It was my off day, Tuesday. I was about to get out the car & pump gas when it came n the radio. I called & woke up my Gma to see if this was a radio hoax. Was listening to Russ Parr in the morning. I will NEVER forget!
I had just moved to FL and started a new job. I was listening to the radio at my desk and didn't see footage until later that night bc we didn't have internet access.
I remember being in complete shock that someone could do that. And I hugged my little girl tightly that night, wondering what kind of world I brought her into.
I was heading downstairs to take a shower before going to work (which was in lower Manhattan, specifically NoLita). My roommate came racing down the steps shouting, "THE WTC WAS HIT BY A PLANE" and I sat down to watch the news. When the second plane hit, we realized it wasn't an accident. I went to the roof of my Williamsburg, Brooklyn loft building (it was on the waterfront) and could see and smell the smoke.
Somehow, my first inclination was, "GO OUT AND BUY SUPPLIES." I went to the market around the corner and bought a big jug of bottled water, a bunch of canned soups, some pasta and jarred sauces, and a carton of cigarettes (and probably some booze).
It was, without a doubt, the worst day of my life.
I was in my living room in my college apartment. Turned the tv on to what looked like a movie - I couldn't believe that the horror I was watching was real life.
I was at work out in the sticks. I went home so I could watch the news. I had friends in NYC who we're emailing me that they were locked down at work. That's from whom I first heard it might be terrorism.
I was home in Brooklyn. I was getting dressed to go vote because it was Primary Day for Mayor that Tuesday. Then I was gonna hop on the subway and go to Manhattan to shop at J&R Music World which happened to be a block away from WTC and a place I always went to buy my electronics. None of that happened that day and it took me 3 months before I felt comfortable enough to go anywhere near WTC.
Just waking up getting ready for a meeting. I remember Matt Lauer talking about the plane hitting the 1st building. They were showing a live shot of the skyline with the WTC in the background when the plane hit the 2nd building. I remember thinking I couldn't possibly have seen what it looked like. I called my husband and told him what I had seen. My meeting was cancelled and I watched tv all day.
On my way home from voting in the primary, got to my building in time to see the 2nd plane go past…our doorman had run out after the 1st plane hit… Saw the building implode on t.v. I will never forget…never
I had been laid off about a week before. My best friend, sitll working for that company, IMed me to say a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I was thinking it was some moron in a small private plane who'd had an accident.
I turned on the TV and my wife came into the room, and there was the first tower burning and pouring out great gouts of black smoke, and it was clearly not some little Cessna 6-seater.
My wife looked at the TV and said, "What's happening?"
Before I could answer, the second plane flew into the second tower.
I was in a meeting at work, someone came in late and said a plane had hit the WTC. We thought that was horrible, but assumed it was a little Cessna or something. After the meeting, I went back to my office and pulled up the footage online. No work got done by anyone. Everyone wandered from office to office watching whatever footage people could bring up. I worked in a government building, so we were all a little scared for ourselves, too.
On the way home, the dj on my radio station was playing all peace songs. He got a call from a listener who wanted him to play patriotic music. I'll never forget his answer, "If you want war music, get your own damn radio station!"
Watching The Today Show in my kitchen with my 3 boys under the age of 4. I remember my oldest told me later in the day to quit watching the show that was making me cry.
I live in NOLA, but moved down here from NYC (lived in Brooklyn, then Manhattan). I was at work, grvyd shift, & had wandered into the break room in search of coffee. Everyone was silently gathered around the tv, looking shocked. I joined them just in time to watch the second plane hit. Stayed in there for hours - saw the buildings collapse, not knowing a high school classmate was dying in the collapse. Kept trying to reach my cousin and close friends to make sure they were okay, just got busy signals. In a bit of oddness, & guardian Angel overtime - my cousin had called in sick that day. If you know him, you'd know he's probably only done that about twice in his entire life. He had a stomach bug. Saved his life, & he's gone on to be one of NYC's "40 under 40" (a few years ago), who are making a real difference in our world, & has a wife and daughter. All because he called in sick that morning. Every year, classmates from my high school (in the Philly suburbs) get together to remember our murdered classmate, & the other innocent lives lost that terrible day. My friend Camille ended up reuniting with a long-lost love after that day, after he called her family to see if she was okay, & leaving NYC. They've been happily married for 12 years now. 9/11 made them realize how fleeting life is, & that we're not promised tomorrow. Make every minute count.
Trib-my daughters ex , a nyc cop, also realuzed what was important, and they subsquentially git back to gether, and married. After a day if picking up body parts ( his task that day)- im guessing you see alot if things differently. He told her she was his family and his whole world.
At home, had just woken up, before getting ready to go to college I turned on the computer and saw the headline on the AOL screen, just like Andrew, thought it was a Cessna accident. I turned on the tv, turned around momentarily, when I heard the announcer say another plane hit the second tower, I turned around an stared at the screen, it was definitely not an accident anymore. I immediately called my husband who was working across the border, and we realized the borders were gonna be closed, he told our friend, whose wife was heavily pregnant, to get his ass back to the US or else he'd be stuck away from her indefinitely.
We were all shocked and scared of how the world was going to change.
I was sitting in my car at college when the news broke. I walked to class & a few other classmates heard and turned the TV on. I saw the 2nd plane hit on live TV in class. Everyone was in shock and started rushing out in the hallway to try and reach loved ones that worked at WTC or in NYC. It's one of the only times in my life that I have handed my cellphone to a stranger and said ... Here ... Use my phone to call.
I worked at an NPR station in the Midwest. It was my second day. The morning of the event I remember distinctly having to take the press announcement from the White House to the control room for the on air personality to read it. We only had one tv at the station so I didn't get to see anything until I got home (they let us out early as the university regents determined that we might potentially be a threat due to some research labs on campus). When I got home I remember seeing people diving to their deaths over and over. Then I heard about the pentagon. My best friend worked in Washington DC and I couldn't get a hold of her until the next day. It was one of the worst things I've ever experienced and I'll never forget visiting the site the following year. I have an architect friend who worked on rebuilding the towers. He has some crazy stories about the reconstruction efforts. It still remains the most singular, stark, depressing, and affecting moments of my twenties. I'll never forget.
I was also watching the Today show at home. My husband was out of town and we were on the phone when they hit the Pentagon. It was so shocking and unbelievable and left everyone wondering what was going to happen next.
We lived near the airport and it was so strange to not have planes flying overhead at all. The day my husband was due to fly home was the day they re-opened the airports.
It just seemed that everyone was glued to the news for weeks.
Dr's office waiting with raging pneumonia. Soon as the receptionists turned on the TV and I saw the 1st plane, I started to freak because my cousin + her husband lived 6 blocks from the towers. I rushed the doc to give me shots of penicillin - got home - got 2 of my other cousins into a car + drove 10 hrs to try and get to my cousin and hrr husband. It took 2 days to verify they were alive and ok. Finally found them and we drove to Detroit where my cousin is from. I waited another 6 days before I could cross the border and get back to my home. Pneumonia stayed with me for more than a month but at least I knew my cousin was ok.
It was a surreal day for me as I had been standing in line at the South Tower in WTC waiting to buy tickets at TKTS the previous Tuesday of 9-11. I'd done that so many times and it haunts me to think of those towers being gone after standing in their shadows.
Just got in the office,and my mom calls to tell me a plane hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. I thought that was odd but figured maybe some small plane had mechanical failure or the pilot had a heart attack etc.
Go to internet to get some news, can't get anything to download at any website, it is so busy, remember there was a mini TV in the office, not even sure it would work, my sister brought it in one day, managed to get one channel on this tiny black and white TV, and bam we see the second plane hit the tower live and we look at each other in horror - damn this ain't no accident and we both locked up the office and went back home and I was glued to the TV for hours thinking the end is coming the next world war is upon us and channel surfing to get the latest and best updates. Kept waiting for more bad news as we watched the bad news.
I was amazed that some documentary film makers managed to catch the first plane flying into the other Tower and they were filming a documentary on NY firefighters.
I lived in Austin and was working as a bartender. I got home from work at about 5am and showered and crawled into bed around 6:30 or 7. I had just gotten to sleep when the phone rang. My roommate was a substitute teacher and as soon as I'd said "hello" i heard his voice come through the phone - "Turn on the television! We've been attacked!" I was groggy and tired and couldn't comprehend what he was saying and had to ask him to repeat himself. I turned on the televsion and watched the smoke billowing out of the first tower. Within minutes the second plane hit and I just remember screaming "oh my god!" and calling people to tell them what was going on. My friend's sister lived in Brooklyn, so I called him first, went to his house, and we all just watched the news for hours. I never went back to sleep that day and I will never forget it.
Was at Home Depot buying nobs for my kitchen cabinets and my best friend called to ask what was going on. He was at an airport in Lubbock, TX and grounded.
at home in my old house--watching on my tv--- the most beautiful September day you could possibly imagine.......and went to work later that day feeling completely disoriented and listening on the radio wondering what was coming next
I lived by City College in Harlem. My friend from Queens called me and woke me up. I thought he was joking when he told me a plane hit WTC. I got up and turned on the news and saw the second plane hitting. It was so awful. I cried for days.
We had weekly staff meeting and my boss said there had been a car bomb near the trade center. When I went home for lunch I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The next day my boss called staff into his office and told us the Hoover Dam was a target, our water and power facilities were locked down and security guards were brought in. It felt like a dream when he explained how long we'd have to evacuate if the dam was bombed.
I love NYC at Christmastime and I visited that December. I will never forget the strange smell. We made the decision to not go to the site after hearing from some folks who had. I just couldn't do it. After the trip I got the worst case of bronchitis ever.
The economy really suffered right after the attacks. People were scared to fly or visit major cities. I love New York and it was my small way of saying eff you to the killers and supporting my country. Never forget.
I was getting ready for work listening to my usual radio station when they announced a plane had crashed into the tower. I IMMEDIATELY knew it was not an accident. Went and got the Opster and we turned on CNN in time to see the 2nd plane hit. It was a very shitty day.
I mentioned earlier that I was working corporate travel. We had a lot of very important Silicon Valley execs as VIP customers so the agents were doing their best to track them down.
And there's always one right? Even though Air flight was grounded for days, one guy kept calling the emergency line ($50 fee every time) to have them book him a flight. They kept explaining everything was grounded, it could not be done NO MATTER WHO you happen to be. Then he didn't want to pay the fees because he was unable to fly. (These are people from Ivy League colleges people!)
signing the lease to my apartment in south philly. after a long absence the agent returned to the office and said that the pentagon had been hit also. he was talking to someone behind him as he was entering. I thought that was a weird statement but me and him didn't discuss it. I left the building and the trains in philly had stopped running. someone said something was happening in NYC but did not elaborate. (PENTAGON/NYC???) took me 20min to walk to my sisters house where I saw it on the news. I thought I was going to faint.
Woke up to my college roommate bursting into my room screaming, "The pentagon just got attacked!" I'm not a morning person and remember being so foggy and out of it seeing the news reports of the WTC's and the pentagon. I was just in disbelief. No one knew what the hell was going on. I remember watching the towers fall and thinking, "Is this a clip of something?" It was a movie. It wasn't reality. It was the first real coordinated attack on US soil that I lived as an adult.
We could see the Sears Tower from our apartment window and remember Chicago going into lock down mode. All classes were cancelled, the El was shut down for the day, the first time ever OHare(and all airports) were completely shut down, and the city was pretty much evacuated once news hit that the Sears Tower could be a target.
My roommates and I didn't leave the apartment that day and stayed glued to the TV. It was that day that I developed my crush/love of Peter Jennings. It was/is my birthday and my roommates and I just sat there in the living room eating straight off the birthday cake my mom gave me the night before to "celebrate" with my friends.
I was in a hotel room about five minutes walk from the capital building in Little Rock. I had been at work until 3:30 that morning because we had to do inventory and move all of the booths and tables so the cleaners could wax the floors (I was managing a Long John Silver's and they had sent me to Little Rock for a few months since their manager had been fired). I was sound asleep and the phone rang a little after 8 am. I thought it was going to be work asking me to come in and I was ready to tell them they would have to wait but it was my Mom. She was frantic and told me to turn on the TV, I asked her what channel and she said it didn't matter because all of them had the same thing on and that NY had been hit. I had to work that night and since we were so close to the capital, we were pretty shaken up, not knowing what was going to happen. We had plenty of cops around since I changed the usual 10% off for cops and made it free for them to eat that night. Usually when we gave too many discounts the district manager would be all up on our asses but he called me and told me I did a good job and that it was smart of me to keep the cops so close not only to us, but to the state capital. But with the way things were around that time and not knowing what was going to happen, I told them I was going home that weekend and they needed to find someone quick. The next day I was training a new manager and was home for good that Saturday morning about 2:30.
This is just funny. Today I asked my dr as she was treating me where she was. First I said that I was at home, then my friends and I went to the bar. She was in middle school.
In Seattle watching the Today Show because I wanted to catch the interview with the author of the just released Howard Hughes book. Then I was going to go to work. Saw the second plane live and felt sick to my stomach because my best friend from high school was living in NY and going to Columbia. Then really sick thinking about the hell the people in the planes were going through. Everything else was shock watching it play out.
That night in Seattle, you could hear the F16s overhead flying over the airspace. Never saw them. Just heard them
I was about to leave the house for a dental appointment. The tv was on and Breaking News interrupted when the first plane hit. Then the second, and they collapsed. My dentist Knew nothing of it 'til I told him. His brother-in-law worked in one of the towers. He immediately called his sister who said it was 1st day of kindergarten for their child and he had planned to go in to work late and by chance was safe. When I got home I called my best friend who's son worked at the AmEx building at WTC.He was on the subway which sped past their usual stop but didn't tell the passengers why. As he walked uptown toward WTC the air was filled with ash and smoke and people were jumping out of the towers and hitting the pavement around him. He was living uptown in the 80's. He walked home but didn't arrive there until late afternoon because many areas were cordoned off. Her daughter was in the city that day as well interviewing for a job on the upper east side. The son was beyond traumatized but stayed with his job. AmEx building was condemned, but they were allowed to take their personal possessions from their offices. My husband and I had separated three months prior to this and he called me because he needed someone to talk to. His reaction to the event was that it would ruin the economy... I said that I thought he might be calling to see how I was handling it(I have anxiety issues)and why couldn't he just talk to the secretary he'd been "dating" for the last 12 months? My one nephew who was living UES with a new baby said their life was unaffected. His brother, a farmer who raises free range pigs and chicken @flyingpigsfarm and sells in the NYC Green Markets took all of his product to ground zero where he and his wife cooked for and fed the the people who were working there asking for nothing in return. The good karma they generated is still coming back to them.
I was at sitting at my desk on wall street. We heard a plane had hit the world trade center but we were told to stay at our desks. Then I saw people running and it was the soot and ash from the building collapse. Tried to get to the brooklyn bridge 3 times finally got home at 3pm am glad I didnt know the full extent of the attack till I got home. I probably would have freaked out. Still havent found the courage to go see 911 museum.
5th grade homeroom. My teacher turned the tv on for us to watch the towers go down. I didn't know what to think at the time. I was like, is this real? lol
In the car on my way to Political Science class. Heard it on Tom Joyner Morning Show so I thought it was a joke. VCR was set to tape Another World but got live 9/11 footage so I understand the conspiracy theories.
I was at work in Pennsylvania. We had heard a plane had hit the WTC but thought it was a site seeing plane or something small. Our boss let us watch the coverage and we saw the second plane hit. Could not believe it was real. Then we heard about the plane going down in Somerset County, PA. About 50 miles away. We wondered why there?
In the middle of a very rough divorce from a diehard Brooklyn-ite. I'm, like, the only person outside of the Middle East who expected something good to come from the attacks. I literally thought they would shake my wife out of her self-indulgent narcissism and get her to go back to marriage counseling.
Nope. Thirteen years later our children have been in counseling multiple times to deal with their mommy issues, she's trapped in a loveless relationship that even her best friend things is weird and the legal career she sacrificed our marriage to pursue has become a complete dead end. She's fat, aging badly and unhappy.
And every time I see a clip of the Towers being hit, what goes through my mind is, "Why did I marry such an idiot?"
Working as the school nurse in my grade school of 500 students. I just happened to be in the front office when the school liaison officer walked into the principal's office and turned on the television set, saying (to the Principal) - you have got to see this. i stood transfixed. The principal, after a few minutes, ordered a moratorium on ALL TV sets in classrooms to be turned off - K thru 5. Teachers that days kept children in their classrooms - no visits to the BR, to the nurse, to the water fountain. Everyone was keeping track of their students. I quietly ran around, giving updates to teachers in their rooms. As for me - I thought this is what my parents must have felt when Pearl harbor was attacked. And I cried because I figured the draft would be reactivated and my college age son called up. Long story end - my son did not go, but 50 young men from our small community joined the guard and served two tours in Iraq. Young men I had in my home, in my office, going up in front of my eyes. Luckily, everyone came back - changed forever. We all were changed.
I live in NYC and worked one block away from the WTC. That was my subway stop. Every day I would get off the train there and go into the mall downstairs and get a smoothie. I'm an attorney and that day I was going to Court in Queens. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) called me to tell me that a plane hit the WTC- and then the second plane hit. I was walking into the subway to get to Court because i had something to file due that day. I thought it was a small little single person plane not causing any damage other than a broken window. I told him I had to get to court and hung out and got in the subway. When I emerged, I heard that a plane hit the Pentagon and that it was a big attack. I sat with a court officer hysterically crying because her sister worked at Windows on the World. When the Judge called my case, my phone rang (which is normally a big no-no). I told the Judge it was my mom and that my office was next to the WTC. He took my papers and told me to answer the phone. I was just dumbfounded by what had happened. The trains were now closed and I had to get home and had no idea how to get there without the subway. I finally made it home, bought my first pack of cigarettes in 2 years (and my last pack), smoked that pack, cried, and watched TV. I did get calls from all over the world checking that I was OK.
My office was closed for weeks because we could not even get in to get files. We then were displaced for 11 months. A few weeks after it happened, we got a police escort to see through ground zero to get to our office. The ash, dirt, and remains I saw will haunt me forever. I will never forget the stories my colleagues had who were there that day. So many people I know worked there. So many people I know had loved ones die that day. Never forget.
I was on an extended family vacation with my father and step-mother in Arizona.
Exactly one week to the day prior on September 4, we flew back to AZ on an 8am flight from Boston, Logan where we had been visiting the rest of our family who live in MA.
My father and his wife had to be back in AZ for an appointment on September 10 but I seriously considered staying for an extra week with my elderly grandmother and flying back to AZ on September 11 (and it would have been for sure an 8am flight although I am not sure that it would have been one of THE flights)... But I didn't - I flew back with them on September 4.
On September 10, My father and step-mother and I watched Shindler's list for the first time and I was so upset that I couldn't sleep. I finally fell asleep at 4am.
On the morning of September 11, my husband, who had stayed behind in the Pacific NW because he had to work, called my dad's house at 7am Pacific time as both towers were burning. I was so exhausted, I couldn't understand what he was saying to me. For a second, I thought he meant the United Nations building. And then I walked into the family room where my dad and step mom were watching the news.
My husband kept saying over and over again, "That could have been you..." I didn't understand what he meant until he explained that I had considered staying and reminded me of my almost plans... as I watched the towers burn all I could think in my head was, "well, the fucker (Bin Laden) finally got what he wanted." Then we watched the buildings fall...
A lot of people in the town that I grew up in (Lynnfield, MA) died that day. My home (Boston) had been violated. Our dearly loved neighbor and big brother (New York) had been bludgeoned within an inch if its life. I did not know if my friends in NY were ok.
There was no sleep that day or that night or the night after and then after that, only in fits and spurts... there were no planes in the sky.
I have never seen my father so frightened in my entire life and I never want to again. He was a kind of quiet I can't describe - hanging on President Bush's every word. Like a child waiting for an abusive parent to come home... scared quiet.
The only thing that brought any kind of semblance of comfort to me was knowing that my husband and family were safe, and the sound of Art Bell's voice deep into the night - like some kind of amplitude modulated teddy bear.
I was in such grief for the families and friends and for my city and our big brother city, and felt so helpless and impotent that I couldn't cry for a long time. If I had, I probably would have split into pieces and bled out.
To this day I hear in my head, "That could have been you." And I wonder why it wasn't. And why it was for them.
I was in the 7th grade. My mom's friend came to pick me and her daughter up.
ReplyDeleteIt was my off day, Tuesday. I was about to get out the car & pump gas when it came n the radio. I called & woke up my Gma to see if this was a radio hoax. Was listening to Russ Parr in the morning. I will NEVER forget!
ReplyDeleteI had just moved to FL and started a new job. I was listening to the radio at my desk and didn't see footage until later that night bc we didn't have internet access.
ReplyDeleteI remember being in complete shock that someone could do that. And I hugged my little girl tightly that night, wondering what kind of world I brought her into.
I was heading downstairs to take a shower before going to work (which was in lower Manhattan, specifically NoLita). My roommate came racing down the steps shouting, "THE WTC WAS HIT BY A PLANE" and I sat down to watch the news. When the second plane hit, we realized it wasn't an accident. I went to the roof of my Williamsburg, Brooklyn loft building (it was on the waterfront) and could see and smell the smoke.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, my first inclination was, "GO OUT AND BUY SUPPLIES." I went to the market around the corner and bought a big jug of bottled water, a bunch of canned soups, some pasta and jarred sauces, and a carton of cigarettes (and probably some booze).
It was, without a doubt, the worst day of my life.
I was in my living room in my college apartment. Turned the tv on to what looked like a movie - I couldn't believe that the horror I was watching was real life.
ReplyDeleteI was at work out in the sticks. I went home so I could watch the news. I had friends in NYC who we're emailing me that they were locked down at work. That's from whom I first heard it might be terrorism.
ReplyDeleteI was home in Brooklyn. I was getting dressed to go vote because it was Primary Day for Mayor that Tuesday. Then I was gonna hop on the subway and go to Manhattan to shop at J&R Music World which happened to be a block away from WTC and a place I always went to buy my electronics. None of that happened that day and it took me 3 months before I felt comfortable enough to go anywhere near WTC.
ReplyDeleteOn vacation. Watching The Today Show and eating cereal. Saw it all. Never forget.
ReplyDeleteJust waking up getting ready for a meeting. I remember Matt Lauer talking about the plane hitting the 1st building. They were showing a live shot of the skyline with the WTC in the background when the plane hit the 2nd building. I remember thinking I couldn't possibly have seen what it looked like. I called my husband and told him what I had seen. My meeting was cancelled and I watched tv all day.
ReplyDeleteOn my way home from voting in the primary, got to my building in time to see the 2nd plane go past…our doorman had run out after the 1st plane hit…
ReplyDeleteSaw the building implode on t.v.
I will never forget…never
Also I had a co-worker that was back east for a conference. All flights were cancelled so he had to rent a car and drive back to CA.
ReplyDeleteMy sister was stuck in California and had to drive back to the east. My husband was stuck in Ireland with his buddies golfing.
DeleteDuring my five minute drive to work. I think we were just finding out about the second plane with I parked (around 6:15 West Coast.)
ReplyDeleteI had been laid off about a week before. My best friend, sitll working for that company, IMed me to say a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I was thinking it was some moron in a small private plane who'd had an accident.
ReplyDeleteI turned on the TV and my wife came into the room, and there was the first tower burning and pouring out great gouts of black smoke, and it was clearly not some little Cessna 6-seater.
My wife looked at the TV and said, "What's happening?"
Before I could answer, the second plane flew into the second tower.
I said to my wife, "We're at war."
20th and Park Ave. I was actually dressed up, because my boyfriend was in town, and taking me to Windows on the World that night.
ReplyDeleteMy fave late night restaurant is on that corner. l'Express.
DeleteI was in a meeting at work, someone came in late and said a plane had hit the WTC. We thought that was horrible, but assumed it was a little Cessna or something. After the meeting, I went back to my office and pulled up the footage online. No work got done by anyone. Everyone wandered from office to office watching whatever footage people could bring up. I worked in a government building, so we were all a little scared for ourselves, too.
ReplyDeleteOn the way home, the dj on my radio station was playing all peace songs. He got a call from a listener who wanted him to play patriotic music. I'll never forget his answer, "If you want war music, get your own damn radio station!"
It was a very surreal day.
Latin Class. Senior Year of High School.
ReplyDeleteWoke up to the news, as I turned it on while in bed and getting ready to get up and get ready for work. My then fiancé had left for work already and as I was trembling about the first plane/tower I watched live while the second one flew into the building.
ReplyDeleteIt was shocking and awful.
I didn't want to go to work, but the rest of tbe office was going in so...
My fiancé and I got off work early, any people did, we went golfing - his idea. I was retry mad about it, I wanted to stay in and mourn and keep updated. We got in a huge fight, I went back to the club house and left him so he played an additional 9 and came to get me where, to get him back, I'd taken up with a cute guy and also moved his car so he couldn't find it. (Even bigger fight ensued after he pulled me away and we got home- it was awful). I was just really feeling awful. Sounds silly, I know, I went they nothing at all compared to so many people. I can't imagine the fear and hurt. But trying to really had it's effects.
I'm still pissed that 911 happened, who isn't?
I don't think I'll ever work or live in a high rise.
Thinking of all who suffered, my heart goes out to you.
It had only been 3 years since did live within 20 miles of the WtC for 6 years. I have nice memories of the area. It was really something.
Watching The Today Show in my kitchen with my 3 boys under the age of 4. I remember my oldest told me later in the day to quit watching the show that was making me cry.
ReplyDeleteI live in NOLA, but moved down here from NYC (lived in Brooklyn, then Manhattan). I was at work, grvyd shift, & had wandered into the break room in search of coffee. Everyone was silently gathered around the tv, looking shocked. I joined them just in time to watch the second plane hit. Stayed in there for hours - saw the buildings collapse, not knowing a high school classmate was dying in the collapse. Kept trying to reach my cousin and close friends to make sure they were okay, just got busy signals. In a bit of oddness, & guardian Angel overtime - my cousin had called in sick that day. If you know him, you'd know he's probably only done that about twice in his entire life. He had a stomach bug. Saved his life, & he's gone on to be one of NYC's "40 under 40" (a few years ago), who are making a real difference in our world, & has a wife and daughter. All because he called in sick that morning. Every year, classmates from my high school (in the Philly suburbs) get together to remember our murdered classmate, & the other innocent lives lost that terrible day. My friend Camille ended up reuniting with a long-lost love after that day, after he called her family to see if she was okay, & leaving NYC. They've been happily married for 12 years now. 9/11 made them realize how fleeting life is, & that we're not promised tomorrow. Make every minute count.
ReplyDeleteTrib-my daughters ex , a nyc cop, also realuzed what was important, and they subsquentially git back to gether, and married. After a day if picking up body parts ( his task that day)- im guessing you see alot if things differently. He told her she was his family and his whole world.
Delete💜💜💜
Delete*sigh* @auntliddy - the question marks above were supposed to be hearts. Let me try again: <3 <3 <3
DeleteAt home, had just woken up, before getting ready to go to college I turned on the computer and saw the headline on the AOL screen, just like Andrew, thought it was a Cessna accident. I turned on the tv, turned around momentarily, when I heard the announcer say another plane hit the second tower, I turned around an stared at the screen, it was definitely not an accident anymore.
ReplyDeleteI immediately called my husband who was working across the border, and we realized the borders were gonna be closed, he told our friend, whose wife was heavily pregnant, to get his ass back to the US or else he'd be stuck away from her indefinitely.
We were all shocked and scared of how the world was going to change.
I was sitting in my car at college when the news broke. I walked to class & a few other classmates heard and turned the TV on.
ReplyDeleteI saw the 2nd plane hit on live TV in class.
Everyone was in shock and started rushing out in the hallway to try and reach loved ones that worked at WTC or in NYC.
It's one of the only times in my life that I have handed my cellphone to a stranger and said ... Here ... Use my phone to call.
I worked at an NPR station in the Midwest. It was my second day. The morning of the event I remember distinctly having to take the press announcement from the White House to the control room for the on air personality to read it. We only had one tv at the station so I didn't get to see anything until I got home (they let us out early as the university regents determined that we might potentially be a threat due to some research labs on campus). When I got home I remember seeing people diving to their deaths over and over. Then I heard about the pentagon. My best friend worked in Washington DC and I couldn't get a hold of her until the next day. It was one of the worst things I've ever experienced and I'll never forget visiting the site the following year. I have an architect friend who worked on rebuilding the towers. He has some crazy stories about the reconstruction efforts. It still remains the most singular, stark, depressing, and affecting moments of my twenties. I'll never forget.
ReplyDeleteI was also watching the Today show at home. My husband was out of town and we were on the phone when they hit the Pentagon. It was so shocking and unbelievable and left everyone wondering what was going to happen next.
ReplyDeleteWe lived near the airport and it was so strange to not have planes flying overhead at all. The day my husband was due to fly home was the day they re-opened the airports.
It just seemed that everyone was glued to the news for weeks.
Dr's office waiting with raging pneumonia. Soon as the receptionists turned on the TV and I saw the 1st plane, I started to freak because my cousin + her husband lived 6 blocks from the towers. I rushed the doc to give me shots of penicillin - got home - got 2 of my other cousins into a car + drove 10 hrs to try and get to my cousin and hrr husband. It took 2 days to verify they were alive and ok. Finally found them and we drove to Detroit where my cousin is from. I waited another 6 days before I could cross the border and get back to my home. Pneumonia stayed with me for more than a month but at least I knew my cousin was ok.
ReplyDeleteIt was a surreal day for me as I had been standing in line at the South Tower in WTC waiting to buy tickets at TKTS the previous Tuesday of 9-11.
ReplyDeleteI'd done that so many times and it haunts me to think of those towers being gone after standing in their shadows.
Just got in the office,and my mom calls to tell me a plane hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. I thought that was odd but figured maybe some small plane had mechanical failure or the pilot had a heart attack etc.
ReplyDeleteGo to internet to get some news, can't get anything to download at any website, it is so busy, remember there was a mini TV in the office, not even sure it would work, my sister brought it in one day, managed to get one channel on this tiny black and white TV, and bam we see the second plane hit the tower live and we look at each other in horror - damn this ain't no accident and we both locked up the office and went back home and I was glued to the TV for hours thinking the end is coming the next world war is upon us and channel surfing to get the latest and best updates. Kept waiting for more bad news as we watched the bad news.
I was amazed that some documentary film makers managed to catch the first plane flying into the other Tower and they were filming a documentary on NY firefighters.
I lived in Austin and was working as a bartender. I got home from work at about 5am and showered and crawled into bed around 6:30 or 7. I had just gotten to sleep when the phone rang. My roommate was a substitute teacher and as soon as I'd said "hello" i heard his voice come through the phone - "Turn on the television! We've been attacked!" I was groggy and tired and couldn't comprehend what he was saying and had to ask him to repeat himself. I turned on the televsion and watched the smoke billowing out of the first tower. Within minutes the second plane hit and I just remember screaming "oh my god!" and calling people to tell them what was going on. My friend's sister lived in Brooklyn, so I called him first, went to his house, and we all just watched the news for hours. I never went back to sleep that day and I will never forget it.
ReplyDeleteWas at Home Depot buying nobs for my kitchen cabinets and my best friend called to ask what was going on. He was at an airport in Lubbock, TX and grounded.
ReplyDeleteat home in my old house--watching on my tv---
ReplyDeletethe most beautiful September day you could possibly imagine.......and went to work later that day feeling completely disoriented and listening on the radio wondering what was coming next
it was a complete shock
I lived by City College in Harlem. My friend from Queens called me and woke me up. I thought he was joking when he told me a plane hit WTC. I got up and turned on the news and saw the second plane hitting. It was so awful. I cried for days.
ReplyDeleteWe had weekly staff meeting and my boss said there had been a car bomb near the trade center. When I went home for lunch I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The next day my boss called staff into his office and told us the Hoover Dam was a target, our water and power facilities were locked down and security guards were brought in. It felt like a dream when he explained how long we'd have to evacuate if the dam was bombed.
ReplyDeleteI love NYC at Christmastime and I visited that December. I will never forget the strange smell. We made the decision to not go to the site after hearing from some folks who had. I just couldn't do it. After the trip I got the worst case of bronchitis ever.
The economy really suffered right after the attacks. People were scared to fly or visit major cities. I love New York and it was my small way of saying eff you to the killers and supporting my country. Never forget.
Studying an exam I had an hour later and watching the news on TV at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI was getting ready for work listening to my usual radio station when they announced a plane had crashed into the tower. I IMMEDIATELY knew it was not an accident. Went and got the Opster and we turned on CNN in time to see the 2nd plane hit. It was a very shitty day.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned earlier that I was working corporate travel. We had a lot of very important Silicon Valley execs as VIP customers so the agents were doing their best to track them down.
And there's always one right? Even though Air flight was grounded for days, one guy kept calling the emergency line ($50 fee every time) to have them book him a flight. They kept explaining everything was grounded, it could not be done NO MATTER WHO you happen to be. Then he didn't want to pay the fees because he was unable to fly. (These are people from Ivy League colleges people!)
signing the lease to my apartment in south philly. after a long absence the agent returned to the office and said that the pentagon had been hit also. he was talking to someone behind him as he was entering. I thought that was a weird statement but me and him didn't discuss it. I left the building and the trains in philly had stopped running. someone said something was happening in NYC but did not elaborate. (PENTAGON/NYC???) took me 20min to walk to my sisters house where I saw it on the news. I thought I was going to faint.
ReplyDeleteWoke up to my college roommate bursting into my room screaming, "The pentagon just got attacked!" I'm not a morning person and remember being so foggy and out of it seeing the news reports of the WTC's and the pentagon. I was just in disbelief. No one knew what the hell was going on. I remember watching the towers fall and thinking, "Is this a clip of something?" It was a movie. It wasn't reality. It was the first real coordinated attack on US soil that I lived as an adult.
ReplyDeleteWe could see the Sears Tower from our apartment window and remember Chicago going into lock down mode. All classes were cancelled, the El was shut down for the day, the first time ever OHare(and all airports) were completely shut down, and the city was pretty much evacuated once news hit that the Sears Tower could be a target.
My roommates and I didn't leave the apartment that day and stayed glued to the TV. It was that day that I developed my crush/love of Peter Jennings. It was/is my birthday and my roommates and I just sat there in the living room eating straight off the birthday cake my mom gave me the night before to "celebrate" with my friends.
Snoozing. My son who lived out of state called and woke me up. I really couldnt believe, went thru day like a robot. Horrible day.
ReplyDeleteI was in a hotel room about five minutes walk from the capital building in Little Rock. I had been at work until 3:30 that morning because we had to do inventory and move all of the booths and tables so the cleaners could wax the floors (I was managing a Long John Silver's and they had sent me to Little Rock for a few months since their manager had been fired).
ReplyDeleteI was sound asleep and the phone rang a little after 8 am. I thought it was going to be work asking me to come in and I was ready to tell them they would have to wait but it was my Mom. She was frantic and told me to turn on the TV, I asked her what channel and she said it didn't matter because all of them had the same thing on and that NY had been hit.
I had to work that night and since we were so close to the capital, we were pretty shaken up, not knowing what was going to happen. We had plenty of cops around since I changed the usual 10% off for cops and made it free for them to eat that night.
Usually when we gave too many discounts the district manager would be all up on our asses but he called me and told me I did a good job and that it was smart of me to keep the cops so close not only to us, but to the state capital.
But with the way things were around that time and not knowing what was going to happen, I told them I was going home that weekend and they needed to find someone quick. The next day I was training a new manager and was home for good that Saturday morning about 2:30.
This is just funny. Today I asked my dr as she was treating me where she was. First I said that I was at home, then my friends and I went to the bar. She was in middle school.
ReplyDeleteIn Seattle watching the Today Show because I wanted to catch the interview with the author of the just released Howard Hughes book. Then I was going to go to work. Saw the second plane live and felt sick to my stomach because my best friend from high school was living in NY and going to Columbia. Then really sick thinking about the hell the people in the planes were going through. Everything else was shock watching it play out.
ReplyDeleteThat night in Seattle, you could hear the F16s overhead flying over the airspace. Never saw them. Just heard them
I was about to leave the house for a dental appointment. The tv was on and Breaking News interrupted when the first plane hit. Then the second, and they collapsed. My dentist Knew nothing of it 'til I told him. His brother-in-law worked in one of the towers. He immediately called his sister who said it was 1st day of kindergarten for their child and he had planned to go in to work late and by chance was safe. When I got home I called my best friend who's son worked at the AmEx building at WTC.He was on the subway which sped past their usual stop but didn't tell the passengers why. As he walked uptown toward WTC the air was filled with ash and smoke and people were jumping out of the towers and hitting the pavement around him. He was living uptown in the 80's. He walked home but didn't arrive there until late afternoon because many areas were cordoned off. Her daughter was in the city that day as well interviewing for a job on the upper east side. The son was beyond traumatized but stayed with his job. AmEx building was condemned, but they were allowed to take their personal possessions from their offices. My husband and I had separated three months prior to this and he called me because he needed someone to talk to. His reaction to the event was that it would ruin the economy... I said that I thought he might be calling to see how I was handling it(I have anxiety issues)and why couldn't he just talk to the secretary he'd been "dating" for the last 12 months? My one nephew who was living UES with a new baby said their life was unaffected. His brother, a farmer who raises free range pigs and chicken @flyingpigsfarm and sells in the NYC Green Markets took all of his product to ground zero where he and his wife cooked for and fed the the people who were working there asking for nothing in return. The good karma they generated is still coming back to them.
ReplyDeleteBlasie, what generous kind people your family were to give freely to feed those in need. God bless you!
DeleteI was at sitting at my desk on wall street. We heard a plane had hit the world trade center but we were told to stay at our desks. Then I saw people running and it was the soot and ash from the building collapse. Tried to get to the brooklyn bridge 3 times finally got home at 3pm am glad I didnt know the full extent of the attack till I got home. I probably would have freaked out. Still havent found the courage to go see 911 museum.
ReplyDelete5th grade homeroom. My teacher turned the tv on for us to watch the towers go down. I didn't know what to think at the time. I was like, is this real? lol
ReplyDelete@ay, that must have been very confusing for you at that age. A 5th grader viewing that should have been the decision of the parent, not a teacher. :(
DeleteIn the car on my way to Political Science class. Heard it on Tom Joyner Morning Show so I thought it was a joke. VCR was set to tape Another World but got live 9/11 footage so I understand the conspiracy theories.
ReplyDeleteI was at work in Pennsylvania. We had heard a plane had hit the WTC but thought it was a site seeing plane or something small. Our boss let us watch the coverage and we saw the second plane hit. Could not believe it was real. Then we heard about the plane going down in Somerset County, PA. About 50 miles away. We wondered why there?
ReplyDeleteIn the middle of a very rough divorce from a diehard Brooklyn-ite. I'm, like, the only person outside of the Middle East who expected something good to come from the attacks. I literally thought they would shake my wife out of her self-indulgent narcissism and get her to go back to marriage counseling.
ReplyDeleteNope. Thirteen years later our children have been in counseling multiple times to deal with their mommy issues, she's trapped in a loveless relationship that even her best friend things is weird and the legal career she sacrificed our marriage to pursue has become a complete dead end. She's fat, aging badly and unhappy.
And every time I see a clip of the Towers being hit, what goes through my mind is, "Why did I marry such an idiot?"
Working as the school nurse in my grade school of 500 students. I just happened to be in the front office when the school liaison officer walked into the principal's office and turned on the television set, saying (to the Principal) - you have got to see this. i stood transfixed. The principal, after a few minutes, ordered a moratorium on ALL TV sets in classrooms to be turned off - K thru 5. Teachers that days kept children in their classrooms - no visits to the BR, to the nurse, to the water fountain. Everyone was keeping track of their students. I quietly ran around, giving updates to teachers in their rooms. As for me - I thought this is what my parents must have felt when Pearl harbor was attacked. And I cried because I figured the draft would be reactivated and my college age son called up. Long story end - my son did not go, but 50 young men from our small community joined the guard and served two tours in Iraq. Young men I had in my home, in my office, going up in front of my eyes. Luckily, everyone came back - changed forever. We all were changed.
ReplyDeleteI live in NYC and worked one block away from the WTC. That was my subway stop. Every day I would get off the train there and go into the mall downstairs and get a smoothie. I'm an attorney and that day I was going to Court in Queens. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) called me to tell me that a plane hit the WTC- and then the second plane hit. I was walking into the subway to get to Court because i had something to file due that day. I thought it was a small little single person plane not causing any damage other than a broken window. I told him I had to get to court and hung out and got in the subway. When I emerged, I heard that a plane hit the Pentagon and that it was a big attack. I sat with a court officer hysterically crying because her sister worked at Windows on the World. When the Judge called my case, my phone rang (which is normally a big no-no). I told the Judge it was my mom and that my office was next to the WTC. He took my papers and told me to answer the phone. I was just dumbfounded by what had happened. The trains were now closed and I had to get home and had no idea how to get there without the subway. I finally made it home, bought my first pack of cigarettes in 2 years (and my last pack), smoked that pack, cried, and watched TV. I did get calls from all over the world checking that I was OK.
ReplyDeleteMy office was closed for weeks because we could not even get in to get files. We then were displaced for 11 months. A few weeks after it happened, we got a police escort to see through ground zero to get to our office. The ash, dirt, and remains I saw will haunt me forever. I will never forget the stories my colleagues had who were there that day. So many people I know worked there. So many people I know had loved ones die that day. Never forget.
I was on an extended family vacation with my father and step-mother in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteExactly one week to the day prior on September 4, we flew back to AZ on an 8am flight from Boston, Logan where we had been visiting the rest of our family who live in MA.
My father and his wife had to be back in AZ for an appointment on September 10 but I seriously considered staying for an extra week with my elderly grandmother and flying back to AZ on September 11 (and it would have been for sure an 8am flight although I am not sure that it would have been one of THE flights)... But I didn't - I flew back with them on September 4.
On September 10, My father and step-mother and I watched Shindler's list for the first time and I was so upset that I couldn't sleep. I finally fell asleep at 4am.
On the morning of September 11, my husband, who had stayed behind in the Pacific NW because he had to work, called my dad's house at 7am Pacific time as both towers were burning. I was so exhausted, I couldn't understand what he was saying to me. For a second, I thought he meant the United Nations building. And then I walked into the family room where my dad and step mom were watching the news.
My husband kept saying over and over again, "That could have been you..." I didn't understand what he meant until he explained that I had considered staying and reminded me of my almost plans... as I watched the towers burn all I could think in my head was, "well, the fucker (Bin Laden) finally got what he wanted." Then we watched the buildings fall...
A lot of people in the town that I grew up in (Lynnfield, MA) died that day. My home (Boston) had been violated. Our dearly loved neighbor and big brother (New York) had been bludgeoned within an inch if its life. I did not know if my friends in NY were ok.
There was no sleep that day or that night or the night after and then after that, only in fits and spurts... there were no planes in the sky.
I have never seen my father so frightened in my entire life and I never want to again. He was a kind of quiet I can't describe - hanging on President Bush's every word. Like a child waiting for an abusive parent to come home... scared quiet.
The only thing that brought any kind of semblance of comfort to me was knowing that my husband and family were safe, and the sound of Art Bell's voice deep into the night - like some kind of amplitude modulated teddy bear.
I was in such grief for the families and friends and for my city and our big brother city, and felt so helpless and impotent that I couldn't cry for a long time. If I had, I probably would have split into pieces and bled out.
To this day I hear in my head, "That could have been you." And I wonder why it wasn't. And why it was for them.
Much love to you all. <3
Correction - my husband must have called me before 7am Pacific time because the towers hadn't yet fallen when I was talking to him.
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