posted on September 11, 2003 06:04:54 AM
I was at work. When we were told, we thought it was a small personal plane. After we saw the news, I spent the next few hours trying to get in touch with my boyfriend (he works in the shadow of the Sears Tower) and his mother (she traveled for a living at the time). When I found her, she was in a meeting at her job's corporate HQ in New York. I had never been so happy to hear her voice that I cried. No one in the meeting realized what was going on just a few miles away. She said she will never forget the smell. Since that day, she has changed positions in the company and no longer flies 5 days a week.
[ edited by clivebarkerfan on Sep 11, 2003 06:05 AM ]
posted on September 11, 2003 06:10:59 AM
Hope you don't mind if I join you. I haven't posted here in a while.
My feelings and actions mirror everyone else. The TV was never off and I cried and cried until I couldn't cry anymore. Checked with a friend whose daughter in law was in the first tower hit and found she got out ok.
But, not only do I remember what I was doing on 9-11 two years ago, but clearly remember what I was doing on 9-11 29 years ago. Giving birth to my first child. Now that day is known as the darkest day in history. Last year we celebrated on the 10th. Tonight we will have a quiet family dinner and celebrate on Sunday. I don't know how many years it will take until we can celebrate on the 11th-if ever.
posted on September 11, 2003 06:35:57 AM
I was at my OB/GYN office for a normal check-up. A woman came rushing into the waiting room crying that a plane just crashed into one of the towers. Soon after in the examination room my doctor walked in and told me a second plane had crashed into the other tower. Then I was suppose to relaxed so he could do his examination...right. I blew off the rest of my (ebay selling) plans for the day, and talk to or stayed close to every loved one that I could.
posted on September 11, 2003 06:57:10 AM
I was doing some Ebay listings.
I had just left the TV, watching FOX cable, and about 30 minutes later, walked by the TV in the den and saw the commotion.
That was the end of my day.
Stayed glued to the TV for the next few days.
Just filled with dread and sadness.
My friend's husband worked in the Pentagon right beside where the reconstruction was occuring.
He was about 500 yards from the crash, but was ok.
Watching the memorial services today, still so very sad and tragic.
posted on September 11, 2003 07:21:27 AM
Being on the West Coast, we were woken up by a Canadian friend on the phone who just said, "I'm so sorry..." I said, "What are you talking about?" I turned on the TV and we only saw the smoke rising from the fallen towers. Then we saw the replays and it was just so surreal. My son was nearly 2 years old but we held him very tightly that day and every day after that. Oddly enough, we had scheduled to go house hunting that day and we went ahead with our plan. We found a house, and then the house prices started to plunge and we got a great deal on a home.
Now two years have gone by and have we forgotten what happened that day? Seems that some people certainly have. The political diatribe and name-calling has only esclated and people can't see the plain truth in front of their faces---all in the wake of over 3,000 Americans killed by people who only wanted to kill as many of us as possible--and more like them who still do, including our "friends" like the Saudis who STILL funnel money to terrorists to leave them alone and teach their children to hate America. Well, screw them and screw their oil.
posted on September 11, 2003 08:38:02 AM
I was at work and my husband called me and asked me if I had called to see if my brother was OK. There was no TV or radio at work so I had no idea what was happening.
He told the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed. I couldn't wrap my mind around it. I screamed What do you mean they collapsed?
My brother is a NYPD detective. He was there that day. Luckily he survived. He was changed forever by what he saw and heard.
My uncle worked on the plaza. The horror of what he experienced that day changed him too.
He retired shortly afterwards.
Friends, family things too awful to talk about. I cried for about an hour this morning. All those feelings rushing back.
posted on September 11, 2003 10:06:33 AM
My sister called and told me to turn on the TV. I remember Matt, from the Today Show, mentioning that he saw another plane the tower. What he said didn't sound right. I was shocked when they showed the footage of the 2nd plane hitting the tower!! I thought the 1st plane was an accident, it really bothered me when I saw the 2nd plane.
My husband works on a military base, and at the time, my daughter attended pre-school there. Guess who started staying home after that day? The security was extremly high. There were soliders with guns at every entrance. Life in the U.S. will never be the same.
posted on September 11, 2003 10:16:12 AM
I was a teacher at a year round school at the time. I was home on summer vacation at the time, taking care of my two kids (they were 14 months old at the time, and yes, I was Mr. Mom when I was off track). Anyhow, my son woke up early and was playing with some toys. My daughter was sleeping and I was on AIM chatting with some friends at school when they told me something was up. I spent the day watching TV (probably the first time I watched TV in front of the kids). I put up the baby fense to keep the kids out of the bathrooms and kitchen, I threw 50 toys, several sippy cups of water around the living room and let them play around while I watched what was going on. After a while, I couldn't watch any more, so I started to play with the kids. Read them about 30 books 5 times each (normal afternoon), and just kinda let it all happen.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. B. Franklin
posted on September 11, 2003 01:14:14 PM
I flew from Boston to DC that morning. My flight was somewhere between the two hijacked ones. Made the last train into DC before they shut down Union Station. If I was on a plane fully fueled for cross country I would probably not be here. I guess someone is looking out for me.
posted on September 11, 2003 06:45:40 PM
This just goes to show that no matter where you were or what you were doing, you won't ever forget that terrible day.
posted on September 11, 2003 06:50:20 PM
I work 3rd shift. Got home flipped on channel 2 (Gumbel and Jane Clayson at the time) Was just dozing off when the coverage went to the damage that tower #1 just sustained......never left the set the rest of the day....week.....weeks.....month....
posted on September 11, 2003 08:43:35 PM
On September 11, 2003 I realized just how proud I am to be an American. In the morning I shipped postcards to every corner of this country ( Florida, Maine, Alaska, California, Hawaii, and points in between)and as I did I listened some to the memorial coverage on television. I looked at the postcards I was sending: some from the turn of the century, some from the 1920s, some from the 1950s.. of beaches, mountains, rivers, tacky motels, Main Streets..what a wonderful place this is!
"The Land of the Free" and "Home of the Brave" ...yes, we mourn the loss of so many lives on 9-11-2001 but our spirit lives on! We celebrate life from ocean beach to mountain top. We celebrate the freedom our forefathers (and mothers) held so dear when they made voyage to this great land.
We may not always agree with each other ( nor should we!) but we are united in this American spirit that refuses to come to our knees in the face adversity.
I am a flag waving aging hippie. I will never say, "My country right or wrong" but I will always say "I love my country", now more than ever.
posted on September 11, 2003 09:17:30 PM
I was asleep and woken up by the phone. It actually had rung earlier, but I am on the West Coast, and slept in. I couldn't believe it, and turned on the news. I had just moved the week before from California to Oregon, and we did not have the place well stocked with food. We decided to go to the market about an hour later, it was very surreal, because everyone knew what had happened, but people were too stunned to talk...
posted on September 11, 2003 09:34:25 PM
I am on the west coast and a couple from NY were travelling in a motorhome and staying at a campground near my city and happened to come into my shop and they heard us talking about it. Their son worked in the Towers and they rushed off to phone and find out about him.
Two days later they came back into my shop to buy souvenirs and they told me that their son was okay. It was a relief to hear that he was, even though I didn't know these people.
That day brought everyone together but I think we all forget what is important at times. I enjoyed reading what everyone has written here.
posted on September 11, 2003 10:34:32 PM
Minding my business like everyone else...The eerie thing for me was that over the years, when I was in sales, we represented one company that held its sales conferences twice a year in the WTC, 108th floor.
I suppose I had been either one of those towers better than 60 times over the years.
I remember standing at one of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the conference room, gazing down on the Statue of Liberty...and always, being there, I never was at ease. Not from any fear of heights so much as it was the utter strangeness, preposterousness really, of any edifice so out-sized, no matter the underlying rationale for its construction.
I remember the ride up in the elevators...I can remember, vaguely, some of the faces...workers there that I'd recognize one trip to the next. I remember how 70's-ish the decor seemed...almost as dated and quaint as Disney's Tomorrowland...I remember the Windows on the World Restaurant at lunch...and I remember how the conversations would ebb and flow and how easy it was to find yourself and see others like yourself gazing outward, into the blue, into a future none of us could have ever imagined.
ing...