frickin world trade center??" So I called DH (then my BF) and told him to put his tv on at his desk at work. We chatted about the "stupid pilot" and then, BAM, the second plane hit. I actually said, that other plane looks awfully close...BOOOOOOOOM"

Then hell broke loose. Nobody knew what was going on. Watching the anchors trying to keep it together (and partially failing at it) was awful. SO many of my colleagues were in and around the WTC covering the story. I called my boss at the station and asked him what I should do and he told me to get in to work and they'd figure it out.

I drove the 40 minutes to the station on the Long Island Expressway...and did not pass a SINGLE OTHER CAR. It was the eeriest, scariest thing ever. I was making calls to my friends and colleagues in the city, but nothing wazs getting through. At work, they stationed me in one of the news vans at the ferry terminal in Glen Cove where emergency services workers were being transported back and forth.

I spent the whole day watching footage being fed from all the other NY stations back to their stations. I kept looking for faces I knew, praying they were ok.

One of my friends and colleague died. He was an NYPD officer with the NYPD video unit. He followed a battalion of firefighters into one of the towers to shoot them and the building collapsed a few minutes later.

Later that night while sitting in the live truck, this punk looking kid with tatoos over 80% of his body, a mohawk and like 100 piercings comes up to the truck. He's a real "looky-loo" punk looking guy and I don't have the time or patience for the "hey what's going on" crowd. But this guy comes up to my truck and knocks on the side of it. I lean out and ask "Can I help you?" He's got tears in his eyes and he asks me, "I was wondering if you knew where I could go to donate blood?"

I burst into tears, made a few phone calls and found out for him.

Worst day in recent in history showcases the best in all of us.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I am very sorry for everyone who lost someone they knew that day...

I was at work, but hardly working yet. I was on another internet message board (sorry, not the DIS!) and someone posted that a plane had flown into one of the towers. I have to be honest, my first thought was "That was one heck of an accident." A few minutes later, someone else posted that another plane had flown into the other tower and that's when I realized, that was no accident. I managed to get on MSNBC.com before it crashed...the whispers started going through the office; the two guys on the other side of the room switched their radios from music to news stations and stopped working completely. Eventually, almost our entire company (about 100 people at the time) ended up in the breakroom, which was only big enough to hold two tables, a refrigerator, and a TV. Crammed in like sardines, all watching the TV.

One of my strangest memories of the weeks following was the traffic situation. I come from an area where drivers are notoriously rude. However, in those weeks, people were actually obeying speed limits, stopping at lights and signs, letting other drivers merge or pull out onto a main road (and being thanked by those they let out)...no honking or swearing or obscene-gesturing...Is it weird that that's what I remember afterward?