Where were you on September 11, 2001

I was kind of hoping someone would of already started a thread but I guess I will.
It was about 9am or so, Elims was my roommate at the time. I remember she was in her room and I was in mine. I had just woken up and went and grabbed a coffee. Went back in my room and turned on the TV. Saw the first tower smoking. They were saying how a plane had flown into the tower. I remember thinking back to a film about the empire state building and how it had gotten hit by a plane in the fog. As I was thinking that and watching the TV it was about the same time the second plane hit the second tower. I then realized the first plane was no accident.


I grew up in New Jersey. I lived in West Orange. In West Orange there is a county park called Eagle Rock Reservation. And there is a part of Eagle Rock Reservation that overlooks NYC. I can remember going there as a young teen and looking at New York and can remember seeing the twin towers being built. Also by the mid 70's my dad had bought a condo in Fort Lee NJ. His condo was in the same building where Palisades Amusement Park use to be. I would have to say he had one of the best views of NYC. And can always remember the view and seeing the twin towers way down town.

I know this may sound weird but every time I think of 9/11 I tend to well up. Not only for all the lives lost but also for all those fond memories I had that the terrorists stole from me and from every one else.

 

I was at work, in my bosses office. We were having a meeting about how we could reach out to our clients and stress the importance of life insurance (I kid you not).

Someone from the office next door ran into our office and asked if we had a TV, so we all ran in the break room and turned on the TV, the first plane had just hit.

 

Working in a real estate office uploading advertisements. They were having a sales meeting. My husband called me. He worked/works from home and was watching it all live. I interuppted the meeting since the TV was in that conference room. It was and still is surreal. MY DS was still a toddler and I remember being absolutely terrified that day and in the days following about what kind of world he would grow up in. I still am.

 

I was at home alone. I was just a couple of months pregnant with my oldest daughter. What I remember the most is somewhere near the time my daughter was born, there was a magazine (I can't remember which one) that had a picture of all the babies born since 9/11 whose dad's were killed that day. It made me so sad. It was a bittersweet time for the moms.

I found this article. It's an update on those kids:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/September_...-world-trade-center-attacks/story?id=14482589

 

I was sitting in the Johnston County Courthouse as a character witness for a child custody case.

 

I average a day, maybe two a year where I actually work in NC, this day was one of them.

I was teaching a seminar over near Charlotte, someone poked thier head in the class and reported the first hit, a little while later they reported the second, and things fell apart. I called my Mother and biological dad to let them know I wasn't in any of those planes, the client then asked to continue with the workshop, I did but I could tell no one really cared anymore, our minds were all elsewhere.

Drove home and numbed out in front of the TV for what seems now like a week.

Then got in an airplane again, a few weeks later we went by Manhattan and it was still smoking.

 

At work that morning, eating cake and celebrating a co-workers birthday who was the BIG 5-0 that day!!!!! oh and now come to think of it he will be the BIG 60 on 9-11!! Holy cow, times flys!!!

 

Playing golf at the Neuse Golf Club.

 

I was teaching 7th grade pre-algebra at Riverwood Middle School. My crazy teammate came over and said a plane hit the wtc and I should turn on the tv in the classroom. He was overly reactive on a regular basis, so I paid him no mind until my other teammate, whose sister is a flight attendant, came in and lost it. All I could think about was how to explain this to these kids when I didn't really understand myself. I also worried for my kids at the elementary school, ages almost 5 and 7 and my husband who worked in shouting distance of RDU. My sister and her husband were stranded in St. Lucia on Sept. 11th...not sure of when they would come home. I had never felt threatened before that day and I have honestly never felt completely safe since. I worry every day what kind of world my children are about to step into, as kdc expressed. Just now I was speaking with my sister, whose oldest son is working at the US Open. And my next oldest who is coming through NY on 9/11 on her way home from Toronto. I know you can't live in fear, but that day is one I will never forget. God bless all those who lost a loved one on that day and the days following. I cannot imagine the pain.:grouphug:

 

I was at work, like most Americans, just another ordinary day. Work stopped and we all went to the break room and the only TV. There was no conversation at all, and after a while we all went back to work.

At the time it didn't seem to be the "JFK" moment it is now; it was more surreal than anything else.

A large % of my co-workers (then, as now) were former military and I don't think anyone was really surprised that it happened. The overwhelming feelings, IMHO, were disbelief and sadness.

 

I was sick, and so was my daughter. I went to the doctor, where my best friend was the nurse. When I got there, she told me about the first plane. Before I left she told me about the second. My daughter was 11, I was so glad she was home with me. That day was surreal.

 

I was in college. It must have happened on my walk back to my dorm from class. As I entered my room, the television was on, and I remember trying to figure out what movie featured the twin towers being hit by a plane. I quickly realized that it was no movie. The next several hours were surreal. I just couldn't believe that something like that was really happening in America to innocent civilians. Attacking a military base would be one thing, but I remember thinking this was just heinous. My classes were canceled that day. I would have normally been ridiculously ecstatic for that, but I was just in a stupor that day. I hope those who lost loved ones that day know that we really won't ever forget what happened to them. I have thought a time or two about the world my children will grow up in, but I believe that that good will prevail and that my kids will help make that happen.

 

I was 20 and working at my first real job in Princeton, NJ at the same pediatric group I had gone to as a kid. I was late (as usual at that time in my life) and was sitting at the stop light across from my office when the radio announcers broke in and said that a plane had hit one of the towers. They were watching it on TV in the studio, and all of a sudden these people I had been listening to every morning for years started saying "Oh my God" over and over, and then announced that they had just watched a second plane fly right into the other tower. I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes, just listening, then walked into work and told my co-workers that we were being attacked. They dismissed me at first and said it was an accident, but as soon as I got them to understand that while they were working and I was late a second plane had hit also. We had no TVs in our office, so for the rest of the day we were all huddled around a radio.

Most patients cancelled their appointments that day. One mother of our patients (she had 5 kids so she was in pretty often) came in frantic asking to use our phone. Her cell phone wasn't working right and her husband was supposed to be in a meeting that morning at the WTC. She came in 3 times that day trying to call him. Finally, right before we closed she told us she had been able to reach him. He stopped for a bagel that morning on his way to the meeting and was running late so he didn't get there by 9 like he was supposed to. But for the next few weeks, we spent at least one lunch hour a week in the Catholic church in town at different memorial services for the parents of our patients that weren't as lucky as her husband was.

I grew up going into the city regularly. We used to take class trips to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I cry every year on September 11th, remembering the fear we felt, the helplessness, the loss, and having to be the one to tell my coworkers our country was being attacked at only 20 years old.

 

At 6:30 AM I was sitting near the back door of the building where I worked. There was a vote being taken that day and in order to get good participation we decided to be at the entrance to the building when people came in for work. Someone came down and told us a plane had hit the WTO. Then the next one hit and someone told us and about the Pentagon. The first thing that came to mind was, "OMG, our country is under siege!!" My older son was in the USAF and was on leave in Washington state. He and his wife had tickets to fly home to FL that day. I called and woke him up because by that time it was announced all flights had been cancelled indefinitely. Then I called my cousin in Fairbanks and told her. Her daughter worked in one of the towers. I am not sure when but her daughter may have already called her to tell her she was okay and to get a number for an aunt in VA to tell her she was okay. My cousin laid the phone down to check for the number and when she came back, the line was dead. That was the last she ever talked to her. My uncle called a few days later to tell me there was still no word. Then on top of that, I was in the process of retiring and had to meet a financial planner to sign the transfer of my retirement. As others said, it was a surreal day. It was just unbelievable to me that any country would do that to the United States.

 

At work. I went out for Monday Night Football the night before and was feeling pretty sluggish. I was still single and was living with my college roommate in an apt in Raleigh over by NCSU.

One of our employees, who is now deceased, came over to our part of the office to tell us "some drunk has flown his plane into a building in NYC." He was quite a character but details were sketchy at first.

By the time the second plane hit, we had already gotten a TV on in someone's office. Then I remembered my sister was on the way to Hawaii for her honeymoon as she had gotten married the previous Saturday. I freaked out and later found out her plane had been grounded in Houston.

I had the radio on at my desk when the Pentagon was hit and all I could think about is what could be next?

That afternoon after returning back to my apt, my roommate and I decided to turn off the TV and go shoot some baskets on a court behind our building. We were the only ones outside. Suddenly a military fighter jet flew over us and it was pretty low to the ground. Scared the hell out of us so we went back inside.

Needless to say, time seemingly stood still for a few weeks. I did fly to Dallas the following week to see NCSU play SMU. A buddy of mine went with me as we had scheduled the trip months in advance. We were two of eleven people on the flight from Atlanta to Dallas. The flight attendant practically sat with us the whole way and told us how she lost a co-worker and friend in one of the planes that hit the WTC.

 

I was working on 14th street and 5th Avenue.

 

I started work at 4:30am that morning and was working in Eastlake Oh in a factory. I was hoping to be at home by lunch time that day but we ended up spending most of our time watching the small color tv we had. It was ironic that it was the first day someone brought it in.

 

At the time I was living in New Jersey, and I worked for a Government Distributor. I remember having to leave work early and go to Goodyear for new tires on my then wonderful Hyundai Scoupe (what a TERRIBLE car.)

There was a tiny color TV in the waiting area and I saw the tragedy unfold. I remember afterwards, going outside and hearing nothing.

Growing up very close to Philadelphia, it was common place to hear planes above you at all times.

To not hear any on that day gave me the chills.

What made it all worse was my Stepdad was flying out that morning to Kansas. I was very happy to phone him and realize he had arrived at his destination safely.

9~11~2001 I will never forget!

 

I was driving my mother to get her first radiation treatment for brain cancer. The radio station broke in with the news but my mother could not hear it and I was glad. I walked her into the office and told the staff what I had heard and they turned on the radio.

When we got home my cell phone was ringing and it was a friend in New York City calling and one in Washington DC. Both were on business and I helped both get rental cars and find alternate routes back home to Clayton.

I then took care of my mother, watched the TV and wondered what I was going to tell my young daughter. I waited for her to get off the school bus and told her, age appropriate I thought, how our world had changed.

Such a sad, sad time.

Sherry

 

I was on my way to Greensboro (for my job) to visit various doctor's offices. I was near Burlington when the first plane hit and I initially thought it was an accident. The first office I stopped in had a TV and we all watched in horror as the second plane hit. There were people of all ages standing with me and you could feel the emotion filling the room as we reacted with anger, dismay, and sorrow. As I stopped in other offices that morning it was more of the same. When the first tower collapsed, I had a sinking feeling the other would follow and feared some of my NY college friends and classmates were among the missing or dead. I cancelled my afternoon visits and headed home, and just felt the need to be around family. I remember how strange and quiet it seemed without any planes in the sky the rest of the day.