Where were you on 9/11

[TheOtherVillainess]

I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my DS when he's in school and they study 9/11 in history class. But I can remember it like it was yesterday.

I was working at the SuperTarget in Frisco at the time, which is about 20-30 min drive from our house. The car I had at the time, a 92 Buick Skylark, didn't have a CD player, just a radio/cassette deck. I had turned on the radio so I could put in a tape and Kidd Kraddick (local DJ) was going on and on about how a plane hit the WTC. Knowing that he is prone to staging really elaborate jokes that are in really bad taste sometimes, I kind of thought it was a joke.


Then ABCNews breaks in and starts detailing the first plane hitting the tower and a few minutes later, the second one. I don't know how I got to work, I just did. I walked into the ESC (employee service center) to clock in and looked at the secretaries sitting at their desk. I asked them if they'd heard what was going on and they just kind of nodded grimly.

I went out to my checkstand and the store was practically empty. A few people who had relatives in NYC were allowed to go home, but the general attitude of the upper mgmt was that this was just an ordinary business day. We were not allowed to have the small radios kept in case of bad weather at our checkstands and I was starving for information. WHenever a customer came in, I would ask if there was any new information. Most of them felt sorry for us having to be stuck without a radio or TV. The mall across the street closed at noon.

At some point during my shift, I got permission to call my mother long distance (well..she lives in Ft. Worth, but it's considered long distance from Frisco). I asked her if she'd talked to N, a family friend who's son is a resteraunt chef in NYC. She said that B (N's son) was fine and told me not to worry.

On my lunchbreak, I went back to the ESC instead of the breakroom, so I could sit next to the secretary's desk and listen to the radio they had on. I don't remember eating, but I must have. I do remember crying my eyes out the entire time.

I didn't see any news footage until the 6 pm news that night when I got home. DH ordered pizza because neither one of us was in the mood to cook. We just wanted to be plastered to the TV, like a lot of other people. Since we live so close to Dallas, we wondered if we were next on the list.

When I saw footage of the towers falling, I thought, "Oh God..it's OKC all over again." and just cried.

My birthday, a week later, was sort of bittersweet. I didn't really feel like celebrating when the world was in mourning. It was really difficult to feel happy in the first month or so after 9/11.

When we went to WDW in Feb of 2002, everybody was like "Aren't you afraid to fly? What if terrorists take over your plane?". We couldn't be afraid to fly and if terrorists took over the plane, well, we'd cross that bridge when we got there.

I remember in the first couple of weeks after 9/11, the local radio stations played "God Bless the USA" a lot, as well as mix versions of "Only Time" by Enya and "Hands" by Jewel, the music interspersed with news clips and people commenting on the disaster. I cried so hard when those came on.

I also cried the first time I ever heard "Where Were You On That September Morning" by Alan Jackson.

I wonder how I'm going to explain this to DS when he's older. What it felt like, what was going on in the world afterwards, why we were so afraid.

I wonder if this is how my mother felt when Kennedy was shot.

TOV

 

[kmebee]

Sitting in my office in a "tall" office building in downtown Cleveland when the management (for whom I worked) didn't want to close the building or send anyone home (the bldg is open 24 hrs). Needless to say, everyone around us was being sent home since we sit smack in the middle of downtown. Finally they closed the building & sent us home in gridlock and mass chaos. I headed to be with my family who were waiting for my DSil to come out of surgery.
I remember trying to check something online and everything was moving so slow and nothing would come up. At that point I didn't know there had been an "accident" until someone I worked with came up and asked me to try to get to CNN. We turned on a radio and a small tv and about 10 of us sat around watching/listening and waiting to see what was going to happen. The phones were ringing and people were coming in to find out if we were going to close the building and evacuate or could they/should they stay.
It certainly is a day I will NEVER forget. I remember feeling sick all day long!

 

[crazyme5kids]

At work. My friend came in and told me she was on the phone with her husband and he said he just say a plane hit the Trade Tower. I called my husband and told him to put on the news. He was supposed to fly that week to LA and kept changing the date. At one point he was flying on the 11th. He finally changed his flight to the 12th. My bosses husband was in the subway at the Trade Towers when the first plane hit. He was outside under the building when the second plane hit. He had an injury to his leg. We knew he was alive because we heard him being interviewed on the radio. This is a man who has faced death many times.

I picked up the phone when he called to tell my boss he was ok. To this day I will never forget the sound of his voice and what he said to me.

 

[CEDmom]

I was at work. I was just about to have a gossipy conversation with someone about an office affair we suspected was going on. There's a tv in the lobby of our building and people we're talking about a plane hitting the 1st tower as they went to their offices. A bunch of us went down to the lobby and saw when the 2nd plane hit.

The firm I work for has offices in the World Financial Center so there were a lot of frantic phone calls taking place to account for everyone.

Around 10am our complex was shut down and I raced home to get DD from daycare. Since we're less than 40 miles from NYC lots of rescue teams were racing up there. I ended up getting off the highway and taking back roads to help cut down on the traffic.

At the time we lived in Somerset County NJ and as I was driving home I heard that a plane crashed in Somerset. They originally reported it as NJ but later corrected that to PA. I was almost too terrified to keep driving.

Honestly, it's not something I'll ever forget. The smell actually drifted down to our area and that alone was enough to never forget.

 

[ducklite]

I was at my desk in NJ at one of the major international insurance companies that had a moderate to large exposure in the towers. I was starting my work day when a friend from Calgary, AB popped onto AIM and asked me if I was watching TV. I told her no, why, and she told me a plane had hit the WTC. I figured a tourist plane had been swept into the tower by a gust of wind, and tried to get onto newsradio88.com, as they always have the best NYC news. Their server was overloaded, as was CNN's. I finally got onto AOL and saw the horror there.

Due to the nature of our business, we did a huge amount of business with Marsh and Cantor Fitzgerald (for different reasons) and many co-workers knew many of the people from those two companies. Many of us had spouses/family members and good friends who worked in the Financial District and the mood was horribly somber and sad as the reality of what was happening began to set in--not to mention a lot of concern over the potentially devastating financial losses to the company we worked for. One of my closest friends was on a ferry to NJ as the first tower collapsed. She worked in World Financial, and saw things that I'm not even going to repeat. She's spent the past four years in therapy to get past it all.

I vaguely remember Bobby Kennedy being murdered--the mempry is more of my parents being sad, and I have fuzzy memories of watching Martin Luther King's funeral on TV. I also remember where I was when John Lennon was murdered.

Anne

 

[momrek06]

JFK: I was in the 4th grade at a Catholic elementary school here in MA where relatives of the Kennedys attended the school as well. They were in the upper grades. We were all quickly told to get to the Church and start praying that the President survives the shooting. EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE was crying. Esp having Kennedys at our school this was more than devastating. We were dismissed for the day and then for the rest of the weekend I remember my Mom just crying all the time. It was so horrible. And I remember watching the tv when they were escorting Oswald through the Police Station and watching when Ruby came out of no where and SHOT him. I was 10yo!

9/11/01: I was out for an early morning walk in MA. My hubby had a contract engineering job with the PA of NY/NJ (Port Authority) he was living in NYC. He would commute home on weekends. He loved the PA and EVERYONE @ the PA right down to all the Police Officers. He called me Mon 9/10 in the eve to tell me he would be at the WTC all day at meetings. The PA Engineering offices were on the 62th Floor of the South Tower. I came in from my walk about 9am and turned on the TV! I first thought..."wow, something has happened somewhere"...I look again as Katie Couric says NYC WTC. WHAT WHAT I am all alone. The DS' are at school. I flip out. I just start crying and panicking. Within seconds my phone starts ringing as my whole family knows DH is at the WTC working.

In the meantime a plane has now flown into the Pentagon. My bro is a LTC with the Army and is working at the Pentagon. So now my parents are so incredibly upset, crying and they are in Maine on the phone with me. Their Son is at the Pentagon and SIL at the WTC.

I finally get a call from DH around noon. I have become a mess. I am now screaming and yelling and am so happy DH is fine (thank you GOD) BUT what about everyone ELSE in that building...my sons schools call me..do I what them dismissed. NO I cannot drive anywhere or anything I am a mess. Then I see those buildings go down...I just cried and cried all day long. DH has lost soooo many good friends. We get a call from the Pentagon, my bro was in Quantico, VA for 2 days on business so he is fine. But he is DEVASTATED.

Fastforward: DH left the PA in 2004 when his contract was up. We have our own engineering co in MA and we have in our office a small shrine to 9/11. We have framed my DH's meeting agenda for SEPTEMBER 11, 2001! He kept that and other WTC memorabilia. Bro left for Iraq and just returned. 9/11/01 was a very devastating day in all our lives. As we approach the 5th Anniversary I certainly hope everyone in this great USA of ours does something special on that day in memory of all the fabulous people lost, hurt, and still grieving to this very day.

 

[Holly]

I was driving, in southern CT, on a highway used by many commuters from CT to NYC. I couldn't figure out why so many cars were pulled over. People were driving with their hazard lights and headlights on. There was a man leaning on the hood of his car, crying. I was listening to a CD, Last of the Mohicans soundtrack. That's a small detail I'll never forget.

I didn't know what had happened until I arrived at my meeting. One of my colleagues was hysterical, as her son had left on an early flight from Long Island. There was a tv on in one of the conference rooms and we all sat, dumbfounded.

Our local news was reporting that the highways out of NYC would soon by jammed with people fleeing from the city, so I left and returned home.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I was in my second week of my freshman year of high school. It was a perfect September day. Blue sky. No clouds. Warm.
I was in bio when the gym teacher came running in. She was unbelievably pale, and crying. She just about passed out. She whispered something to my bio teacher. All I heard were "747" and "tower". Bio teacher turned so pale. He was normally joking around, and having a great time, but even he started to cry. He sort of regained his composure, enough to tell us we'd be getting some shaky news, and our lives were changing forever. The bell rang. We went to homeroom. My teacher had the news on. We were in shock. 20 minutes later we headed to period C, which was study hall in the cafeteria for me. There was a military recruiter setting up for the lunch periods. His cell phone rang. He went out into the courtyard. Came back a few minutes later in tears and started just throwing stuff into his briefcase. A few minutes later they came over the PA and told us to have a moment of silence. Two towers and the Pentagon had been hit.
The rest of the day was just a blur of news watching and tears. DUring lunch kids from my hometown got phone calls of missing relatives in the WTC and Pentagon. We didn't do any work the rest of the day. The only class that was "normal" was gym. We went outside and played ultimate frisbee. And it felt so wrong, to be doing anything. There were military choppers overhead, circling the city (we're about an hour north of Boston). But despite it being a perfect weather day, and the school being in the flightpath of Manchester Aiport, there were no commercial jets. I think that's when reality really hit. Well, initially.
When I got home we were glued to the tv. My mom basically kept my sister and I in her arms all night. Just as we were headed to bed the phone rang. It was my aunt. She was looking for her uncle's phone number. Her cousin had just called saying their aunt was supposed to fly from Boston to LA that morning. She called back half an hour later, confirming the worst. My great aunt, had been aboard American Airlines Flight 11

 

[juligrl]

I was working at Enterprise Rent-a-Car in a car dealership. I got a call from my husband who said "Are you near a t.v.?"
Me: "No."
DH: "Get to a t.v."
Me: "I don't have time. What is it?"
DH: "The WTC has just been hit by a plane. There's smoke pouring out of the building."
Me: "Wait a minute, wasn't that a movie or something...Armegeddon. Yeah I saw that already."
DH: "No seriously! Get to a t.v."

So I hung up and promptly excused myself to go to the customer waiting lounge where a small crowd has amassed. Sure enough there's smoke pouring from the WTC. About 15 minutes later I check back in the t.v. lounge and Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America is saying that another plane has hit the WTC.
By this point, at our little office phones are ringing off the hook. I guess all the area managers were trying to get cars out to the airport which was quickly renting all theirs out. In the midst of all these phone calls I get another call from DH.
DH: "One of the towers just came down. I'm going in to work."
(he works 4-midnight shift at a newspaper so this would be odd for him, but obviously this was big news. About 2 minutes after he hung up with me he got a call from his managing editor that they were going to be putting out a special edition and could he come in. He was already on his way out the door.)
Me: "Oh my God! I hope nobody was inside."
DH: "I love you. I have to go. I love you."
Me: "Be careful. I love you too."

I then excused myself again and went back to the t.v. lounge just in time to see the second tower come down. We all know that gut-wrenching, sick feeling we felt that day. Well that was when it really hit me. The rest of the day is a blur. I know that there was practically no traffic on the roads. On my lunch break I went home and watched the news and sat unbelievingly. By that point the plane had gone down in Shanksville (about an hour from my home) and I'm thinking "that's just a little too close for comfort. Who would do something like this? Why?"
My church had a service that evening to pray for the victims and their families and our political leaders. I went to that. The whole day was just surreal. I hope we never have to go through anything like that ever again.

 

[hydster]

We were just getting dressed and ready to head to Disneyland when my parents in the other room of the suite started saying OH MY GOSH! I went into their room and it was on and I just stood there stunned. I watched for a few minutes and then went and told my dh who was in the shower that 2 planes had hit the towers and he looked at me like I was a loon.

He got out of the shower and we proceeded to watch glued to the tv in my parents room while our kids were watching disney channel in our room. They'd come in occasionally and watch and walk out.

Being somewhat shocked and obviously not realizing the whole gravity of the situation at the time we headed out the door of the hotel still thinking we could go to Disneyland and Harbor Blvd which is usually full of cars was eerily emtpy. Disneyland was closed for that day. We rented a minivan *had a car service take us from airport to hotel* and drove to the beach near Anaheim where it was gray and cool all day long.

 

[mtemm]

I'll never forget. On 9/10 I got a call from my OB saying something wasn't right about my triple screen results (I was pg with our first), so she recommended an amnio along with my already scheduled u/s the next morning. I was terrified. More frightened that something was wrong than about the amnio, although that was scary enough. We were there in downtown Boston first thing, the morning of 9/11. I'd say I was having my amnio when the first plane went in, although we had no idea. We called dh's grandmother to tell her the sex of the baby and she was going on and on about a plane hitting one of the towers. we figured it was a small plane that somehow didn't see them...none of it made sense, and it wasn't even on the radio yet. Then as we were talking to her the second one hit. it was horrible. we continued to drive home, speculating why nyc and not d.c., and as we walked in our door, or at least not long after, the pentagon was hit.

We have many friends and family in and around NYC and D.C, not to mention Boston (including friends on planes, thankfully not the planes) that flew out of boston that morning. I just remember feeling so overwhelmed... I was supposed to go home and relax to help avoid complications from the amnio. Yeah, right.

 

[barkley]

dh and i had just gotten up to get ready for work-turned on the t.v. and was watching just as the second plane hit the tower. we kept the kids home that day (dd was in 1st/son was in preschool). i just remember not beleiving what we were seeing and an overwhelming sense of fear.

the days after i remember people looking shell shocked and all the american flags-initialy people posted them at half mast out of respect, then they rose and remained in support. one of the most touching displays was at our local air force base-the elementary aged kids made handprints of red/white/blue which were cut out and placed into a flag configuration on a huge fence that faced the roads that bordered it-it was left there for month, noone wanted it taken down-little by little the small handprints came loose and scattered in the wind.....

dd's never realy asked or talked much about the events-she has a basic understanding but the school's never gone indepth in studying it. i did buy an excellent book/dvd that was published a year or so later-the dvd is done just as the days' events unfolded-using local and national newscasts starting with the initial reports. when she wants to learn more about it i will share these with her.

one of my neighbors had a very unique experience-she and her dh were on board a cruiseliner in the mediteranian when the events occured. all the u.s. passengers were called into a private conference room and the captain told them he wanted to advise them what had occured before he made a public announcement (she said looking back she wondered why the tv sets in the lounges and rooms stopped working that morning). the captian did'nt want them to hear it via public address system and wanted them to know the staff would assist people in trying to contact family/friends to the best of their ability. when they arrived in a small port later they were greated by residents of all ages in tears, many holding signs saying 'god bless you' and holding small american flags. she said she never felt such an outpouring of love and support from a group of strangers before in her life. every port they went to-as soon as someone realized they were americans they were offered condolences, people burst into tears and kept saying 'we are so sorry, is there anything we can do to help you-do you want to use our phone to call home, can i get word to family for you?'. she said she probably felt allot safer and secure than her family members back home.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I was at work and was dealing with this matter on many levels. I work in the aviation industry, a coworker's son was FDNY and was working that day (we later found out he was killed), and I was tracking down DH who needed to come into work for security reasons. A horrible, horrible day (but I guess that goes without saying).

 

[Jimbo]

I was in Châteauneuf du Pape in southern France, touring a winery and sampling their product. We were part of a group of six couples, and when we returned to our minibus the driver attempted to explain to our guide what had just happened. She translated it as best she could.

Two of the couples were from New York, and a third had a son that worked in Manhattan, so they were very worked up. But the only info we could get for quite a while is what was on the radio, which then had to be translated into English.

That evening we stayed at a small inn, and they were able to get CNN on their TV. So we started to get some information. The New Yorkers in the group were desperately trying to get in touch with family, but it was very difficult. And our trip was nearly over, so we were also trying to get some information about our flight home. But it wasn't easy, and of course the situation was pretty fluid so you didn't know if what you were told was accurate.

One of the New Yorkers had just retired as senior producer of Nightline, Ted Koppel's show, and this trip was his retirement present from his wife. So besides all of the other distress he was feeling, he was missing what would have been the biggest story of his profesional career. That was a minor thing, of course, but as a lifetime journalist being so out of the loop during this made it doubly hard for him.

 

[Galahad]

At work in Tampa. We watched unfold on a TV in a broom closet since the internet "backbone" was pretty much maxed to capacity up and down the east coast all day we couldn't get info that way.

 

[NMAmy]

We had just moved to Michigan from New Mexico about a month before. I took the whole month of September to get settled and unpacked before looking for a job so after getting dd off to school, I was watching the Today Show. They interupted an interview when the first plane hit and it seemed like a tragic accident at first. When the second plane hit, I knew that neither was an accident and burst into tears. DH was working and I called him to tell him to get to a tv. DD's school was right behind our house so I knew they were carrying on as usual but I really wanted to run over there and bring her home. I just wanted to gather my family around and be thankful that I knew where they all were.

 

[JennyMominRI]

I lived in San Diego and this all happened before I woke up.. I woke up to Bobby, who is active duty Navy knocking on the nedroom door,which was strange enough as he was supposed to be at work..He told me the trade centers had fallen down and I didn't beleve him.. I tunred on the TV and there it was. It didn't look real to me and still looks like a movie.
I then started worrying about my sister who lives in the upper East Side but worked very close to the WTC and I knew she took the subway to work..No one was able to reach her on the phone for most of the day. We finally did reach her and she hald walked all the way from lower Manhatten to the upper East side.. I remember watchin the footage of everyone walking over the bridge(not sure which one) away from Manhatten.. That was quite shocking.. I remember crying that night because people were already starting to look for loved ones and making poster of them to hang all over the city.
A day or so later we were all supposed to light candles in honor of those who died..I was the only one on the street out there with candles. A lady from down the street pulled over in her car and thanked me for doing that.
I had an aquaintence who watched about 5 minutes of coverage on TV and turned it off..She said " who cares,We can't do anything about it" She refused to watch anything to do with it even 3 years later. Her attitude was the same.. Who cares it's over...
I have a pic of me on Ellis Island from 2000 with the towers in the background.. I will never look at that picture without remembering.
I didn't see the NYC skyline again until 2004. There was very clearly something missing... The NYC skyline will never look the same again

 

[carl59]

Watching TV when the planes hit, but when the towers fell I was calling every person in the world to see if they hear from my sister. I could not contact her and was going crazy trying. She worked at 6 World Trade Center which was one of the "little" building next to the towers. Thank god her building was evacuated but the towers fell. But it was still late afternoon before anyone hear from her.

 

[keishashadow]

I had just dropped off youngest child @ school & returned home & turned on the today show to see the smoking 1st tower.

DH was working afternoon shift & I yelled for him to wake up & watch the strange event that seemed to be a bizarre accident.

Shocked to see it happen again! DH yelled down it had to be a video replay, sadly he was wrong & life in this country changed forever.

 

[crazyme5kids]

One of the hardest things for me about that day, beside the actual events, was trying to get in touch with family and friends that live in the city.

My brother and sister-in-law had a view of the Trade Towers from their apartment. He was up on the roof taking pictures. When the first tower started to fall, he said his neighbor became so hysterical they had to physically restrain her because she started to go over the side of the building.