Where were you ?

[tennisnut]

When the WTC was attacked?

As with many historical events, I remember where I was and what I was doing.

The day man set foot on the moon: I was having a slumber party for my 10th birthday.
When the space shuttle exploded: Racing up the stairs at my local tennis club to catch the lift off.
When Elvis died: Packing my car to go to college for the first time.
Oklahoma bombing : sick in bed....watched TV all day.

I think I will remember last Tuesday the most:

Monday was the beginning of the Kentucky International Jr. Tennis Derby

Kids , 18 and under, came from all over the world to compete. 48 boys and 48 girls. These were some of our best tennis players. Monday was beautiful and matches went smoothly.
TUESDAY:
I drive to the site. I have less than an hour to get matches off at 10:00. As I pull in the parking lot the radio news breaks in and announces that an airplane crashes into the WTC. I get out thinking , my goodness, maybe the pilot had an heart attack. Hijacked was the last thing on my mind. I prepare my desk for check-in and Vincent , a NYC player, comes to me and is nervous for his father since he works close to the WTC. He calls ....no answer. He calls his mom who works a little farther away...no answer.
Andrew and Alex from London, England have $1.60 to their name and need an ATM machine. They have pounds but no dollars. I have a little time before matches go on so I take them to the ATM. The radio just announces that the second WTC building has been hit. Andrew and Alex get out of my car and I jump in the back and watch my little TV in my van ( Great for driving to WDW). The boys come back and all of us watch in complete disbelief each building go down. I will never forget the screams that we heard. The boys are in shock and turn to me asking " What will happen next?". I don't know. I am in shock too.
We get back to the site and Vincents' father has called him. Vincent wants to go home but his dad tells him that there is no way to come home at this time. His dad still hasn't found mom yet but assures Vincent that she is fine and to play tennis.
The calls come pouring in from all over the country. Parents are worried about their children. I assure all that we are safe and it is a beautiful day. Many want to hear their childrens voice so off I go tracking down the players. I don't blame the parents one bit.
The tournament committee has a pow-wow. We decide to continue with the tournament. The kids can't fly home and we felt it was better to keep them busy and play some tennis.
I put Vincent on the court. He wins, but I don't know how. His dad calls later and mom is okay. His dad tells him to play hard and keep winning. They will work out the flight details later.
Five Russian players ( who arrived by Greyhound ...17 hours!!!) wonder about their flight to Moscow. The Russian Federation fax them and tell them to take the Greyhound to NYC and if they can, to stay at the airport until they can get a flight. It killed me to see them leave yesterday.
We went through the motions of running a tennis tournament and I tried my best to keep the atmosphere happy and optimistic. I tried to be a "mother" to all the players and knew if my child ( some as young as 14) was in a foreign country I would worry too.
My Indian boys , Sunil and Armanjot, just wanted to go home. We called Singapore Airlines and were on hold 45 minutes! They were worried that their private housing wouldn't keep them. I assured them they would but if not, they could stay in my nasty, filthy house. They laughed and kept me company at the tournament until Saturday. I hope they are home.
Antonio, my Mexican boy, got an e-mail from his dad. Antonio was thrilled. He spoke no English and came to the tournament by himself. He sat next to me under our big tent for dinner. Even though we couldn't talk much to each other I think he was comforted just having me there.
The tournament is over but many of the boys and girls cannot fly out until later next week.
I just have some paperwork to do and then I am going to collapse.

What were YOU doing when the WTC went down?

 

[karinmac]

I had woken up at 6:20am California time and went straight to the computer. I went to the DIZ Boards and someone wrote "Pray for the people of NY". Being a native NYC I went back to the MSN home page and saw nothing of the news. My husband then woke up and turned on the TV. We were numb.
I remember when President Kennedy was shot(I was 5),Bobby Kennedy & Martin Luther King.
In 1965, there was a blackout in NY and another in 1977. The Challenger went down on my birthday. This is the worst.

 

[djs113]

Luckily for me, I work a few subway stops north of the WTC. Many of my friends were not so lucky though.

- David

 

[Swamp_Fox]

I had just arrived at work having been only one block away from the WTC area only 25 minutes before. I was out side with a co-worker when we both watched in horror as a Jet buzzed over our heads and slammed into Tower 1. We watched in shock as Tower 1 burned saying what a horrible accident this was until the other plane nailed Tower two like an axe swing into a tree. I was in contact with my wife at home and my Mother who Worked nearby. Then the unthinkable happened Tower two fell. I was on a dead run to my mom's office where my sister would be soon joining us. As I waited for my sister on the corner of 6th avenue Tower 1 fell. My sister came tears in her eyes saying "they're gone, what are we going to do"? Eventually we made it home numbed by the horror.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I had taken two of the dogs, Lacy and Toby, to the vet that morning for their shots. As I was paying the receptionist, Lauri called and said a plane had hit the WTC. Someone asked me what happened and they turned on the TV in the lobby. I paid and got in my car to hurry home. I had just left the parking lot and was at a traffic light when Lauri called again, this time much more distraught, saying she saw on tv another plane hit the other tower. I told her I was on my way home and had to hang up (since I had to drive with a poodle in my lap). When I got home I saw what was happening on TV.

Larry, as horrible as it was to watch from a distance, I can't imagine actually being there.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I was watching Mulan.
Afterwards, I went to the computer to read my e-mail. I had one from a travel agency stating all air traffic had been halted in the U.S. I turned on my TV right away and saw........

Obi-Wan Pinobi - My oldest pooch is a "Toby" too!

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

I was at my children's school, kicking off the wrapping paper/chocolate sales fund raiser. Around 9:30 I noticed all the Kindergarteners were missing and a teacher told me they had been taken to the gym so that the teachers could watch TV. That was such a non-sequitor that I had to follow her to the TV. Along the way she told me what happened.

For perspective: My children attend a jewish day school. We are so used to school being interrupted by horrific events in Israel . . . But we were unprepared for this. Take it one step further. Every time there's a terrorist attack in Israel, we wait to hear news of relatives or friends who may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Not one of the attacks in Israel was on this scale. And, even though we live in the Washington suburbs, our entire community is intensely intertwined with relatives and friends in New York.

Since my cell phone was useless, I left the school and was at my desk by 10:00 AM. I spent the next two hours trying to locate my mother and brothers. It was even difficult to reach my DH at his office in Northern Virginia, only 4 miles from the Pentagon. I sat at my desk and just dialed number after number in succession: my mother's cell, my mother's office, my brother's cell, my brother's home, my second brother's cell, etc.

Finally, close to Noon, I got through to my SIL in her midtown apartment. Found out brother #3 was here in Norhtern Virginia on business, but his cell phone also wasn't working. While I'm talking to her, my DH gets through to me and I conference him in. Then brother #2 reached my SIL on her call-waiting line. He was OK, working from his home office in midtown also. SIL is now toggling back and forth to brother #2 and I am emailing him. DH is also emailing brother #3 now that we know his Blackberry is on. Then, my mother reached my brother #2 on his call-waiting line. So he is toggling with her, passing messages. I then started forwarding email messages to brother #1, working from his home office in New Jersey. Very wild. But for about 30 minutes we were all linked up. Deep breath.

My mom had just arrived for her meeting, less than 10 blocks from the WTC. She and colleagues heard noise of first crash and looked around and up and spotted WTC in flames. (They did not see the first plane hit.) As they stood in amazement, they saw the second plane hit. Mom is vice president of a private social services agency that contracts with the city of NY (and others). She and her colleagues were commandeered very quickly by city officials to coordinate emergency mental health workers at LaGuardia and JFK airports. Eventually, the city took over their building as their command center.

My company had 500 employees in the WTC. Eight remain missing.

In our synagogue and in our children's school, lists are being compiled of missing relatives and friends.

Just not a good week.

 

[TIGGERSMOM]

I was asleep having just come home from work at 8:00am. I woke at 11:00 to see the replay on TV. I called work to find out what was going on, the whole of Boston was in lockdown and I was ordered in. I got home Friday at around 4am.

The thing that really gets me is that as I sat in my office about 2 miles from Logan 2 plane loads of people had no idea of their destiny. As I sat thinking about what I needed to do that day. 2 planes of people were taking off. As I sat wondering if my overtime would be in this check or next week, 2 planes were being taken over. And as I lay asleep the destiny of my country was being altered forever.

Now my thoughts are of the thousands of missing and their families. Now my thoughts are of those that have perished and their loved ones. Now my thoughts are with the rsecue workers and the surreal scene they are in.

Now my thoughts are of the sons and daughters who may lay their lives on the line for all of us. Being the mother of a 17 yo son this point is very close to my heart.


" A day that will live in infamy" - FDR"
"Our nation was horrified, but it's not going to be terrorized. " - GWB

 

[Dar20]

For the Challenger explosion, I was in the 6th grade, escorting a classmate to the nurse's office. In my school, they never showed launches on tv, and I had no idea there was a launch. I heard about it from ther nurse, but didn't really understand what it meant.

For Oklahoma City, I had been in morning classes at Purdue, and returned home at about 11 am. When I turned on the tv, it had already been two hours old, and it took a while to figure out what was going on.

Last Tuesday, I was in my normally quiet office (only 5 employees), when I heard our accountant answer his phone and shout "what do you mean, a plane ran into the World Trade Center?.... what?... ANOTHER PLANE HIT?!". First we tried to find info on the internet, which was completely jammed, so we scrambled to find our tv, stuck it by the window (no antenna), and stayed by the tv all day. When the Pentagon was hit, we thought for sure the reporters were just going overboard until they showed video of it.

Fortunately, none of my family who lives in Newark works in the city, but I'm sure they have friends and neighbors who did.

Larry, I hope you are all okay. I don't have any better words than have already been said.

Dar

 

[karin037]

I was on the R train at Cortlandt Street, which is right under the WTC.

 

[shirley 38]

I was driving to a doctor's appointment when the news came on that a plane hit one of the towers.
They thought at the time it was a small plane.
When I got to the doctors the other plane had hit.
I think right there and then I went to shock.
Ireally don't remember too much until I found myself at a flower and garden store.

Now you have to remember the only think I ever planted were tomato plants.
I bought 3 red mums and 2 white ones

Started to turn over my front lawn which total time for planting was 6 hours.
I had to plant these plants as a memorial and it had to be done that day.
Red Mums for The blood that was spilt
White Mums for the sweat and tears that were spilt.

I remember The second world war my Dad leaving me. I remember the Air Raids.
The Kennedy assination. The walk on the moom
But this one effected me the most.
GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU AND GOD BLESS AMERICA

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

I had been planning to go into work late on Tuesday, because I needed to stop at Labcorp on the way in for a medical test. I was taking my sweet time getting ready and had just come out of the shower. In the meantime, DH left to take DS to school.

I flipped on the TV to CNN Headline News, which is what I normally watch in the morning, and they were reporting that the first plane had crashed. By the time DH got home, the 2nd plane had crashed at the WTC, and the 3rd plane hit the Pentagon. I was a nervous wreck at this point, because the Pentagon isn't that far from me, and I was worried about any stray planes. The enormity of the situation hadn't hit me yet.

I remember where I was when Reagan got shot (I was 12 at the time), and where I was when the shuttle exploded. I'll never forget the events of September 11, 2001.

 

[dizneykids]

...and watching good morning america when charlie and diane broke into the local news for a special report. i watched in horror as the first tower burned and was astonished to hear a witness say he was pretty sure he saw a plane hit the building (at that point, gma was saying it was an explosion in the building). i was horrified as, moments later, i saw the second plane fly into the second tower.

at that point, i got on the phone and called my dh who was at dfw airport for a flight to ohio. he and his mother were scheduled on separate planes...she to hartford, ct and he to cleveland. fortunately, neither ever got on a plane...the worst that happened is they refused to pull my mil's bags out and give them back to her. she never did get them while she remained here. she returned home uneventfully yesterday and found her bags waiting for her at bradley in hartford. MY mom remains here with me...i didn't reschedule her flight until the end of this week...southwest airlines has been GREAT!

fortunately for us, neither my dh nor mil were ever in immediate danger...but i couldn't help but think about all those times my dh HAD to leave on a 6 am or 7 am flight to make it to a client in time. i read today about the heros on the plane that went down in pennsylvania. at least 3 of the passengers were scheduled for other flights, but each for their own reasons, they chose to fly that day, on that flight. i can't EVEN imagine what must have gone thru their families' minds as they spoke to their loved ones for the last time in their lives, knowing what they were about to have happen. it is just unspeakable.

for everyone who has lost a loved one, my heart bleeds for you. for all those who have given of yourself (either in person, by giving blood, by donating money or other goods, etc.), you are the unsung heros, and i salute you. and i rest in peace knowing that our great president, george bush, has said that the people who perpetrated this unfathomable tragedy have started something, but that we americans will end it at a time and place of our choosing. as one writer wrote, what WERE they trying to teach us? whatever it was, it has backfired, for we have become stronger for our pain.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!