I was at home on maternity leave with my three-year-old and three-month-old daughters. We had no idea, the kids were watching Blue's Clues on the TV, and they never interrupted to say what had happened.
The phone rang, and it was my SD and SS's aunt, panicking that that United States was under attack and DH had to go get the kids out before they shut the borders down. We live on the border of the US and my DSD and DSS live in the US with their mother and SF.
I didn't know what she was talking about, and while we were talking, I remember frantically flipping the channels on the tv trying to find it, and just staring at it in complete shock. Both towers had been hit by then.
DH was out of town, and I spent the next several minutes panicking myself, trying to get hold of him, pulling him out of a meeting for an emergency. No one could get hold of DSD and SS's mother, all the phone lines to the States were down, and I didn't know whether to try to cross the border to get the kids or not, and was afraid to go with my girls and get stuck on the other side.
DH told me to stay put and started working on getting hold of his ex-wife...finally got her and she had the kids at home with her. I took the kids to the Red Cross to try to donate blood but was turned away because of having had a baby so recently.
DH came home that night and for the next few days we watched television and cried.
Everything about that day is crystal clear in my mind from the moment the phone rang. Even my daughter, who was three, remembers it. When I told her we were going to take a plane to Disney World, she asked if I was sure it wouldn't hit any buildings.
Kris