Where were you on 9/11

[Apothecary]

I was at work - my boss came out of his office and told us about the first plane hitting - his wife called him from home. Then he came out and told us about the second plane. My first thought was "This changes everything"

I live in Nova Scotia, and a lot of international flights pass over our town. My lasting memory of that day is stepping outside and seeing dozens of vapour trails from jets that had made huge U-turns in the sky as they were rerouted.

 

[ericamanda01]

I was asleep and my husband called from work and woke me up telling me something was happening at the Pentagon. My stpefather was at the Pentagon working that day. My DH told me to turn on the news, as I did they had a live feed and I saw the second plane hit the tower. We watched the news every second for the next 4 days. To this day I can't watch any of the coverage from 9/11 or those days that followed.

 

[pigletz]

I was in my classroom teaching. It was the first day of school for us. School had started a week later because our building had been condemned just before school was supposed to start. We were all shuffled around the district and I ended up in the basement of an old Catholic school with another teacher. We had no tvs or radios in the building at that time since the movers hadn't moved everything yet. With all the confusion with making sure the students were in the right building and in the right classroom, we didn't hear anything about it until lunch. Some of the teachers upstairs knew and were quietly talking about it but noone thought to send a message to us downstairs and since our cell phones didn't work in the basement we hadn't heard anything from family. The principal never sent around a note or anything and since we only had basic information we didn't know what to tell the kids. I ended up going out to my car during lunch to have a cigarette and heard it on the radio. I wasn't able to see anything until I got home from work that day.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I live on the west coast so..

I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up to my dad in his room talking to my mom on the phone. She was at work and told him to turn on the TV. I knew something was going on because he was up earlier then I was. He got home at 11:30pm from the night shift the night before. Well I ran in there and he said "a plane hit the trade centers." I did not know at the time what or where the trade centers were. I thought it was in my city and I was afraid my mom had been hurt. But then I learned what had happened. In my history class we watched it on the news. I was in 7th grade at the time and was scared and did not know what had happened.

I had the same reaction when John Ritter passed away. My dad had waken my sister up and I could hear him across the hall saying how he had died. We had watched 8 Simple Rules every tuesday night since it started. IT was sad. I cried that day like I did on 9*11

John Ritter died on the 2nd anniversary of 9/11. What I thought about on hearing of John's death was, he must of reacted the same way as everyone else during 9/11. Yet, little did he know, that the date '9/11' was going to be a big date for him in the future.

 

[Goobergal99]

OP Here!

It's truly amazing to see everyone telling their stories of how they felt that day. I remember when everything kind of settled that night and it being so quiet outside that the only thing you could here was the sounds of the fighter jets flying over the city. I was so scared that I had a really hard time sleeping, I just kept thinking that it was going to happen again, like we would never be safe. I know this thread brought back alot of bad and painful memories but I think it's important to keep the emotions of that day fresh and to never forget. It could happen again as scary as it sounds and I think that the more we remember the better prepared we will be.

I don't think America was ever the same after that day, I remember on Friday the 14th when President Bush declared the day a national day of prayer and rememberence. My DH and I went over to my DMIL's to visit and everyone was told to come out at sun down with candles to remember the victims. The whole neighborhood came out and all the cars that came by were beeping their horns in celebration. It was really a powerful time, everyone coming together and celebrating the pride of being an American, waving flags and just being generally grateful for what we stand for. I don't think we should have ever lost that and I hope that most of us haven't.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I was working at Disneyworld on the College Program. I had the tv on as I was getting ready to go in to work. I volunteered to do a different position this particular day and was excited to do so. As I walked through the living room, I looked down at the tv and saw the first tower go down. I could not believe it! Within what seemed like minutes I saw the second tower go down. Instantly a message popped on the bottom of my tv screen that said for only the second time in history, Disneyworld would be closing for the day. I called my DH immediately, I was just shocked! I called work minutes later to find out that I was not to come in to work and if I was on Disney property to not say anything to guests. Can't believe that's been 5 years ago already.

 

[Melrosgirl]

When the first plane hit the WTC, I was in an airport waiting to board a plan to Disneyworld (well first to Pittsburgh, then to Orlando). Then we saw the second plane hit live on TV. Then they boarded our plane. We hesitantly boarded (as we thought this was "just" limited to NYC and we didn't have much time to think about it since they were boardingthe planes).

25 minutes into our flight, the pilot said the FAA was making us turn around as there was another plane unaccounted for (Flight 93). We were in the same airspace as 93 (we were very close to Pittsburgh at that point). we flew back to our airport and when we landed, we were told about the WTC falling and that the plane had just hit the Pentagon. Then a few minutes later they announced that Flight 93 had crashed. It's scares me to think that Flight 93 was in the same area that we were in. we did end up going to WDW a few days later.

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

DH was working third shift at the time, so he was sleeping.

I work at home, had dropped off the kids at school, and was now downstairs in my office busy on some project. At that time, I didn't usually have a radio or tv on, so I worked all morning oblivious to what was happening. Finally about 11:30 a friend called to tell me she wouldn't need DD to babysit that evening as the event she was going to at the school had been cancelled because of "all that's going on".

I was like ?? and she then told me what had happened and said, turn on your tv!!!

I did, and immediately woke DH. We sat there staring, holding each other, I started crying, I wanted to get the kids out of school right then, it was the most horrific thing I had ever experienced. My heart goes out to all those who actually were involved, or who lost a loved one.

 

[daisyduck123]

I was teaching my 1st grade class. I taught outside in a portable & we teachers out in the portables actually didn't know what was going until about noon that day...being out in the portables, we are "cut off" from the outside world. Our principal came out around lunchtime & quietly told us teachers what was going on (we were kind of in shock & couldn't believe it) & that school would be dismissing early.

 

[Stacerita]

I was at home getting ready for work. We always have the news on so they were reporting about the first plane hitting. I was walking through the kitchen to go iron my scrubs when I looked over and thats when the second plane hit. Immediately I knew. So I hurried up and finished getting ready for work. At the time I worked at a Trauma Center so I would be called in if I wasn't supposed to be there. Listened to the news the commute to the facility and actually heard live when the tower fell. Something I will never forget. I remember not being able to get ahold of my brother who at the time was stationed at the DLI. Spent the rest of the day at work in a daze. We actually got a few bomb threats and a few threatening calls. Quite scary.

 

[TheDisneyTraveler06]

I was at work.

 

[YachtClubWoman]

In Epcot in the World Showcase - my husband and I were on the Gardens of the World tour which is in the World Showcase prior to opening. We heard the news from a gardner.The park closed and we escorted out to the buses. Spent the rest of the day at the hotel watching the news. We had no idea what was going on at first and the scope. We were to leave MCO that Wed. ended up leaving Friday on standby - we were the last flight out before the hurricaine.

 

[Tazicket]

I was in school. We had just taken our senior panoramic picture and I went back to my class to take a test. It was a psychology class (which I think was helpful). I remember being terrified b/c my Mom was on a plane that day. Our intern had friends who worked in the Pentagon, and I remember she ran out crying, too. None of it seemed real. We were watching the tv coverage when the second tower was hit. We didn't get much work done that day.

 

[kdibattista]

We were in our room at Caribbean Beach getting ready to head to MGM

 

[sherriczyz]

I was at home not feeling well...trying to get ready for a meeting with a client. My husband called and told me to turn on the TV. It was one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen.

 

[sherriczyz]

Forgot to mention...my husband and I were married on 9/11/99. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Our anniversaries have never been the same. It's hard to celebrate on such a sad day. We try to celebrate a few days before or after. A few people I know share their birthdays on that date. It's pretty much the same for them.

 

[Missy1961]

I work in Midtown Manhattan, but that day I was at home with my then 2 1/2 yr old niece. Her mom was teaching a class at a local college, so she was spending the day with me. We were watching the live action version of "Cinderella". I had promised her a trip to Toys R Us. I got her dressed during the last scene, sent her into the other room for her sneakers. The movie clicked off, and MSNBC came on. There was the scene of the Towers on fire, and at that moment, the first Tower fell. I quickly turned it off, so it wasn't until she was taking a nap that I knew the whole story. One of my sisters works in Washington DC, but she was in Richmond VA having surgery. I will never forget that day or the next few days. I didn't go to work on Wednesday, but I did go back on Thursday, but had to leave after a bomb threat to my building.