Where were you on 9/11/2001?

[OK!]

I had actually called in to work that day, not because I was sick but just because. I'd gotten up early to call in to the admin assistant's voicemail so I didn't have to try to fake "sick voice" to a live person, and when I couldn't get back to sleep, I lay down on the couch to watch Lifetime (Designing Women and Golden Girls). As such, I had absolutely no idea what was going on, as Lifetime never once interrupted their regular programming (which seems odd now but was a welcome relief in the days to come when I needed to escape the horror for a little while).

At about 9 am CDT, I decided to check one of the hockey forums I'm a member of to see if there was any news of the Blues training camp that had just opened in Anchorage, AK. The first thread I saw was something like, "OMG US under attack!" and because there had been a spate of silly things like false trade rumors etc., being posted, I remember thinking, "Wow, that's a really sh*tty prank to pull on people!" I clicked the thread, saw a post saying to turn on CNN, and I don't think moved then for the next 4 hours. I watched the North Tower fall live on TV and heard all of the false reports of other terrorist activities that the news was throwing out there only because NOTHING seemed out of the realm of possibility at that point. I mean, where was safe? I heard them announce that the Sears Tower was being evacuated and called my brother in a panic, as he lived (at that time) in a high-rise apt building that had a view of it. But when I heard that they were also closing the Arch and evacuating the Eagleton federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis, I lost it. I panicked and packed up my cat and headed to my parents' house.

I spent the rest of the day sitting on their couch, watching the news, crying and becoming angrier and angrier as the day went on. When I finally couldn't take it anymore, I flipped over to ESPN, thinking naively that they'd still be discussing mundane things like sports. About 30 seconds after I changed the channel, they broke in with the news that Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis, 2 scouts for the LA Kings, had been on flight 175, and that was when it really hit home. Now somebody I "knew" had been killed. I couldn't stop crying.

I worked for AT&T at the time; we had some employees on the 51st floor of the South Tower, but they all evacuated safely after the 1st plane struck. When I went into the office the next day, all of the ceiling-mounted TVs in the office had been tuned to CNN, so pretty much all we did for the next several days was watch coverage of the goings-on. We didn't have a lot of calls or much to do because so many of the people with whom we interacted on a daily basis worked in lower Manhattan (to my knowledge, all were OK, but no longer had offices to go to), people who worked for Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust, Standard Chartered Bank....

I still can't believe it has been 8 years. I kept a diary at the time, and my entries for that day are nothing but a stream of consciousness of shock and disbelief and rage and sadness. I reread it last night and I don't think slept more than about 3 hours.

 

[mlynn]

I was at work in a preschool. I was filling out paper work and had the radio on. When I heard I ran to the only room with a TV and turned it on just when the 2nd plane hit.

My best friend since 1st grade.Was a Flight Attd. for AA and her flight was Boston to LAX. I was going nuts trying to get her on the phone. I couldn't get through to her mom. Finially she called and I was never so happy to hear her voice. Been talking to her all morning she doesn't work for the airlines anymore. She is back in NJ.
2 men from my husband job were in the towers that morning look at a pipe job that was going to be done the following week. They have a parking reciept for 20min before the 1st plane hit. They watch it all for the George Washington Bridge

A boy from my Church Nick Brandtmart died that day. I didn't know him.But I went to the church service for him and pray for his family.His body was never found.

My prayers to all who were touched by this tragic event adn to all the soldiers fighting to keep it from happening again.

 

[FergieTCat]

I realized today that I can still recall 9/11/01 with amazing clarity. Every little detail still stands out like it was yesterday.

I got on the subway to get to work in Manhattan at 8:30 (ironically, it was the E train, last stop is the World Trade Center). The trains were slow and I got to work at around 9:40. I had no idea anything was wrong until I got to work and someone told me. At that point, there was no way to get home because the subways were locked down, so I stayed at work until 3:30 pm, wherein the mayor asked everyone who could to leave the city in an orderly manner. I work about 4 miles from Ground Zero.

I remember calling my parents to tell them I was OK and not to worry about me. I remember a friend calling me to find out what was going on (she said they only had a radio at their office and they couldn't piece together what was happening), and I broke down and sobbed before I could talk to her.

I remember the city smelling like burnt rubber days after (even 4 miles up Broadway). I remember seeing posters of missing people tacked up all over the place. In December, I remember volunteering my notary services at the Survivors and Family of Survivors center. There was a row of 169 teddy bears from Oklahoma City in memory of their bombing.

I don't think the painful memories of this day will ever leave me.

DisneyBamaFan -- I don't know what to say.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

DisneyBamaFan, I wanted to add my voice to those saying Thank God you weren't there. I know it had to be hard (and probably still is at times) to deal with the grief and the guilt, but I'm glad you're around to deal with it.

 

[Vixen]

I was in at school in my English class when the principal came in and told us what was going on we were dissmissed to go home

 

[bicker]

I was right here at work... as I walked in, one of my colleagues had coverage of the attacks on screen. I walked over and watched one of the towers collapse onto the building my brother worked in at the time. It took him six hours to walk home, to northern Queens, before we heard that he saw the tower on fire when he popped out of the subway station, and he just turned around and started walking north away from the danger.

 

[traces7]

I also will never forget exactly where I was and what I was doing on that day. I had just walked into work and into the conference room for our weekly meeting, someone came in and said one of the towers had been hit. We turned on the TV and watched the whole thing, we saw the 2nd tower get hit, both fall down, etc.

We never had our meeting. We all just sat there in shock and crying (at least I was). I think we watched until about 11:00 before we all went back to our desks and then we watched on the internet.

We live in a small town in the midwest, but, all I could think about that day was getting home to my family. My DD was 2 at the time.

I don't think I'll ever forget that time, and hopefully nothing like that will ever happen again!

 

[LoraJ]

I was right across the river at work watching the towers burn.

This is where I was standing (photo taken two days later):

This was the view from where I lived at the time:

Took forever to get home that day and I was hysterical crying the whole way. I have never been so terrified in my life.

 

[lazarru]

I was on the NJ Turnpike listening to music. Happened to turn over to the right and saw the smoke. At that point put on a news channel and they were reporting small plane had hit it. Call my wife at that point and told her to turn on the news that it seemed to be more than a small plane.

At that point saw a dark spot, the 2nd plane, moving towards the buldings then not come out the other side and more smoke. Just remember saying OMG, OMG, my wife is like what? what? She hadn't been able to get the news on yet, I just couldn't say anything else.

At that point got off the turnpike exit where the Meadowlands is, I remember just aiming the car throuhg the toll booth with my hands totally shaking, still don't know how I didn't hit the toll booth.

At that point went into the office, worked in an office complex by the Meadowlands, there was one side of the office building that everyone could see from, so it seemed like 1/2 the people were around TV that was on one floor, or at the window. nobody know what to do.

While watching out the window we saw the smoke when the 1st one came down, at that point we were all like what are we doing here and people started to clear out.

Left the office about 10:30, still don't know how I made that ride home was in a totally fog.

 

[wdwgirl03]

I know I will never forget. It was my junior year of high school (I remember it was picture day too). I first found out what was going on in 3rd hour study hall.

I also remember my dad was supposed to be flying somewhere for work and calling home at lunch to see if he left. Obviously his flight was cancelled.

Can't believe it's been 8 years...

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I had just dropped off my oldest son at school. I had the three little ones with me (at that time they were 4, 2 and 1). I heard on the radio that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers but at first everyone assumed it was either a news helicopter or a small plane. They were interviewing someone at the scene when he yelled "OMG another plane just hit the other tower". At first they thought the guy was joking but they the real news reports starting coming in.

I drove home and as I was getting out of my car my neighbor was in his driveway and I told him what happened. I grabbed the kids out of the car, called my dh, my oldest (married) daughter, and my mom. I just kept watching it and when the Pentagon got hit I really got scared. My older kids stayed in school although I toyed with the idea of getting them. I was just glued to the tv and crying all day.

Later on my oldest daughter found out that a friend of hers was killed working in the one of the financial offices of the Tower. He was just 24. We lost several people in our area. One of the saddest things was the local train station - there were several cars of people who died in the Towers still parked at the station for many days.

Todd Beamer (Let's Roll) lived just a few miles from our home. One of my son's high school teachers lost a brother. My boys played football and a football player from a rival school lost his father. All the boys wore black arm bands and the American flag for the rest of the year. I remember how everyone finally would all sing the National Anthem at the football games for the rest of the year.

 

[Robmom]

I work in Downtown Manhattan, and I was on my way in. We were in the Battery Tunnel when the first plane hit, so we had no idea anything happened. When I got off the bus, I saw all of this burnt paper flying all over the place. I was thinking it had something to do with Election Day. Only when I got into work, I found out what happened. I saw the Towers fall from my office window. You could feel the rumbling. And the sky went completely black. Very very scary. We couldn't leave the building until about 12:00 pm, once they felt it was safe for us to leave. I didn't return to work for about a month, and even then, the burnt smell was still so strong. I will NEVER forget that day. Even scarier, that morning I was planning on going to a store directly across from the WTC to get a gift for someone, but I decided I would go in the afternoon instead. I'm so glad I made that decision.

 

[tinkerbell87512]

I was a freshman in highschool. I remember the principal made an announcement to the whole school over loudspeaker that the WTC had been hit. Our team of classes all got together in one room and turned on the tv. I will never forget seeing the second plane hit the WTC with the words 'live' in the corner. My heart still breaks (and will always break) for everyone who lost their lives and all of those who were effected that awful day.

 

[Katieinwonderland]

I lived in England at the time, so everything happened just after 2PM.

I was 16 and in high school...no one at the school told us anything had happened, but friends from other schools and parents were texting us saying there had been a plane crash in NYC. I remember thinking "how can you crash a plane into something so big, didn't they see it?"

Then we got out of school at 4PM, my friends mom picked us up to take us to dance class, where people were talking about it...I still didn't really know what was going on, just that it was worse than I had thought.

I got home at 7.00PM and was eating dinner (pasta with roasted red pepper sauce...funny how you remember things like that) and watching TV. I remember not knowing what to do, what to think. It was like a nightmare.

My brother in law worked in Tower 1 at the time. He and his buddy got into work early, then played rock, paper scissors to see who would go grab bagels for breakfast. My brother in law lost, and was sent out to get them. He watched the first plane hit from the ground. Their floor was above where the plane hit; he never saw or spoke to his friend again

 

[sorcerormickey]

I was still asleep when this all happened. We had just flown home from a 10 day stay at Disneyland the night before. I worked at the Disney Store at the time and I was supposed to be the closing manager that day. Needless to say, our mall ended up being closed for the day and I did not have to work.

We lived in a very highly Arab populated area at the time so the police were out full force and there were military planes flying over all day - they were a little freaky to see since there was to be no aircraft in the air.

3 ladies that we ate dinner with just days before were lost on 9/11 at the WTC.

 

[luvmyboys]

I was at home in the Northern VA suburbs of D.C, sick with worry about 3 of my neighbors who work in the Pentagon. The wife of one of these men didn't get a hold of her husband until he walked in the door at 7 pm. I've never felt so awful for someone in my whole life.

One neighbor lost every person in his office except one person who was out sick. He was spared because he decided to go smoke a cigarette before a meeting. His wife hasn't nagged him about quitting since.

 

[momrek06]

I was in our MA home. DH (design engineer for the Ports) was working for the Port Authority NY/NJ at the WTC on the 62nd floor of the South Tower. My DBro Col/ARMY was working at the Pentagon. It was one of the hardest days my family ever experienced. Thankfully, DH was ok. Thankfully DBro was ok. It is a day we will never ever forget. DH lost 10 outstanding fabulous design engineers that day. DBro lost many fellow officers.

Please remember in your prayers all those that were effected by 9/11.

Thank you.

 

[shortbun]

I was still a travel agent at that time. My friend came into my office saying a small plane had hit the 1st tower. We both groaned because that kind of accident always makes the travelling public nervous. I remember thinking about the people in the tower. We headed for the conference room to see if we could find out any more on TV. We arrived and got the TV on in time to see the 2nd plane hit. One of us said, 'I guess that rules out an accident.' We stood in horror. I picked up the phone and called my son's school. He was in his 2nd week of kindergarten. My close friend answered the phone. I made her assure me that the children would not be told and that the school was all locked up. She promised me that she would take him to her house if there was further emergency. I left my office early after watching TV all day to pick up my son instead of sending him to latchkey. There were dozens of parents in the halls waiting for the end of the day. We were all silent and many were crying. Our children were our first priority. Everytime I think of that day, I think of all the children and parents who lost each other that day. I think of the huge walls of pictures they had up in New York begging for help finding the missing. I think of how lucky we are to live in this country.
Tonight, I will hold my 14yo son close, wether he likes it or not, lol! Peace.

 

[DWGal210]

I lived in England at the time, so everything happened just after 2PM.

I was 16 and in high school...no one at the school told us anything had happened, but friends from other schools and parents were texting us saying there had been a plane crash in NYC. I remember thinking "how can you crash a plane into something so big, didn't they see it?"

Then we got out of school at 4PM, my friends mom picked us up to take us to dance class, where people were talking about it...I still didn't really know what was going on, just that it was worse than I had thought.

I got home at 7.00PM and was eating dinner (pasta with roasted red pepper sauce...funny how you remember things like that) and watching TV. I remember not knowing what to do, what to think. It was like a nightmare.

My brother in law worked in Tower 1 at the time. He and his buddy got into work early, then played rock, paper scissors to see who would go grab bagels for breakfast. My brother in law lost, and was sent out to get them. He watched the first plane hit from the ground. Their floor was above where the plane hit; he never saw or spoke to his friend again

I'm so sorry to hear about your BIL's friend.

 

[Gary M]

DW and I were at WDW staying at AKL. We heard about the attack when we got on a bus to AK. We hadn't turned on the TV that morning, but that is the first thing I do now, no matter where I'm at.

I'm older and also remember where I was when I heard that JFK was shot. These two historical things standout in my memory.