Where were you at 9/11/01?

[PandaOnProzac]

It was just any other summer night for me so I decided to stay up late and watch Leno and Letterman. I couldn't sleep though afterwards so I was up all night. Next thing I know I'm watching the attack on the Towers as it was happening. I thought it was just some building fire. Then the 2nd plance hit and I got the feeling it was terrorist related. I said a little prayer while feeling the sorrow and sadness inside. The rest of the day I spent it with family watching the aftermath.

For days and weeks following all I felt was anger, sadness but most of all patriotism.

Personally I can't join the military becuz of health reasons but I made sure even as a civilian I would do my part for the nation. In high school I was brought up in a military style marching band. Also I lived in a military family with my Dad being in the Navy. During National Anthems I have always stood at attention no matter what type of reaction I got from the surrounding people. After 9/11 I still stand at attention during the Anthem.

It is also becuz of 9/11 that I joined my fraternity of Kappa Kappa Psi. Through Kappa Kappa Psi I felt I could continue to honor my country. Whenever I wear the letters I feel like I'm wearing a uniform again.

In the one year commemoration I will honor the day by placing a white flower of rememberance at the flag pole and then giving a drum major salute to the flag. I don't care if people look at me weird by doing that or laugh. I salute the flag becuz I love this country and to remember those who died that day which may have included some brothers.

[BearyCuteAPhi]

I was walking to class and for some reason decided to go through the UC ( university center ) and there in the lobby was a television set turned on to CNN. They were showing the towers burn and collapse. It made me sick to my stomach. :( At the same time a great sadness overwhelmed me...it was just so sad. They canceled classes and shut down the entire campus. To get onto campus you had to show all this ID and there was only one entrance and exit. It was scarry! I remember watching the news and the San Antonio mayor came on saying that we (san antonio) was prepared for anything (attack) and that we had enough blood available as well as doctors and stuff....it was carzy!!! I was scarred...

ronnie

[josh8o]

i was sleeping...
i had class at 11:00, so i got up at 10:00 and took a shower. when i got back to my room i checked my messages and my firend allison left me a message about what was going on. all i remember is her saying "we are at war." i was shocked. i didnt have a tv in my room, so i went down to my firends room and was like "what's going on?" i sat in his room all day watching tv. i was asleep when the towers collapsed and all the planes hit.
i just remember feeling like i wasn't safe anywhere.

[queequek]

We were over Lake Okoboji, Iowa (by Minnesota border), taking our plants class, on our way to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Yeah, we were in the middle of the boonies, and we heard the story on our van radio . There was no TV or anything at our camp, so we went to Wallmart (like 20 miles away) to keep it update. What a shocking moment. :eek:
After we arrived in Canada, our Canadian brothers and sisters supported us. At the custom border (North Dakota and Manitoba), they gave us white ribbon and small Canadian pin.

[pbear19]

I was at home getting ready for work but my boss called right when coverage very first came on and said not to bother coming in. He said to just turn on the TV and he was closing the office for a little while. I ended up just sitting on the carpet in my business suit and heels for a couple hours watching the coverage. Then we opened the office, but we kept taking turns going home and watching TV the whole day.

[Unregistered-]

Being that Hawaii is 6 hours behind the East Coast, many of us were asleep. Brady [my BF at that time] and I were sleeping when we received a phone call from his best friend in California. It was hard to determine what the hell she was saying because I could hear her crying. She told us to turn on the TV and sure enough, it was happening before our eyes.

I was nervous because Brady lived in Coast Guard housing. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to leave housing and go home.

I called my mom to let her know what was happening and she told us to come home right away. We packed up our stuff and went to my house. What normally takes 5 minutes took us about 45 minutes because they were doing a thorough check of everyone's cars.

I immediately thought of my sorority sister and her husband. They had left Hawaii on September 10th and they were on their way to their new home in Washington, but their flight took them to LAX first. It was a while before I found out they were okay.

What scared me the most was when Brady gathered his uniform and his weapons. At that point we weren't sure if they were off to go somewhere. He got the call to go in as soon as the sun came up.

I didn't bother going to class that day. I knew there was no way in hell my professors were gonna force us to go in on a day like that. My boss called me to tell me that I should stay home considering I didn't know what the hell was going on with Brady.

It's a day I hope I never have to re-live again.

[EagleChick19]

I was in my World History 2 class that morning. My professor allowed to watch about 10-15 minutes of it. All of the political science profs (the floor was the Dept of History, Poli Sci, and Economics...Go fig!) came into our classroom and watched it. She turned off the TV then, and then she went on with class. But, she dismissed early that day. I went back to my dorm room and called my big (She lives near Somerset, PA). She turned out to be okay. Then, I called my dad. He was sent home early from his job with the State of PA. He also turned out to be okay. I was very scared that day!! :(

[AOIIBrandi]

I was at work. I had just walked over to a co-workers cube (he happened to be from NY) and he said "A plane just hit the world trade center". My mouth dropped open, we gathered our other co-workers, and we went into the conference room to watch it on TV. We saw everything on TV starting with the 2nd plane. When the towers fell they told us we could go home.

I was pretty releived we could go home because:

1)I worked on the 33rd floor of a downtown building
2)The president was in Sarasota and we were in Tampa (about 45 minutes away by car).
3)We could see MacDill AFB from our windows at work - It was rumoured Air Force One was going to land there, also the home of CENTCOM - Central Command for Middle East Operations.

On my way home I kept trying to get in touch with my parents and sister ( I had already talked to my husband at work). I finally got them all & on my cell phone to boot :D I will never forget that day.

[USFSDTAlum]

I was on my way to my 9:30 class and listening to the radio when the second plane hit. They had already been broadcasting that a plane had hit the WTC but no one had mentioned the size of the plane, I thought it was one of those small planes and the radio people were saying it was probably faulty radar. I was parking as they came on and said a second plane had hit. I called my mom because both my parents work in DC for the gov't and both have high ranking status. I asked her if she knew what was going on, and at that time she as well was thinking it was a small plane. She told me she would call her supervisor and call me right back, I told her not to bother because I was walking into class. When I got out of class at 10:45 I walked to my car and didn't turn on the radio because I was trying to call my mom. Obviously I couldn't get through to DC. I walked into my apartment to the first tower collapsing live on screen and my roommates telling me that DC had been attacked. I think I called everyone in my family that day trying to find out if anyone had heard from my parents. There were originally reports that the mall was on fire and my mom works two blocks away. Suffice to say I spent the entire day hysterical until I basically passed out from exhaustion. I woke when my Dad called and could finally get through around 4 pm. Fortunatly no one I knew or any one I knew knew any one who was hurt. I found out later that my uncle who works at the pentagon watched the plane hit because he was late that day.

I will never forget the impact on 9/11 on America's life, and in my memories of it I will always remember my sisters who came running over to see how I was doing.

-------God Bless America---------

[ChiOqt]

I live right outside of Washington, DC and our area was in a state of total uproar and grief since some of the events were so close to home. I was on campus walking from the student union building to class and couldn't figure out why everyone was crowded around a radio on the quad. The phone lines were all down and traffic was twice as bad as it normally is. Everyone was trying to get home to loved ones, pick up their children at school,....How will everyone be remembering the event come 9/11? It's a day no one can ever forget.....

[KarenC725]

I was at work, listening to the radio and they mentioned something about the first plane. I tired to get to one of the media sites but they were all jammed. Then they mentioned the second plane. We went into the conference room and started watching. All of our key personnel were in route to Utah that day so there was no one to tell us that we could go home. Being on the 22nd floor of the General Motors building was not reassuring. So then we decided we were going home.

It took 45 minutes to get from my parking garage to the main street to go home. So much was coming in over the radio so no one knew if the building was a target or not so it was scary to be stuck so close to it. I came home and watched tv all day with my National Guard roommate.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I was in Manhattan. When I received a call about what was happening, I went into full panic mode. I tried to call all of my family. My mother works on Wall Street which is a few blocks away from the Twin Towers. My younger sister works on the West Side near the Empire State Building. My youngest sisters works in midtown near the United Nations. Fortunately, my mother and youngest sister had never left their homes. They didn't need to be a work until later. When they saw the news, they stayed home. My younger sister was at work. It seemed to take forever to get in touch with all of them.

My sister walked from the West 30's to Rockefeller Center where she used to work to Grand Central Station in an attempt to get home. That wasn't working so she walked to get to me. When she was near the UN, she encountered what could only be described as hundreds of people running screaming, "They're attacking the UN!" She thought that she would be trampled. I waited for her staring out of the window. I saw what looked like throngs of refugees that you see in a war torn country on the news. I was never so relieved to see anyone as I was to see my sister. She was terrified. She has never been the same. I somehow managed to get her into a cab and get her home.

The people flooded the streets of Manhattan for hours. I don't mean the sidewalks either. I mean the streets because the sidewalk wasn't big enough to handle all of these people. Suddenly at two o'clock, there was silence. There were no more sirens of firetrucks and ambulences and no more people. The only thing that I could hear was the sound of jet fighters in the sky.

The next few days were horrible. Most of my friends and neighbors were safe. Sadly, not all of them. Several of my neighbors who were firefighters were murdered. I knew one of them; he was only 23 years old.

[Rudey]

That morning I was supposed to meet my mother in the WTC, but she decided to go to some meeting in the Bronx and cancelled on me. I ended up in a diner in Queens watching it on tv. That day I ended up giving blood and heading down to volunteer.

I don't think I ever walked around New York and saw a single person crying; that day and for many days after, I saw more than my fair share.

-Rudey
--And as much as my heart hurts every day I get out of work downtown and see the area or each time I see an American flag, I know most people have already forgotten.

[shopgirl]

I was in bed when my sister's friend called. She blurts out that a plane crashed into the WTC. I said, "Oh my God!" and ran to the tv, kneeling in front of it, for I don't know how long. I was in a state of shock. From the moment she told me what happened I just knew it wasn't an accident. It was like "a plane crashed into the WTC" equaled "someone intentionally flew into the WTC".

I tried all day long to call my family, anyone in my family. They all live in New York. Luckily I didn't lose anyone. However, one of my uncles lives in Far Rockaway, and his neighborhood was affected the most by this tragedy. They lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 people. I have yet to know the extent to which my family was affected. I have not been back to visit since 9/11.

The two months that followed 9/11 were horrible for me. It was as though I was living in a daze. I cried so much. I was so afraid for the world, our country, our citizens, our future, our military, etc. I was worried that my father would be sent to the Middle East (he's a Marine). It was just awful.

Interestingly enough, I was knocked out of my dazed state, or perhaps fear, when we took over Kabul. When I heard that on the news I just felt as though things were going to be o.k.

I'm still touched by this event. I can't watch anything about 9/11 without breaking out into tears. Even reading your stories makes me cry. Reading your stories is an extension of the events that happened that day, and it just reminds me how everyone was so effected by it.

With Love,
Shopgirl

[Dionysus]

It's interesting how 9/11 effected some of us hundreds of miles away from NYC. It was a wake-up call that life is short and we all are vulernable.

Anyways, I was studying for a test in one of our lounge areas. A guy came in there and turned on the tv and said a plane hit the WTC. I got the impression that it was a little jet and nothing serious. Then he turned on the tv and I was like :eek:. This was before the buildings collapsed. When the buildings collapsed I shook for like a hour straight. I was dazed for the rest of the day.

[M&M]

On 9/11, I was serving as Press Secretary to a Congressional Candidate on a special election in Arkansas. We didn't have a TV set up in the campaign office yet, so when I heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, I assumed it was a small plane that had gotten lost in bad weather. Campaign offices get enough calls on a regular day, but on this day, we could barely handle the deluge of calls from people trying to give us information and advice.

Needless to say, my entire press schedule for the day went right out the window. Our campaign manager had previously been a high ranking Clinton administration official. Someone e-mailed her a picture of the Pentagon taken from her old office in DC -- it looked like the photos of the Pentagon we later saw on television.

We had to pull the candidate from his schedule and get him into the office to regroup. And in a situation like that, you really have no idea what is going on, so it's hard to know exactly what sort of response someone will expect from your candidate.

As all of this was going on, I was thinking about my good friend from high school who was in Manhattan working in the fashion industry. Was she okay? Had she been anywhere near the World Trade Centers? No one could get any calls into NY.... My campaign manager and good friend was in a panic over her friends who were in Washington She couldn't get calls into DC either, so she sent out a "roll call" e-mail asking all of her friends to let her know if they were okay. Not everyone responded. We heard from one gentleman who had been a high ranking military official. His former office was destroyed in the attack on the Pentagon. He told us that he assumed his former secretary had died when the plane hit the building.

Several of us attended an impromptu church service that evening with the candidate. It was a very sobering day for everyone involved. For me personally, it was the first time that the true weight and responsibility of political office really touched me in such a profound way.

I am now working in the private sector. Interestingly enough, my current boss and the CEO of the company where I now work was on his way to a meeting in the World Trade Center on September 11th. He was running late and drove up towards the building in time to watch the first plane crash.

I must admit that this is the first time I have ever really tried to write anything about my own perceptions and experience of September 11th. What I am posting is really only a superficial version of what I saw and thought and did. I don't know if I will ever be able to really capture the way I experienced that day in words. I had a feeling that morning as I was fielding calls from the press and from others that I was not really there... I felt like I was out of my body somehow and watching the entire situation unfold, and it wasn't really real.

I'm going to stop now, because this is already really long, and if I keep typing I risk becoming REALLY overly-emotional. But I've answered the original question of "where were you?" So... where was everyone else that day?

M&M

[GiantsChic]

I was walking to class when I found out... I had just moved into my dorm the week before, and my roommate was still sleeping- so i didn't turn on the t.v. or the radio, and didn't have my cell phone on yet... as i was walking to class, i turned on my phone and had a message from my mom saying "the twin towers are gone"... I had no idea what she was talking about, and kept walking to class... i found a friend of mine on campus and she tried to describe to me what had happened, but it's hard to picture in your head if you hadn't seen it yet on t.v... i got to class and stayed for the whole class... I didn't get to see any pictures until I got back to my dorm after class, and finally saw what had happened- I was in total shock, and in some ways I think I still am...

[DeltAlum]

I guess it's like any other really extrordinary event. I remember where I was when I heard about the JFK (high school PA room) and RFK (College and Union streets in Athens, Ohio) assasinations, the Challenger explosion (the chief engineers office next to mine at a NBC Owned TV station) -- even Columbine (at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas) since that is so close to home.

In this case, I was in Lincoln, NE on business. I had been at the UNL Delt Shelter the night before, and attended a very nice initiation. When I came down from my hotel room the next morning, the coverage was on TV. I went to an appointment at Nebraska Public Television.

Obviously, I couldn't fly home, so I was watching the coverage, and since I spent many years as a TV director/manager doing live news and sports, I felt like the proverbial retired fire house horse who hears the alarm bell and can't do anything. When the president landed at Offutt (Sp?) Air Force Base -- about 30 minutes from Lincoln -- I called and actually got in touch with a friend who is Senior Director for NBC News and volunteered to head over there. He said that would be a great idea and he would get back to me. Of course Bush didn't stay there, so I ended up doing nothing in Lincoln for four days and then catching a bus to Denver.

Having a lot of friends in the networks and other jobs in New York, I was pretty worried about their safety. In addition, my former company had a TV facility right across from The Battery, very close to the WTC. It took a couple of days to find out that everyone there was OK -- although the facility was shut down. I had visited there many times, and we sometimes stayed at the Marriott which is no more.

I fervently hope that this is the last event in my lifetime where I will remember where I was when I hear the news. But, unfortunatley, I wouldn't count on it.

[Cluey]

I was actually in the middle of teaching a class. I teach at a high school and one of my students came in late with a tardy slip. He broke down in front of the class with the news. I turned on the television, just to see what was going on. I couldn't believe it. It seemed as though every single one of my students had a family member or friend who either was flying that day or who worked at the World Trade Center.

I am fortunate because I work at a Christian school; we openly pray. We pray before every class as it is; on September 11, 2001, classes were taken over by prayer, prayers for our country, our President, our families, our friends and all those effected by this immense tragedy.

I know that this was a tragic event, but I also do see the good coming forth from it -- renewed faith and patriotism. I think that every generation has one pivotal event that shapes them; maybe this is ours.

God bless America.

[Fewdfreak]

I was in high school still, it was homecoming week. We had went TP-ing that night, and I had stayed up late to finish a paper. At school, everyone was talking about the night before--we had a battle of the bands, and it got out of hand, and the cops ended up macing people, and arresting some kids. So we were riled up about that, then in painting class, we always have the radio playing because our teacher is like all punky and is cool and lets us listen to music. Well anyway, the radio news comes on and says something about terrorists and attacking and I didn't hear it all, so I think it's about Israel or something. So I go to my second class and one kid is like "Yeah, I was in weightlifting and on the radio it said that New York and Chicago are being attacked by terrorists." Then my teacher says "NO, you must be mistaken, I don't want to talk about world events, we have work to do." Then (since the class spans two hours) we go to the library to work on our research projects, there are like 100 people in the libaray watching TV, and we start to watch, and we see the second tower falling live, and my teacher who was like "lets get to work" was like "Oh, my God, and I don't want to talk about it." That's when I found out about Bush and Cheney, and how they had been moved to a secret, undisclosed location. I remember seeing the Verizon Wireless building in the background on NBC as the news reporters talked. Then, through out the day, we watched TV in each class and listened to the radio. That night, while I was doing homework, I was glued to the TV, and I didn't go TP-ing that night, we were supposed to have a tennis meet that night, and all the sports got canceled, and people were like why, NYC is so far away. Me and my friend went out, and there were lines like a mile long, spanning nine blocks to get gas, people were panicking. The Casey's station had jacked up prices for gas up to 4 dollars, but no one else did. Then my friends mom called and told her she wanted her home because there was a rumor that the terrorists were going to bomb the Arsenal, a military arms place by where I live. So we went home, I was out of gas, but the lines were too long to stop. Since that week was our homecoming week, tons of the events got canceled, such as movie night, the pep rally, and during our assembly the chant, because it would "incite riot" as did the battle of the bands, and it would be innapropriate. We signed banners during that week to send to the victims families, raised money, and at our dance, sang some patriotic songs that got everyone, including administration, in the USA spirit. I was not shocked at first, though, because who were we to think that we were invulnerable to attack, because look at other countries such as Israel or Palistine, I expected something like this, eventually, but not of this scale. I was a little shocked because I didn't expect such a big building to come down like it did, and cause all of the carnage that it did. I didn't cry when it happened, but like 6 months later, I saw a special on the people who lost husbands, and such, and one woman told how they found her fiances heart, but not his body, and I just lost it. Now, when I see stuff, I tear up, because this was senseless.

This, too, was my first time actually talking about my personal experience during 9.11, hmm...

L.

[Excelsior301]

I was home in PA, and I was sleeping in late b/c I didn't have to be at work until 2pm, and my mom came into my room and told me after the first plane hit, and said something had happened at the WTC. I wasn't really all that worried, b/c I remembered the last time something happened like that at the WTC back in like 92 or 93, so I thought it was just another like car bomb thing or something. Then, she came back in and said turn on the news, it's worse, and that's when i saw just how bad it was. then, the plane crashing into the pentagon and in somerset happened, and i was like, is this the end of the world? i was really shaken up b/c although Somerset is like 2 hrs west of me, it's still in PA, plus I live only about an hour north of DC, and I was supposed to be in DC for a concert, but my mom persuaded me a few weeks earlier to go to the same concert in Philly on the 12th, b/c Philly isn't as confusing as DC is, drive-around wise.
I still had to work that day, b/c I worked at a little video store that didn't want to close, so I was stuck there for 7 hrs w/ this really mean woman I hated working w/, whose husband is some specialist in the Marines, and she kept scaring me w/ all this war...let's go kill the bastards talk. And that was my Sept. 11, 2001 day

[DigitalAngel126]

That day was terrible for me, as I have family friends in Jersey/NY, I myself am from upstate NY (it's still home to me even though I now live in Indiana), and my best friend lives a little bit outside of DC. I was sleeping my loft when my phone rang.. Of course I didn't get down to answer it..But then whoever it was kept hanging up and calling back, so I tumbled out of bed and picked up the phone by saying "I don't know who this is, but this BETTER be good". I knew it was an on campus call so I wasn't worried about being rude because I had been woken up.. But anyhow, it was one of my best friends and all he said was "Turn on the TV".. And I was like "DUDE, I'm SO sleeping, call me back later".. And he was like "NO, AMY, turn on the tv!! Something is going on in New York!!!" ... That, of course, immediately sparked my attention, so I turned it on. I had turned it on right after the very first plane hit, so I saw it alllll go down.. I was going up and down the halls of my dorm telling people to turn on their tv's (I think I was the first one on my floor to find out)...

Well in my flurry of telling everyone to turn on the tv, I hadn't heard anything about DC...When I finally get back to my room and had talked to my parents, I hear about the pentagon... I absolutely flipped out and destroyed my room looking for my best friend's home number.. I called there and it was a madhouse (her dad and uncle were both stuck downtown in DC cuz it was gridlocked in a big way).. So I call Jeanine (my best friend) at school and she's absolutely bawling.. She's telling me "Come get me Amy, I'm so scared....Please...I can't die.. I can't leave my room, we have a lock down beacuse all of campus has a bombthreat...Come get me out of here...I can't die without seeing you again, you're my sister!!".. And so on and so forth... So as you can imagine, I TOTALLY lose it at this point.. All day, I was walking around in a daze, mostly locked in my room.. Crying... Worrying...Talking on the phone...Glued to the TV.. It was terrible...

Thats my story anyhow...

[Fewdfreak]

Oh, Digital, I cannot imagine what that must have been like for you, I am so sorry.

I remember on the way home from the coffee shop that we planned on going to after tennis, we saw a truck that had a sign that said, "GOD FORGIVE THE TERRORITS, WE WON'T" We didn't go out for coffee though, I came home to watch TV.

[Hootie]

I was at my apartment getting ready for my first class. I always kept the television on in my bedroom and had it on Today and was walking in and out between my room and the bathroom. I don't remember what they were talking about that caught my attention, but suddenly they interupted to show the first tower on fire. They knew a plane had crashed into it but it was unknown why, how, where it was from...etc.

And then, right before my own eyes, I witnessed the most horrific sight...the second plane crashing into the second building LIVE on television. I started shaking and called my dad at work almost in tears.

Needless to say I didn't go to school that day. I was too shocked and sad to see what was happening unfold before my eyes. That evening I finally left the house and there wasn't a song on the radio...only the national news. The gas pumps were jammed packed because people here feared a gas spike that was reported to be $5.00 a gallon.

And that evening I sat on my mom and dad's bed, like a little girl, and watched President Bush address the country...and cried with my mother.

I will never forget.

Hootie:(

[juniorgrrl]

I was asleep. I always sleep with the TV on. About 6 am, I had awakened, switched the TV from Comedy Central to NBC and gone back to sleep. I awoke to hearing Katie and Matt on the Today show talking about the first plane. Then the Pentagon was hit. I got out of bed and started calling my boyfriend. He didn't answer. So I kept calling. Finally I got him up and told him to turn the TV on. He was over at my apartment in a matter of minutes.

In the meantime, my roomate and her fiance had come back - their 9 am class had been cancelled. We all sat around and watched TV. The guys talked about how they would do what they had to do to protect their country. The girls talked about ways to get keep their guys from being drafted.

I had 2 classes that day. My first class, at 10:30 - either the teacher didn't know or didn't really want to stop class, becasue we still had a quiz. In the noon class the teacher said something to the effect of "this is bad, but we have work to do." I found that to be really tacky.

That night, some friends and I went out to dinner at Fudrucker's and watched the TVs there. It was so surreal. The president was on TV. We were at war.

I couldn't sleep that night. Or the next.

[aephi alum]

I was on my way to work when the first plane hit the WTC. I was totally oblivious... listening to a tape instead of the radio. I got to work, walked in the door, and heard a commotion in the break room... went to the break room, and there were most of my coworkers, watching as the second plane hit.

I was freaking out because my parents had told me of their plans to "spend Tuesday in the city" so I thought they were in Manhattan... turns out they had been talking about the following Tuesday, the 18th, and were in fact safe at home on Long Island. I tried to call them, but of course the phone lines were down, so I emailed them "PLEASE email me IMMEDIATELY and tell me you are safe!!!" About an hour later, I got their reply. :)

My office was closed around 2pm. I don't know how I drove home, I was crying so hard. I just kept thinking how easily it could have been me, either on one of the planes or in the WTC; I live within commuting distance of NYC (though it's a stretch) and I used to fly on a weekly basis out of Logan Airport. Self-centered, I know, but I wasn't exactly thinking straight :)

God Bless America. I will never forget.

[LeslieAGD]

I was in my house up at school. I had woken up and was flipping channels on the TV in the living room. My roommate came in the front door and told me to turn on the news...the first plane had just hit. We watched in surprise thinking it was an accident...then in shock as the second plane hit. We stayed glued to the TV all morning. My roommate got a call that her cousin was inside one of the buildings (he was later pulled out of the rubble alive the next day) . I got a call from my sister that all our relatives in New York were accounted for, but that my uncle had been at the towers about twenty minutes before the first plane hit. That was kind of scary!

My chapter sold 9/11 T-shirts and sent all the money (a couple thousand dollars) to the American Red Cross. Unfortunately, I couldn't help because I was a Rho Chi at the time.

God Bless America!

[Tom Earp]

Where Was I?

JFK in my room at the Dorm at NWMo.

L H Oswald talking to my Mother on the Dorm Phone

Elvis Presely at Aspen and could not figure why so many people were crying till got back to the Condo!

Sky walks in Kansas City Collapsing killing many people at a Tea Dance that My Aunt usually attended!

9-11 at my shop in KCKs with a best freind who is a Police Officer. Came over the Radio that a small plane had crassed into one of the Towers! Dan said there was a TV at Division across the parking lot and left. My employeee hada small TV in teh Back and I brought it up to watch, just before the second plane hit!

We as LXA lost many Brothers in this terrible Tragidy and found out later that one of My Chapter Brothers was at the bottom waiting to meet a client when the first plan struck!

He was spared thank God. There were to many fine people who lost their lives in this act of Cowardice!

May We all remember this people who were killed and pray for the whole world for what about is to happen!

May it not!

[texas*princess]

I had skipped my first class of the morning. I was waking up and getting ready for my next class, and it happened to be politcal science I was going to next.

I made it to Poli-sci a little bit early... I was still oblivious to what was going on, until my good friend Michelle walked in. She mentioned we might not have class, and I asked why? She said "Because of the thing happening with the airplanes". I was confused. Our poli-sci professor got to class a lil early too. He seemed to be in a rush, and unsettled. He had this weird look on his face, so I kinda knew something really bad had happened. We went to the Student Union as a class to watch the news. We watched in horror as the second plane hit :( My friends and I were very emotional about it and were crying.. for the rest of the day people just went about in what seemed like a daze. Sitting at the front desk of my residence hall (I was an RA at the time) all we could talk about was how unbelievable the whole event was. "What could make someone hate THAT much?" was all we could think.

I went to my volunteer radio DJ job at the campus radio station and it was a bit chaotic as well. It was so weird. I was normally one of the most "bubbly" radio personalities and was in such a state of awe. I felt so robotic reporting the latest news on the incident. The campus radio station had taken off the music from the air and had a live radio feed from one of the parent news stations. An hour into my shift I was told to switch back to music and was given a list of music *not* to play due to the lyrics and the given situation. Even with the music, I couldn't pretend that everything hadn't happened. It was so hard not to cry while on the air that day.

That night our school held a candle-light vigil on University Blvd. and everyone was bawling. We were very worried about the incident because there was a Naval Air Station in the city we lived in.. and also another one not too far away.

After the vigil, we went back to our residence hall where everyone was huddled around the television in the main lobby watching the footage of the attack... and of the President's Address. It was a very sad day in history.

[ChiOJenn78]

I was asleep. I had worked 3p-midnight the night before, and was sleeping in. Mr. ChiOJenn called and woke me up in the morning and said, "Get up and go turn on your TV, someone just flew a plane into the WTC". I said, "So what" and went back to sleep. It didn't even register what he had said, because i was dead asleep. An hour later, he called again, and left a message on my machine that I might want to call my bf Erin, and see if she was ok-she lived in NY at the time. I rolled over, and went back to sleep. An hour later he called again, left a message saying that they were evacuating his building and he'd call me later. I finally got up, and was mad, b/c I couldn't understand why he was calling so much and giving me a play-by-play of his day. So, I get up, go into the living room, and turned on my TV-and all I saw was black smoke over NY-the towers had both just collapsed. I just sort of sank to the ground and screamed "Oh my god, what's happening!". I tried to call him-no answer. I tried to call my parents-no answer. Needless to say I was so scared. I was shaking and crying-I just felt so lost. I called my bf's mom and luckily she had heard from Erin, and she was ok. But I remembered that I had a friend who is in med school, and his wife, who is a nurse-and they were vacationing in NY at the time. No one knew how to get ahold of them. It turns out they were ok, and they went to the hospitals to help out. I called my friend Amy, and she had no idea what was going on. b/c she had a final that morning and hadn't seen the TV.

I was in shock all day. I had to work that night, and the floor I was working on was the post-partum floor-moms and their new babies. I kept looking at all these new babies, and thinking-what kind of world have you come in to?? Mr. ChiOJenn came over that night and we both cried and watched TV and tried to make sense of our world. I was scared to go to sleep that night. What blows my mind is that our grandkids will ask us where we were that day and what were we doing. I kept saying-this is like Pearl Harbor, but this stuff is only supposed to happen in the past, like to our grandparents-but not to us.

I'm crying as I write this and as I read all your stories. I still can't watch footage of the second plane crashing into the building. But I love America and thank God everyday that I live here.

[sundevil2000]

The morning of September 11 I had woken up early to study for my statistics test that day. My radio alarm went off at 5:45(8:45 NY time), and the first thing I heard was "A plane has crashed into the world trade center" and I jumped out of bed and turned on the tv, to see that it was true. I ran to the phone and called my Mom. When she answered I said, "Mom, were being attacked, a plane crashed into the world trade center", and she replied "It's okay, dont worry about it", and I said "NO, MOM go turn on the T.V.". She came back to the phone and was completely shocked. I called all of my closest friends and woke them up. Every class at school that day was cancelled and all of the students were mourning.
Its hard to believe that this was a year ago.

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

I had just hopped in the shower when I heard my father banging loudly on the door saying that New York had just been attacked. I just shrugged it of thinking, "Okay Daddio (who was in the Navy) you're over-reacting as -usual-.." But I finally got out, threw on my robe and walked in the living room to see the horrific pictures on t.v..it's like for once in my life I was truely scared. I quickly got dressed and quickly sped to school ( I had a 11:30 Psych class) just to find the lecture hall the class was to be held in filled with various teachers and students watching the news on the screen in the front of the class. I watched it for a while getting sicker and sicker and finally had to leave only to run into some friends who had just decided to join up that day. The rest of the day I floored it on every back road I could find just to come home and have a message from my exboyfriend (who had lived in Albany NY and now is stationed in Italy in the Navy) saying he was alright but he didn't know where he was going to be the next day.

I still dont' know how some people who lost their loved ones can handle all of it now. My grandfather, boyfriend (at the time) and my brother-in-law are firefighters and just thinking about losing them in something like that was heartbreaking. The familes are truely strong.

[ladybug1116]

I was in my car driving to do some Music Therapy contract work at 2 nursing homes (about 45 minutes out of Tallahassee, FL where I was living at the time). I was singing along to the radio when they interrupted with a news bulletin telling about the first tower being struck. I couldn't believe it and at that point it hadn't been confirmed as terrorist action. I was still driving when they reported the second tower being struck....at that point I knew something was very wrong and I started driving faster so I could get to the facility and see the news. I got there and the directors wanted me to get started with my music group immediately. They said the residents were getting agitated (they had dementia) because of all the chaos of the morning. The room where the group was had a big screen TV and I positioned the group so that I could see the TV (on mute) while the residents faced me. I saw the first tower collapse while I was in the middle of singing a song. We sang hymns for the rest of the group. I still had to go to the next group (at another facility) where there wasn't any TV.

When I got in my car to head back to Tallahassee I remember feeling nervous and not safe being in a capital city. I knew Bush had been in FL that day and his brother Jeb is/was the governor of FL. My apartment was only a couple miles away from the capital building and I kept thinking something bad was going to happen. Traffic was horrible as I was heading home and I decided to cut through FSU's campus...classes had been cancelled that day and traffic was gridlocked there too. I ended up turning off the radio because it was information overload and I felt powerless. I finally made it home, called my family and was glued to the TV the rest of the day.

[chideltjen]

I had just woke up. It was about 6:00 am. I jumped out of the shower and found a new message on my cell phone. My bf had called me to tell me to turn on a radio or anything because the twin towers were gone and another plane had gone into the pentagon. First instinct was to call my mom at home to make sure my dad was ok since he works for USAirways and who knows what was going on at SFO. Second feeling was pure frustration because our cable guy was installing our cable on September 12th!!!!! So I didn't have a TV so I couldn't see any visuals until classes were cancelled and everyone was huddled in the pub watching CNN. And then all of the radio stations stopped playing music all day. Pure chaos... and I was on the opposite side of the country. It's amazing how fast a university can be shut down but how LONG it takes everyone to leave.

[PotentialPledge]

I was walking to my Anthropology Class, when I got there the TV was on and towers were on fire, and then they showed the pentagon on fire. I rushed out to call my mom cause she works at Reagan Airport which are right next to each other. I couldnt get through to anyone in the DC/MD/VA area. Nothing is more frightening than to not know if your family is safe. Well, I got through to my mom in evening.

[Optimist Prime]

Walking to german class and my friend was like did you hear about what happened and we were joking before so I thought it would be funny but it wasn't. :(

[kddani]

I was walking out of my room in the sorority suite, and saw in the living room the tv and what was going on. It was about 9am, so i saw the second plane crash. But, of course, at the moment, not having any idea how serious things were.

I went to class, calling my mom on the way to talk about it. The class was Theory of International Relations. The prof had only heard through a few people vague bits of info, so we discussed it for a few minutes. He asked us who we think did it, and why, and I was the first one to say Osama. We talked for a few minutes then went into his regular lecture.

I came out of class and went to the student union to meet with the greek advisor, and ended up sitting with 200 other people in front of a tv showing what was going on. At this point in time I was just learning of the crash in Somerset, a little over an hour away, and that the WTC buildings had collapsed.

I go back up in our suite and try to comfort a number of sisters- many are from outside NYC and have family and friends that work there. I call my mom, and my then-boyfriend who worked downtown in one of the larger buildings, which was being evacuated. Later on in the day we went to a vigil service. Everything was just so weird and overwhelming.

About two weeks later someone called in an anthrax threat to campus. It was a Saturday night, and I wasn't feeling well so I stayed in. I hear people yelling out in the suite, but i thought nothing of it- a Saturday night in the sorority suite, people are gonna be loud. Finally i go out to see what's up, and there's a cop screaming at me to get out of the building NOW! Wouldn't tell us what's going on. So i'm in pajamas, running out of the building. Outside there are SWAT team guys with gas masks and HUGE rifles yelling at us to run as far away as possible. Talk about scaring the shit out of people. I called my little brother on my cell, he lives on campus as well, and told him to get out NOW, that i didn't know why, but just to do it. Then I called my parents telling them that i had my cell but no idea what was going on... i was okay. Went to a friend's apartment where we tried to find out what was going on. Eventually we find out it's a hoax, but wow, that was a scary night.

[AGDPrincess70]

I had skipped my 9:30 class that day because I was out late with friends the night before. I was getting ready for class and turned on the Weather Channel to find out the temperature. I kept seeing scrolling news at the bottom of the screen, but I thought it was just saying "planes crashed in NY and DC," so I thought it was sad but didn't really think anything of it. Then I turned on local news right as the second tower collapsed. I kept thinking that it wasn't real. As I was walking to my 11:00 class I overheard people talking about it, but still wasn't conviced it was real. In my PR class, my prof told us that we were witnessing history and to go find a tv ASAP and just watch. I went into the theatre building and people were crying everywhere. Some friends and I just held each other and watched.

What made it even worse was that night I had to go a funeral home for the viewing of my friend's mom who had passed away the day before. On my way home, I drive past Detroit Metro Airport, and it was the creepiest feeling. There was nobody on teh freeway, and there was no sign of life at the airport.

That night my roommates and I kept hearing fighter jets overhead. Anytime we heard a plane we freaked out. We were so scared we couldn't sleep.

[phisigduchesscv]

It's normal in my family as soon as we get up in the morning to turn on the tv to a local news station. My alarm had gone off and I had just hit the snooze when I heard my mom turn on the tv and then I heard her yell for my dad to get up that the WTC was on fire (didn't know that a plane had crashed in to it yet). At that point I put my tv on just in time to see the second plane crash in to the other tower. All I could think of was "oh my God we've just been attacked". We immediately got on the phone to call my sister and brothers who all live out of state. I also texted message my boyfriend and then tried calling him about the news. Then the news starts talking about 2 other planes going off course and then that the pentagon has been hit with a plane too. After that it was a lot of calling family and friends back and forth with the news and talking about all the rumors various news channels were reporting.

I have one brother in the Coast Guard stationed near Norfolk, VA and the base was immediately locked down and on the highest level of alert. My other brother, who lives in Washington State, called to tell me to put on BBC America ( I have different tv company then my parents do). I was watching their coverage and they actually showed a video of the plane that hit the pentagon. I've only seen it the one time and it's never been shown on American tv, I guess it may show some national security measures. If I didn't know a couple of other people who saw the same thing i would think I had had a nightmare of it.

I remember just sitting in front of the tv in shock as all this was going down. I do have to say it was the oddest thing flipping to every channel on directv from shopping channels to sports to animal planet and everyone was broadcasting the attacks on tv. i have never seen anything like it before. Finally when it came around to 8:00 when I should have been in the office I called my boss and told her that I would be late and didn't know what time I would be in. She knew a plane had flown in to the WTC but didn't know about all the attacks.

I don't think I will ever have the memories erased in my mind of watching the towers collapse. this is truly the "where were you" of my generation (generation x) even above and beyond the shuttle explosion. Pretty much any generation born since Kennedy was shot or when the shuttle exploded this it the where were you time. I finally forced myself to go to work but ended up answering questions about what had happened since we didn't have tv feed in the Admissions office. Finally the Campus President announced that Governor Davis was shutting down all state offices and that the campus was closed. I drove home and just sat in front of the tv not still not believing my eyes.

I do remember everyone in my family telling each other we loved them. It's not something we normally do although it was always understood without saying the words. At that time they needed to be said. Then we just prayed our hearts out.

This Wednesday CSUDH is going to read off the names of the Californians that died in the plane crashes. After each name is read a bell will sound. Then a Patriotic quilt is being unveiled at the university. Finally at 8:00 Wednesday night we will hold a candlelight vigil.

[sigmagrrl]

The previous night, I had been in the ER with my then BF. So, I had called in late to work. I got to work just as the news of the first plane crash was reported. I was in shock, since I'm from NYC and used to visit the towers regularly. But, I still didn't think anything more than a horrific accident had occurred. I sat in my car for a few more minutes to hear that the second plane had hit. I walked up to my office and told everyone what was going on. The cynical group they are, no one believed me. I could care less about starting work, I just ran into our break room to see the news. I kept running back and forth between my cube and the break room to watch. When I saw the towers collapse, I just felt such a profound sadness. I called my mom at work and left her a message: "Mom, the towers are gone." She called me back, but we didn't say much of anything except, I can't believe it." I live just outside of DC, so when the Pentagon was hit, that was a little too close for comfort. Soon, rumors were flying through the office "The USA Today building is on fire" , "Camp David was attacked." It all seemed surreal and I just needed to get home, safe. My a$$hole boss was trying to keep from us the news that we were allowed to leave if we wanted to, but I found out, walked up to him, and asked him why he didn't tell us. The negative, cynical prick he is said, "You can go, but I don't know why you are so upset." I just stared at him and said, "I'm outta here." I booted my PC down, grabbed my stuff and drove home (I only live 2 miles from work). At that point, all I wanted to do was see my BF. I called and called, no answer. Turns out that the "sick" ex was ata bar, drinking!!!!!! And he never called to see how I was (needless to say, can you see why we aren't together anymore). I got home, woke my then roommate up and she was in shock as well. She travels for a living and most of her colleagues were out of town. All of them had to rent cars to get back home (one from CO, the other from FL). I just sat in my room and watched the news all day. I was actually supposed to drive to Raleigh, NC that evening, but was too scared to even venture onto the roads, much less the Capitol Beltway.

And guess what everyone? I am flying.....to Raleigh, NC...on 9/11, this Wednesday. How weird, huh??

[AOX81]

I was at work when everything happened. My boss was on a business trip so the phones starting ringing off the hook. Everybody was wondering where he was and if he was okay. I had to explain to everyone that he was in Detroit and he DROVE. His wife was in Amsterdam and she couldn't fly home because they had cancelled all flights.

I didn’t get to see anything until around noon. One of my co-workers went home on her lunch hour and taped CNN for an hour and brought the videotape back to work.

I tried to call my uncle but his phone was tied up for hours. I finally just sent him an e-mail to make sure my cousins were okay. One of them lives in Yonkers with his wife and the other one works at the Museum of Natural History in DC.

[ZTAngel]

I was sleeping when it all happened. Around 11am, I was driving to my 11:30 class. I turned on the radio and heard some news report. I wanted to hear music so I kept flipping through the stations. Every station had a news report on. That's when I knew something was up. I listened and, at first, I didn't believe it. I thought it was a new version of War of Worlds. It took me a minute to realize this was really happening. I called my dad because I was really worried because he travels to NYC all the time. Luckily, he was at home safe just as shocked as I was that this was all going on. My boyfriend had a 4 hour Chem lab that day from 8am-noon so I knew that he had no clue what was going on. I called his cell phone to inform him. He went back to class to report it and his lab stopped mixing chemicals to watch the news.

[Corbin Dallas]

I had just gotten out of the shower, and walked back to my room, and my bro in the next room, was like, steve, get dressed and come over here. he told me what happened. we were watching when the second plane hit. we were just in disbelief. after the first plane hit, we thought it was a plane off course or something, but the second one hit and we knew it wasn't!

my boss, along with a couple dozen other NSWC Crane employees were at the pentagon when it was hit. no one from Crane died though.

[UF_PikePC98]

On the morning of 9/11 I missed my first class. I went out the night before and got seriously wasted. I woke up because my girlfriend was leaving to go to class ( She doesn't skip). I had a major hang over and I ran out to the frig to get some Fiere grape gatorade. I fell on the bed afterwards and layed there. I turned on my TV in my room and saw one of the towers on fire, I was like dayum, " I knew somone was going to get pissed at all those high air fare prices".......then next thing I know I saw the 2nd plane crash into the other tower. Then I thought to myself, the democrats might be trying to start a revolution since the shadyness of the bush win. Then the pentagon got nailed.....Finally I figured out that we done pissed off some of Saddam Husseins cousins, enough to make them crazy Mullahs bust a cap on the trade center. The main thing that kept dawning in my head was "Dayum, there goes the Dow Jones".

I find it rather odd that Baby Bush was in Florida at the time of the attacks and not in D.C.

[SigmaChiCard]

I was at work, I get there around 6:30 and am sitting at my computer when someone was like "a plane just crashed into the world trade center." But we all just think that it was a freak accident, like maybe it was flying too low and clipped the tower, until someone yells "Oh My God, the other tower has been hit." So we feel like we feel like we just got stuck in the middle of a war that we hadn't been informed was coming. Mind that I worked for one of the US's biggest defense contractors.....so we did what we had to do, we geared up for world war III. Glad it didn't come.

[vanda]

I was watching Good Morning America as my aunt was getting ready for work and they came back from a commercial break saying a plane had crashed into WTC. I really didn't think much of it because of the attack there a few years back. I decide to go into the bathroom to get ready and my cousin screams "another plane has just hit" I play it off thinking she's watching a replay of the first plane. When I come out Diane Sawyer, trying to keep her composure is saying how another plane has hit. They then show a building burning with an American flag perched on top and I thought it was another building in New York. It was a few minutes later I found out it was the Pentagon. My mom is in hysterics trying to tell mewhat happened. She knew I was scheduled to take a group of seniors to the Mayor's annual picnic. Local news came through saying two planes were missing. One crashed outside PA but local news said it was heading here to Chicago. I really got scared then because both of my aunts work in close proximity to Sears tower. Cell phones were a joke because it took forever to get through. That picnic was one of the most somber events I had been to. Staff tried their best to perk things up, but when something of that magnitude happens, there's no help. As I headed home from work, I have a great view of the Chicago skyline andcouldn't imagine a time without seeing the Sears Tower. I always took it for granted, but now I treasure it.

[Kitty_Kat]

I am in the Army and as the first plane hit I was stansing waiting to be inspected in my dress uniform... As the inspection commenced our Command SGT Major told us that the US had been terrorized. We all had to go home and change and I remember it took me 4 hours to get back to work... A drive that usually takes 3 minutes because of all the security at the gates(They were checking peoples trunks) We were then put on a state of alert and warned that we may not be going home that night and to make arrangements for childcare. It was crazy. We have special forces and Rangers here and they had crazy security everywhere.
A sad state of affairs :-(

[Starlet]

I had just arrived at my 9am journalism class about 10 minutes early when my TA ran into our classroom and told us that an airplane had just flown into one of the WTC towers. Well, there is a TV in all the professors' offices so we all ran up to my prof.'s office and watched the news. About 15 of us were glued to the TV and witnessed the second airplane flying into the other tower, as well as when they both collapsed. We were all horrified and immediately knew that this was not an accident, but a terrorist attack. After watching various news programs for about 2 hours with my class, I left to walk home.

When I walked out of the journalism building, I had a surreal feeling as if this could not be happening. Everyone was on their cell phones trying to get through to family and friends, and people were gathered around trucks that were blasting radio broadcasts. When I got back to the house, I tried calling my parents again for about the 20th time, but to no avail. Both my parents work in NYC, but not near the WTC. I finally got in touch with my mom when she used her co-worker's computer and IMed me. Without IM, I would not have known whether both my parents were okay.

I decided not to go to my last class of the day (Our school remained open and professors kept students in class). I was in a total state of shock and basically locked myself in my room and just cried all night. I was also glued to Peter Jennings and every other news program that entire night. I kept thinking that this was just a bad movie and maybe that I was having a nightmare. My professors kept comparing our rememberance of where we were when we first heard about the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. to when our parents remembered what they were doing when JFK was assassinated or when Peal Harbor was bombed. In all honesy, that was probably one of the worst days of my entire life.

[dekeguy]

I ran into my Contracts lecture, got to my seat, and figured I had just made it under the wire (Prof was pretty uptight about punctuality). Most of us had not yet heard what happened and as I got there just this side of late I didn't hear anyone talking about it. Anyway our professor came in, right on the mark as usual, and announced "Ladies and gentlemen, I can see that most if not all of you have not heard what has just transpired. I must therefore regretfully inform you that our nation has been deliberately attacked by terrorist elements in what appears to be a coordinated series of strikes against multiple targets. The news media report that commercial airliners have been deliberately flown into both of the WTC towers in New York and another commercial aircraft has been flown kamikazi style into the Pentagon Building in Washington. There are apparently several other aircraft which are deviating from flight plans and may be part of this undertaking. It would appear that a great loss of life has occured and that property damage will be substantial. There will doubtless be interrelated effects which will develop over the weeks and months to come.
Upon completion of this lecture and discussion I intend to to follow a tradition by which Americans respond when we are attacked. I will contact the Army Reserve Personnel Center and offer my services should there be a need for Field Artillery officers. To those of you who are reservists or have had recent military training I suggest you consider what actions might be appropriate on your parts.
Now, as the object of terrorism is disruption we shall deny them that object. Regarding "Pinnels Case" ... he was then drowned out by applause but called for order and proceeded with the class.
He reminded me of Cincinnatus at the bridge! This nation is filled with heroes.

[DigitalAngel126]

"Even from nightmares, a dream is born."

*****_________
*****_________
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We will never forget...

[poodleNtraining]

I was in the bed when they said a plane hit the WTC. They were unsure what kinda plane. I was thinking one of those little planes. Then they said another one, then it collapsed. Then they said one was supposed to be going to the White House, this is when I panicked, because my brother was working at the Washington Post and its only a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the WH, then they announced about the Pentagon, and my boyfriend at the time worked there. Luckily they were both ok. I couldn't believe how the plane just ran into the building like that. The angle they kept showing it from looked so fake, like a bad movie. It was so sad.

[AXOLiz]

I worked every Tuesday morning before class, so I was up getting breakfast when our house mom told me that a plane hit the WTC. My first thought, which I will probably always remember, was, "What kind of dumbass flew right into a skyscraper?" Then I walked into the chapter room in time to see the second plane hit. I called work, told them I wasn't coming in, and was glued to the TV.

Then a message from our mayor came on telling us that they were evacuating downtown Cleveland because one of the hijacked airplanes had just entered Cleveland airspace (which was flight 93 turning around). Meanwhile we were trying to find one of my sisters who was leaving for Chicago - no one could remember if she flew out that morning or the next day. When flight 93 crashed in PA, one of my sisters was frantically trying to get a hold of her mom who lived in the area. Another sister was trying to locate her older sister who had a meeting in the WTC that morning (luckily it had been cancelled the night before). People were trying to contact friends and family in NYC and DC and everywhere, and the rest of us were glued to the TV.

The University *finally* cancelled classes at 1 or 2 pm, but it's not like anyone was going anyway. So the out of house sisters came over for dinner and we all got into this huge argument over whether the attacks were justified - we have a couple sisters from the Middle East and were trying to express the views of the people in the region, but at the moment, none of us were the most receptive to hearing alternate views. All I remember was a lot of shock, a lot of crying, and a lot of screaming. Then somehow, we got through everything.

The one other thing I will always remember is the sound of the first jet I heard after flights resumed. Everyone around me looked up at the exact same time, and all I could wonder was how I had never noticed how noisy they were before. And I haven't really noticed any since.

[SigK_Bama]

I had just started a new job about three weeks prior to 9/11 and I was getting ready for work (CST). I was listening to the radio and the morning show people stopped being funny and said that a plane had hit one of the towers. I thought it was a joke or something and I walked into my living room and turned on the Today Show. The first tower had just been hit and a woman was talking on the phone who they had connected with the show. She kept saying that a huge commuter plane had hit the building and the Today Show people kept saying that there was no way a plane that big had hit. Then the second one hit and I don't really remember what they did after that. I got to work and heard about the Pentagon and Pennsylvania a little later that morning. Work was totally unproductive and we were all just stunned all day long. My then fiance got home and I felt like I never wanted to let go of him.

[SSS1365]

I was in the shower when the first plane hit. Then I went to my microbiology class and at this point no one in class really knew what was going on. Someone said something about 2 planes hitting the WTC, but for some reason no one really thought anything of it. I guess we all probably assumed it was little planes and that it was an accident. Then the department secretary came to relay a message to our professor, but apparently she had incorrect info because the prof came back in to tell us that the White House was on fire. So after class I went to work my shift at the campus switchboard, and there I finally learned what was really going on. I didn't have time to think about it till later because all I did for the next 2 hours was take calls from upset students and parents wanting to know if classes would be cancelled, or if they should go home. A lot of students were panicking because they were from the DC area and they couldn't get in touch with their parents. I'll never forget one idiot who called and asked if the college was closing. I said no, we were staying open as usual... and he said "Well what if they attack here?" Ok, really, Longwood University is this tiny little school that a lot of people have never heard of, but of course it's the logical location for a terrorist attack! :rolleyes:

So after I got off work I spent the rest of the day in the chapter room with my sisters watching the news. The school didn't officially cancel classes, but most of the professors decided to cancel their own classes. I did go to micro lab that afternoon but the prof just sent us home early.

I didn't personally know any of the victims, but one of my sorority sisters lost her mom and her stepdad... they had just gotten married and were on their honeymoon, on their way to Hawaii, so they were on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. This sister had graduated a year or so before, so most of us still in school didn't know her but it was amazing how we all came together to do something for her.

[amycat412]

I'm on the west coast, so I was in bed. But the co I work for is a division of Cantor Fitzgerald, so... I won't go into it, I lived it and...

Well today--9/11/02 I can think of no better place to be today than at the office. We lost over 700 employees in the WTC attacks. The NY offices are closed today, and attendance for us in LA was optional, but you know what? ALL of us are here.

I had 2 choices--be at home and watch the coverage and bawl, or be with the people I was with that day--when we heard the stories breaking when we all first woke up one year ago, we all ran to the office in whatever disheveled state we were in and sat in the conference room and watched it all together. We've all spent the past year watching our company grieve and rebuild. No one understands the particularly emotional spots we are all in better than each other, that is why I wanted to be at work with my coworkers today.

When I walked out of my apt this morning, I saw six fighter jets flying overhead trailing six American flags in their wake. It was so beautiful and yes, it made me cry.

But there are no truer words than those of the Pledge of Alliegiance: "One nation, Under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all" and of the Star Spangled Banner: "Oh Say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave... O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave..."

[texas*princess]

America will always remember where they were, what they were doing when they heard the news. She will never forget the lives that were lost, or how much damage it caused. And most importantly She will never forget the day that we as a country stood up and said we would not crumble to the ground. September 11, 2001. God Bless America.

[UGAnchora]

Thought It was an appropriate time to *bump* this thread.

[tunatartare]

I'm from NYC so I was there when it happened. I wasn't anywhere near the WTC, I was in school about 15 miles away, but from my classroom window we were watching the smoke. My friend's little sister went to school right near there and so they were let out as soon as the planes hit, but there was no public transportation, so she had to walk about 200 blocks home.

[Nhfulmer]

I was in my office and happened to go downstairs for something. The people on the first floor were in the conference room watching television and told me that a plane had hit the WTC. While we were watching, the second plane hit. We were still watching when the first tower collapsed. I commented that if that one went down, the second would also. They argued with me that it couldn't. Of course, we know that I unfortunately was correct. The president of our small real estate company told us all to go home and be with our families. I watched TV with my family for the rest of the day. I don't think any of us have ever been the same. A lot of innocence and feelings of invincibility were lost that tragic day.

[smiley21]

i was on my way to work when it happened. when i got to work, everyone was all quiet and sad. the radio was on and that was when i heard it. i didnt see any footage until i got home that afternoon. it was a very weird day

[KerriMarie]

I was in London - I spent the semester abroad, and we had some tense days when we thought we were going home... it was crazy.

I remember walking home from the grocery store, and thinking that it was a beautiful day. And then I got back to my flat right after the first plane had hit - we didn't know if it was an accident or what at that point. And then we saw the second plane hit the second tower, but I still don't think we realized it was a terrorist attack - we all thought it was some bizarre horrible accident.

When we found out about the Pentagon also being attacked is when I think it all hit home. My dad worked in the Pentagon for five years, and I used to go visit him there - so it just made it real. I called my mom, who was in California (it was like 7 am there I think?) and woke her up, and I was crying and she thought I was hurt or something was happening in London - I just kept saying "Turn on the TV, turn on the TV..." I was the last person who was able to call America that day, phone lines were completely blocked.

My roomie and I went to our last class, just to tell the teacher what was going on. We got there and everyone else was there, and our teacher wanted to have class. Lexi and I basically told him that we weren't staying for class, we just wanted to make sure he had heard abou it - he still didn't want to cancel class, but we just left and I guess he ended up cancelling it.

A whole bunch of people ended up congregating in our flat (like 25 people... it was packed) and we just sat and watched the TV with these horrible shocked expressions. A friend that a bunch of us knew had worked in the WTC, 97th floor... So we were all really worried about Garry, and other FSU theatre alums who lived in NYC.

We had a meeting that night, and they told us to try to not look like Americans (no white tennis shoes, no college sweatshirts, etc.) and they took the FSU sign off the front of our buliding. It was pretty scary. The first time I was able to cry was like September 14th - we went to the American Embassy in London and there were all these millions of flowers and candles and balloons and letters - and I just broke down and sobbed forever. :(

[mu_agd]

i was heading to class, so i had no idea. when i got there the professor mentioned something about the first plane that hit, but thought it was an accident and we went on with class. i went to my next class which is immediately after and people were talking about both towers being hit, but i still really wasn't sure. the professor of that class came in looking all distraught (sp?) and said i really can't be here right now, go home. i remember having messages on my cell phone, my phone at my apt, and im from my dad saying to call as soon as i got home. my sister was in philadelphia at the time and had been evacuated. her and a guy she works with ended up renting a car and driving home to st. louis that week b/c of airports being closed. the majority of my cousins live and work in manhattan and nyc, my dad told me heard from one of them who heard from every other cousin but the one who worked in the second tower, no one could find her. we finally heard from her late that night, she had been on that subway that was running late. i heard so many stories from my cousins about walking from manhattan to brooklyn and stuff. one of my cousins friends ran all the way until 34th street in high heels. she went into macy's to just rest for a moment, and the people working there gave her something to eat and drink and a pair of socks and sneakers because her feet were getting all cut up from her shoes. my roomates and i all sat in our living room for the rest of that day and as much as we could the rest of that week watching cnn and trying to absorb it all. it still amazes me that two years have already passed...

[DZHBrown]

I woke up right before the 2nd plane hit and I was really confused about what was going on. My parents had been watching it and explained what had happened. I pretty much spend the rest of the day (and several days afterwards) glued to the TV, making sure those I knew in NY and DC were okay and was really shocked. I remember it was a really nice, calm day with blue skies and great weather and it didn't feel appropriate.

[Gina1201]

I was in class, Law & Society, when the attacks happened. I remember that I was SO happy when I got out of class because the class had been SO boring. I had to meet a girl from my Shakespeare class after and she asked if I had heard what happened. She then filled me in. I had never been so scared in my life. Since no one was at my house, I decided to stay with my BF in her dorm room. We watched it on TV all morning long. I also called to check on my co-workers since I work in a federal building and we're not that far from NYC. I also remember a LOT of students being scared because there are a lot of people at my school from NYC.

[AlphaSigOU]

I was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the time. I'd recently lost my job in a reduction in force at Williams Communications and had a lot of time on my hands in betwen looking for work. So, after a late night of watching TV I fell asleep with the TV on.

Woke up in the morning around the time UA 175 hit WTC2, when I receive a call from my mom in Dallas telling me about the crash... I was practically glued to the TV set and trying to calm down a couple of friends of mine over the phone who were freaking out at the unfolding events on TV. Went online to a couple of other boards (this was well before I joined the eDodo RM) and those on the board were totally confused about what was going on.

Saw both towers collapse on live TV; when the second one fell, I actually wound up saying a Hail Mary, something I rarely do since I'm not a practicing Catholic.

My apartment was practically on the approach path to Runway 36R at TUL, and it was second nature to see and hear planes coming in to land (or taking off from 18L if the winds were the other way.) When the FAA imposed SCATANA (Security Control of Air Traffic And Navigation Aids) and grounded all aircraft - SCATANA was only supposed to be used if the Rooshians were on their way with bombers. It was a strange feeling to not hear aircraft on approach or seeing them line up for landing at TUL.

That evening, I went to my Masonic lodge meeting; all of us stood for a moment of silence in memory of those killed that day.

[DWAlphaGam]

I hadn't begun working yet (actually started a week after 9/11), but I had a doctor's appointment that morning so I was awake when it happened. I headed downstairs to turn on the TV and see what the weather was supposed to be like, and they were showing the first tower smoking, but no one really knew what happened yet. Within about 2 minutes after I turned on the TV, the second plane hit, and everyone realized that this was not an accident. I immediately started calling my boyfriend, who was working as a salesperson for Enron (ha!) in Manhattan at the time, but I couldn't get through to him. I had no idea where his territory was, but his office was in the Chrysler building, which isn't near the WTC, so I figured he was ok if he hadn't left his morning meeting yet. I headed to my doctor's appointment, since there was nothing I could do at home, and it was there that I found out about the Pentagon, which really freaked me out because my best friend goes to grad school in DC. So there I was at the doctor's office, freaking out because my boyfriend is wandering around Manhattan and my best friend is in DC. I bolted home right after I saw the doctor, and thankfully there was a message from my boyfriend on the answering machine, saying he was ok and that he was going to try to find a way home (he lives in NJ). I kept alternating between trying to call him in NY and my friend in DC and signing online to see if any of my other friends in NY were ok and to see if they heard from everyone yet. I got through to DC, and my friend said her classes were cancelled, but they didn't know what was going on. I finally got through to my boyfriend after that. It turned out that he was on the bus in the tunnel when the first plane hit, and people who were listening to the radio told the bus driver to turn around and go back to NJ, but the bus driver couldn't do that. So he got off at Port Authority in the mass chaos and walked to the Chrysler building to see if he could find anyone else he knew so he wouldn't be by himself. When he got to the building, he saw a huge crowd of people running towards him, and he had to run with them to keep from getting trampled. He ran probably 10-20 blocks before he was able to get away. He then started asking people if they knew if any of the busses were running to NJ, and that's when he found out that they closed down all of the bridges and tunnels. Luckily someone told him that there was a ferry to NJ, so he was making his way over to that when I finally got through to him. We stayed on the phone for quite awhile because he didn't want to be all by himself. I gave him the addresses of a few friends in Manhattan in case he was stuck there and needed a place to stay, but he ended up waiting for the ferry and finally made it home by 11 pm. I was extra afraid for him walking around NY like that after they started speculating that it was terrorists from the Middle East, because he is Indian and I was afraid that someone might attack him thinking he was Middle Eastern.

So that's my story...it seems like yesterday, and I'm sure it will still feel that way for a long, long time. :(

ETA: I almost forgot another part of my story...I live outside of Philly and about a mile away from an Air Force base, both of which were feared targets. Not a good situation, all around.

[VSUPhiMu]

I was in bed, and my mom called to wake me up at 9:32am that morning and tell me about it. Like most people, I was glued to the TV all day and night waching. I still tear up when I watch the replays because it's so sad to watch all of those innocent people lose their lives right in front of your eyes.

[MeLikey]

One of my sisters was driving me and another sister to class. We had the radio on and the music was interrupted with the announcement that a plane had crashed into the WTC. It made me wonder, but then I jumped out of the car. Before I went inside, I tried calling my parents since they both work in NYC and I wasn't exactly sure where their offices are located, if they're near the WTC or not. I couldn't get through to them, so I went inside. My teacher made no mention of it so I thought it wasn't a major crash. I went to the book store to get tape for recruitment fliers (I was Director of COB at the time), and I was waiting in line and I heard people talking about the crash behind me. Then I heard one guy say that one tower had fallen. I immediately turned around to talk to them and see what other details they knew. I started to panic and after leaving I ran into my friend and ex-boyfriend. They tried to comfort me saying that my parents would be fine... I went to my next class passing people crying, everyone was on their cell phones. He talked to us about what was happening, and opened the floor up for speculation on who was responsible. Some people were leaving, so I just got up and left. There were trucks all over campus blasting the radio news reports. I stopped at one and talked to strangers about who we know and love in NYC. I went back to the house, where I lived and found out my parents were okay, but were obviously stranded in NYC. I was really upset, but I went to a recruitment chair meeting with our VP Recruitment that night to figure out the recruitment parties schedule in light of 9/11. I couldn't even make it the whole way because I felt so sick to my stomach thinking about everything and my parents so I left. Last year I participated in my school's rememberance ceremony by laying a wreath during it.

[KellyO97]

I remember that Tuesday morning was absolutely gorgeous, a perfect fall day. My boyfriend had just dropped me off at my house. I walked through the chapter room at my house and one of my sisters was watching the news. They had the cameras on the Towers, but the first plane had just hit and no one really knew what happened (I think some people even thought it was a little pasenger plane at that point). I went upstairs and turned on my television, and called my mom. She already knew what was really going on and told me to go back and watch the news. I turned just in time to see the second plane hit. The rest of the day as a blur--my sisters were piled in my room watching the news, and many were trying to find their family members (my school has a huge student population from NY and NJ, and one of my sisters had several family members working at the Pentagon and in the DC area). Miraculously (for us), none of my sisters lost any family members that day.

I think about that now--as each site was hit, and each building fell. We had no idea how many planes were in the air, who was doing this, or what was next. It was a horrible, helpless feeling. An alum told me later about being stuck in Boston that day. I can't even begin to imagine how scary it must have been to be stuck in those large cities.

I had to go to my clinical at a midwife's office that night. The highways were pretty empty for a weeknight, and most people didn't show for their appontments. We mostly sat in the office in shock, listening to NPR.

[MereMere21]

I had slept through my first class - when I got to my second, this girl was down on the prof's computer. I was still asleep practically when my prof came in and told us all to go because there had been an attack.

For the rest of the day me and the rest of my chapter were hold up in the chapter room glued to the TV crying. My dad was a government employee at the time and he was locked down in the National Archives in DC and didn't get home until the next morning.

[BSUPhiSig'92]

I was in the shower that morning when my mother yelled that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember thinking that it must have been a Cessna or Piper and that the pilot must have had a heart attack, because how could you miss something like that? I turned on the Today Show, and watched the replay and saw that it was a big airliner. Then the second plane hit, and I knew this was not an accident. The first thing I did was call my best friend in Chicago. His wife is a flight attendant for American, and she periodically flies out of Boston. Since by this time they had said where the flights had originated from, I was afraid it could be one of her flights. Fortunately, she was stranded in LA for the next four days.
I hurried to work, listening to NPR on my commute when flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. By the time I got to my office in the University Center, they had rolled every available tv in the building into the big central lounge, and there were hundreds of people watching. I was horrified when they showed people jumping out of the north tower.
Then the towers collapsed. I just kept thinking that 20,000 people worked in those buildings and that there was no way they could have gotten out.
One of my students had a brother who worked in the World Trade Center. It took nearly 20 hours before they got word that he was ok.
The feeling I had that day was of feeling absolutely helpless and sick. I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling.

The local gas stations had raised their prices to $5 a gallon by mid-afternoon. When I went home that evening, there were gas lines.

Our campus is directly on the flight line for Lambert (STL) and Scott Air Force Base. For weeks afterwards, if you were outside you looked up at the sound of a plane, any plane. The skies were virtually empty except for the occasional F16 from the Air National Guard. The silence could be just eerie and very unsettling.

[Roseblum15]

I was still in bed and my roomate had gotten up a little while earlier. All of a sudden she turned the TV on, this was really strange cause she was always considerate if I was still sleeping. She was like, wake up planes just hit the WTC. I can't remember if both had been hit at that time, or just the first one. I remember seeing both towers fall though. I was scared, we had a girl just down the hall that was from New York, and my mom worked at the airlines at the time. So I called home about noon and talked to my mom about what was going on. It was kinda comforting though because she said that the info that they recieved at the airport led them to believe that all of the planes had been accounted for by that time. So I felt I didn't have to worry about any more strikes.

Granted I am in po-dunk town Wisconsin. There was still fear of something happening here, we arn't that far from Chicago, Milwaukee, or even Madison.

I cannot believe it has been two years already. Its been a rough time for us all.

[KSigkid]

I was in a journalism class when I heard - I had class at 8 am that morning, so I didn't hear about the events until I got to my second class. We were let out to watch TV with about a thousand other students in the College of Communication student lounge.

I remember having about a million calls from my mom, worried because I was in Boston (where the planes flew out of).

I also remember being really worried because one of my best friends had just moved to NY city and worked close to the area. Finding out he was ok was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

Just an unreal day I will never forget.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by AGDPrincess70
That night my roommates and I kept hearing fighter jets overhead. Anytime we heard a plane we freaked out. We were so scared we couldn't sleep.

I felt the same exact way. I definately was scared that nite.

September 10 I went to bed and couldn't sleep at all. For some reason, I shit you not, everytime I closed my eyes it looked like someone was taking a flash picture of me and I had an eerie feeling that something bad was gona happen the next day. I've had these weird feelings before but nothing happens.

The next day, I'm watchin TV before I leave for school and I see WTC on fire. I yelled down to my mom who was like "yeah ok thats great" and I just kept yelling at her to turn the tv on. My dad walked in and was like holy shit and told her to come upstairs. I think a few minutes later the 2nd plane hit.

I drove school in Dearborn, very scared and listening to the radio through tears. When I got in it was really weird and you could tell a definate separation between the Arab students (the majority) and other students. I don't think it was on purpose, I think people just didn't know what to do. My friend Rich, who is Arab, just sat with his head down and didn't talk much to anyone. Me and a sister went to find a tv on campus and I kept tryin to call my family in Brooklyn.

Finally my mom told me to come home because UMD is across the street from Ford World Headquarters, and there were reports of people celebrating in the streets of East Dearborn (which to this day I don't know if it is true or not).

I've never cried so much in my life and I still cry whenever I think of 9-11 or see something. And where will I be spending and remembering 9-11-01 tomorrow?

In our first round of panhellenic recruitment. And I am NOT happy with this at all. I wana be able to remember and mourn, not have to worry about meeting new girls and making a good first impression.

[MTSUGURL]

I was asleep in the topbunk of the triple bunkbed in the one room apartment that I shared with 4 other girls, no lie, when our campus minister walked in and got our TV and told us all to get dressed and come see the news because the World Trade Center had been hit. (I lived in the BSU.) I just remember sitting on the couch watching the news and crying, and then we saw the second plane hit. I was terrified of what would happen next, and every time something new would come out I would cry more. I was shocked and felt violated. When I saw the kids on TV dancing andsigning in the streets, it broke my heart and made me wonder what they must have been told.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I was safe and hoping my friends, family, and neighbors were also. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Two years ago the only son of family very close to mine lost his life serving as a member of the FDNY. Since then, both a street and a local public school have been named after him. Two of his sisters have gotten married, one of whom is currently serving our nation in the Army. I think of him often. What a devastating tragedy. He was only 23 and a recently college graduate.

[sigtau305]

I was at work at the Coffee shop when it happen. I had a couple of my regular customers called me and asked if I heard anything about the attacks. I said No. I thought It was a sick joke. I close the store early since it was a slow day. When I got home, I turned on the news and I saw the pictures of two planes crashing into the WTC. What I saw, I could not believe. I was sad and angry at the same time. that day made me realize we're not invincible at all. :(

[CatStarESP4]

I was at home enjoying a day off from classes and planning what I was going to do that day. When I heard that two planes crashed into the WTC, I was in shock and disbelief. Then there was news about a plane crashing into the Pentagon and I was scared. Finally, the fourth plane that went down in Pennsylvania. My plans went down the drain when I was ordered to stay home. My mom saw the Twin Towers collapse while she was at work in the midtown area. She and her coworkers were sent home early that day. I couldn't sleep that night.

I sent out an email distribution to my sorority sisters expressing my anger, sadness, shock and outrage. I also shared a moment that I went with my cousins to the observation deck several month before the tragedy. One of my sisters responded in anger that I didn't know what it was like to lose friends or family members. I almost responded by saying that I nearly lost a friend (she is a flight attended formerly with Pan Am, now with Delta) who is like my big sister on Pan Am Flight 103 (she was assigned to that flight) if it weren't for a switch that saved her life (I felt so bad for the girl who took her place on that ill-fated flight). She is probably dealing with survivors guilt, but lucky to be alive. I was also afraid for my ex-boyfriend since he has family in Scotland, but not in Lockerbie. I was afraid that I would lose both my parents in the first attack of the WTC in 1993 since the had to catch their subway trains there, but it happened after they arrived at work (mom - midtown and dad - uptown). I didn't respond to her angry email, don't ask me why. She later apologized to me saying that it was the media coverage that disturbed her and that she didn't mean to take it out on me.

I thought I didn't know anyone directly who was killed that day until my mom told me that a young friend whom I had since in about thirteen years at the time was one of the victims. He was a firefighter who joining the FDNY after working for several years as a paramedic. They never found his body and his mother has a container of ash instead of burying him. He was supposed to get married the following year. His fiancee was pregnant, but soon lost the baby.

My alma mater lost a total of 21 alumni on 11 September 2001. Two of them were in my graduating class and I never knew them in life.

I apologize for the length, but I needed to get it off my system.

[Rudey]

Remember to observe the moment of silence tomorrow.

-Rudey
--I hope they do this outside of NYC.

[honeychile]

I had just parked my car in front of my office when the news director came on the radio and said in a confused tone, "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center." I ran across the street; the tv was already on and we saw the second plane hit. My mama called my dad (who was golfing with my brother & sister-in-law), and we were talking about how I had lived at the foot of the WTC (John Street) while taking some training. Then the plane hit the Pentagon. My mama called my dad again, keeping him posted. They announced that a plane was flying almost out of control near Pittsburgh, and I said, "Dear Lord, can that be connected, too?" My mama called my dad, and this time, my brother took the phone & asked what was going on. My sister-in-law said words she will never live down, "Are you going to talk on the phone all day or golf?" Just then, they saw a large plane flying very low over them - Flight 93 crashed minutes later about 30 miles away from them, in Somerset.

My mama & I got on our knees to pray. For the people, the country, the President, the military, and all those who would forever be affected by this tragedy.

I had no power nor phones most of the day, and my fiance was beside himself. The national report had just said "South of Pittsburgh" and that's where I (currently) live. He finally got through around midnight, and just sighed with relief - but he had the best word for the day: surreal.

I had been in DC just days before, and making a long story short, was wearing a Chicago Fire (soccer) polo when a Fairfax fireman stopped me, thinking I was a fireman's wife. Since some some alecks around us were giggling over his mistaking the MLS shirt of a firefighter's shirt, I ignored them, and refused to embarrass this kind man. We talked, and as we went our separate ways, he said, "You take care of your man - we all need our families' support & love." Three days later, on 9/12, I saw him as part of the Pentagon footage - exhausted, tears streaming down his face through the soot as he took a much needed break. I lost it at that point.

On a side note, I wrote to my English friend that night, pouring my soul out to her, my views, my fears, etc. My house is in the military flight pattern, and the only planes I heard all day were the planes headed towards Washington.

Tomorrow morning, 9/11/2003, I will fly my flag at half-mast. It is my sincere hope that Americans will forever see this day as our Wake Up Call, and will never forget that, as mighty as the United States truly is, we must always be diligent in maintaining our security.

God Bless the USA!

[tinydancer]

I was on my way to work, listening to a friend of mine on a local sports radio station. They always have CNN on in the studio, and one "sports guy" said "Oh, man , there is a fire at the WTC!" The others commented that it looked bad, and they hoped no one would be hurt, and then went back to sports. I got to school, went in the library, and didn't really think any more about it.

A few minutes later, our attendance clerk came screaming into the library and said "turn on the TV - the WTC has been bombed!" So I put it on, and we watched as things unfolded. It was so eerie and unreal, but we were glued to it. Teachers came in all day to see what was happening. Many parents came and took their children out of school. They were really frightened.

That evening, we were rehearsing for the musical "Mame." No one wanted to be there; no one wanted to sing and dance and be funny. One of my friends said he could not go on that night and went home in the middle of the rehearsal. When we opened the show the next week, we ended each performance by singing "God Bless America" after the curtain call.

Strangely enough, the sports radio station had the very best radio coverage of all the events. They dropped sports entirely for several days.

[AOII_LB93]

Originally posted by Rudey
Remember to observe the moment of silence tomorrow.

-Rudey
--I hope they do this outside of NYC.

At the school where I work we are planning a moment of silence as well as a memorial.

We shall never forget. :(

[PsychTau]

I was at the dentist office about to get a crown put on. I was sitting in the chair and one of the hygenists said "He'll be here in a minute...he's watching the TV". I asked why the TV was more important than my tooth (I have a great relationship with everyone in my dentist's office) and she said "Some plane crashed into the WTC". I thought, "Well, not too good of a pilot, then" I had no clue it was a big jet...I just thought it was a charter plane or something.

I listened to the radio on the way home and they were talking about the second plane hitting....it being a terrorist attack....and all planes were ordered out of the sky. I was driving over the river bridge when I saw a plane flying low and I about spazzed out. Until I realized it was coming in to land at our airport.

I went home and watched the rest of it on the news until I had to go to work (at a psychiatric hospital....it was an interesting day there).

[MTSUGURL]

September 11 is also my former roommate's birthday. All she kept saying is, "Now my birthday is ruined." :mad: She refused to watch the news, or talk abou anything except her birthday, and didn't understand why no one felt like partying. She still to this day refers to 9-11 as "that thing that killed my birthday. No one ever thinks of me anymore."

[TriDeltaGal]

I was sleeping when the first plane hit. My mom came in my room telling me I need to get up because a plane hit the WTC. Since I am on the West Coast, I was only up for a few minutes before the second plane hit. My mom was still getting ready for work and when the second plane hit and I told her to come in, she couldn't believe me and thought they were just replaying the first attack. I remember I called my best friend and woke her up, telling her what happened since we were suppose to go outlet mall shopping in Palm Springs (100 miles away) that day for rush outfits. We were both too scared to go and I just went over to her house and watched the TV all morning. My dad works in downtown LA in a highrise and I was so scared that we wouldn't be able to get home but luckily, he came home in early afternoon. My best friend and I went to go give blood but they were already so packed that we were not able to even get in. It was very surreal to be here on the West Coast and watching all of that horror ensue across the country. A lot of people here just went about their day like nothing was wrong which is so unimaginable to me. I just remember feeling so helpless and I don't think I really hit me until a couple months later what had actual happened when they were talking about all the individual families' stories and their losses especially the People magazine article about all the babies born to fathers that had died in 9/11.

I don't think for the rest of my life I will ever forget watching those people trapped in the upper story windows and then many of them jumping out the windows. It was like a nightmare...I just remember screaming and my best friend and I sobbing, we just couldn't believe it was actually happening.

[AEPhiSierra]

I live and go to school in Brooklyn about 45 minutes from the WTC and had an 8am lab that morning. I got out of lab a little after 9 and since my mom works on campus i stopped by her office. On her computer screen was a short news article and a picture of the 1st tower. She was busy on the phone calling my sisters who live upstate and in NJ and then she told me about the 2nd tower. I immediately went to the quad to look for my sisters. Being so nearby everyone knew someone who worked downtown or in the WTC so everyone was trying to call family and friends but getting busy signals. I went to HS about 5 blocks away from the WTC and was worried about all the teachers and kids from my school. Brooklyn sometimes feels a world away from Manhattan but everyone felt so close cuz military jets we flying over the quad and you could see and smell the smoke. Later that day I found papers from Cantor Fitzgerald in my front yard - almost an hour from the WTC.

Since we're a commuter school almost all our alums are still local so our advisor started a reply-all email for sisters to let everyone know they were ok. I received many emails from sisters telling stories like how 2 sisters were together running away from the dust cloud downtown when the first tower collapsed and how another sisters fiance was flying to LA that day and another from a sister who was so thankful she had been fired from her job in the WTC 2 months before.

I was lucky that I didn't personally know anyone who was killed b/c so many other people did (the churches in my area had so many funerals for firemen and cops). The part of it that touched me personally was the thought that the home of many of my memories of my youth were stolen from me. In high school I hung out at the WTC so much b/c it was close and they were such central figures. We were always their running around and hanging out there, my first kiss was even in one of the train stations that was destroyed. for month afterwards i would sometimes forget that i could no longer figure out directions based on where i was in relation to the WTC. I can now longer share what was my NY with my friends who didn't grow up there or in the future with my children.

I remember visiting my HS before thanksgiving that year. the school had been closed to students for more than a month while it was used as a rescue center and then cleaned up. there were signs sent from other high schools from around the country showing their support. the most meaningful one had to be from a high school in Oklahoma city - the city at the time which i felt could somewhat relate.


i stood outside my house tonight and looked at the towers of light for a while. i don't know what i will do our how i will feel tomorrow. probably pray a bit and try to avoid too much tv so i don't have re live the images too many times.

[Betarulz!]

I had 8 o'clock class that day, and I sat down in a cafe in one of the campus buildings to read the Daily Nebraskan. I had no clue until I came back to Beta. When I came in the door, there were a bunch of guys in our living room watching the TV, which I remember thinking was very odd for 945 in the morning. I didn't stop and continued up to my room, where my roommate had our TV on, and I saw a replay of the first column collapse...shortly thereafter I guess the 2nd tower collapsed, or I saw a replay of that. I just remember being blown away....thinking it was something out of a movie or something like that.

After that, class was out of the question, and I watched CNN for the rest of the day. A lot of guys decided to go get gas, since there were stories that gas stations in Kansas City had raised prices to over $4 a gallon. Luckily nothing like that happened (and the KS secretary of State prosecuted the stations that jacked up prices.)

But obviously everything was like a dream state...

[absolutuscchick]

Pulling an all nighter at crap whats that library called at USC...not Doheny, but the other one...anyways, I was up all night writing a paper and at the time the attacks happend I was shopping online for a birthday present for my dad. When I got back to the Raddison where I was living that morning and turned on my tv, I found out that there were attacks, and called my mom. That morning I went to my class that I had stayed up all night writng a paper for and we talked about what was going on. Then I went home and to no other classes that day. That was a creepy day.

[Jill1228]

Tuesday 9/11/01

Woke up and the first thing I thought (besides "Dammit I need coffee! and it is too early to get up and go to work"):

"I am exactly 3 months away from my wedding day" (Tuesday, 12/11/01). :D

I turned on the radio and heard, "If you are going to the airport turn around...don't even THINK about going. "

I then said "Oh hell, something is going down! NOT a way to wake up in the morning"

I knew something went down and turned on the TV and saw the horror and said "Oh S--T!"

Then I saw the Pentagon horror. It hit me. When I lived in Northern VA, I used to work for a defense contractor. I went to the Pentagon every weekday. It was also the main route for my MetroBus and the subway stop was at the Pentagon.

My mom who lives 3 hours away in Virginia Beach, was NOT happy I moved out west. That day changed her point of view REAL quick

Later that evening, I heard my buddy Dennis was missing. He worked in the WTC.

He was confirmed dead a couple of months later :(

[lifesaver]

My friend Beth and I had gone to see American Pie II at the Dollar theater the night before. She crashed out at my place and Neither one of us had class or work that next day. Were some kids who can sleep in. She woke me up at 11AM CDT after it had all happned. We slept through it all. She just woke me up all somber like, "You better get up. Some shit's goin down." I knew she has to be freaked because she had just moved back from NYC 3 months earlier and worked on Broad Street. I could remember being in the plaza between the towers looking up when I had been there only 3 months before.

We watched TV and she went home. I went to campus. I didnt even have class that day, but I just felt too alone. I needed to be with other people.

[DigitalAngel126]

I said it once, I'll say it again...

Originally posted by DigitalAngel126
"Even from nightmares, a dream is born."

*****_________
*****_________
_______________
_______________
_______________

We will never forget...

[Imthachamp]

i was asleep. it was like 5am in cali.

[moe.ron]

I was at work. I always have my office TV on BBC. Looked up and thought it was a new stupid movie they're making. Then realized it was real. Shocked. Called my sister who worked across the street from WTC. Couldn't get a hold of her. So I called another friend in NYC, but couldn't get a hold of him. Nothing more I can do seeing that I'm in AFrica, I continued working. Pretty much everybody kept on working in this part of the world. Just a brief shock.

[mmcat]

i was grading papers at school with the radio on and cnn on a tv above my head. i remember the radio saying a plane had hit the trade center. my first thought was, ok a small plane. then i turned my head to the tv...
a few minutes later i walked over to get my attendance and another fellow came in and said a second plane had hit.
we just watched the tv and shook our heads.
normal schooling was out of the question that day.
my parents were scheduled to fly to boston that day. they called me at 11, saying they had turned around.
interestingly enough, southwest grounded eight planes in el paso. the plane refugees had food vouchers for the cattle baron, a cushy steak place close to the airport where i sometimes go for a drink on my way home. they had stories to tell.

[swissmiss04]

I was on my way to school and had plans to meet my roomie @ Starbucks before our classes. I flicked on the radio in my car and the DJ was apologizing for making fun of "a situation" that he thought was a hoax. I was like, WTF?? So I kept listening and when I heard a tower had been hit I nearly pulled off the road and threw up. I just kept going until I got to campus and parked and went into the union building. I looked all over for her but couldn't find her, probably 'cause I was far more distracted by the TVs in the lounge. Eventually I got coffee and trekked to class. Campus was so empty. The 2 classes I did go to that day weren't even functional. We just talked for like 10 minutes then left. My mother was in a panic, though honestly I was more worried for her and my family (they live in the #5 spot in line for a terrorist attack, so I was freaked out). I was really in shock for the next few weeks. Such a crazy time.

[bafromkc]

I have a clock radio that wakes me up in the morning. I heard someing about a plane crashing when I hit snooze. When I finally woke up, I heard more about it and then rushed to the tv.

I'm watching Fox News right now and they are showing footage from 9/11/01. The tribute they showed this morning at Ground Zero was stirring.

[White_Chocolate]

i was having an extremely bad day
my body is really sensitive to the world around me
i couldn't shake this extreme anger feeling that i had

then, i got to work
and everyone is on the phone and upset
and i'm like, 'what's up?'
they told me
and i just sat in my chair like i had known all along

it freaked me out

[ztawinthropgirl]

I was walking to class, a broadcast journalism class by all means. When I got to class, we didn't know what happened until our professor came in and told us.

[krazy]

I was working a new job, and di not have class that morning. We had the radio on and heard the news. We had a TV and asked to turn it on, but my "boss" said it wasn't a big deal, and wanted us to keep working. After the second plane hit, I walked out th door and went next door to see the news. Everyone in the office followed. My "boss" later apologized to us all. I am watching the coverage on FOX news, and they just had the most heart wrenching collage of news clips on TV. It is important to see those, b/c we need to remember what happened to our loved ones on that day. Too many liberal comedians act like we are involved in this war b/c Bush is an a**hole. That is not the case, we are reacting to the horrible day of 9-11-01. Keep the US in your prayers.

[MSKKG]

I was exercising at Curves when someone came in and told us what had happened. One of the ladies is a flight attendant, and she does a lot of international trips--she was off work for a while since there were no flights. It was so weird not to hear planes flying overhead. I remember watching the coverage with horror and disbelief, sorrow and anger.

My anniversary is on the 10th (we celebrated our 20th yesterday) and a friend's b'day is on the 11th. My friend said she is changing her b'day. I remember how eerie it was that Mr. MSKKG and I had just celebrated our anniversary the day before with happiness, and the next day all that sadness engulfed our country.

[ilovemyglo]

I was staying with my boyfriend the night before and his roommate came in around 10 and said "Get up classes are cancelled and we are going to war". My boyfriend grabbed his gun and we went into the living room and saw what had happened to the towers, and then we saw them collapse. The replays over and over and people jumping out- I was bawling like a baby and my boyfriend was so unsympathetic. I got in my car to go to the sorority house to go to class and I was so shaken I couldn't see. I remember looking in the cars around me, everyone was totally in shock and disbelief. No one smiled. I remember I was at a light and my cell phone rang. It was my dad and all he said "I have been calling you all morning... when something like this happens I want to hear my family's voice" and I lost it. I just bawled. The sorority house was like a block away and I turned in and parked and went inside. Everyone was sitting on the couch watching. I remember one of the girls sister is in school at the fashion design school near the WTC and she hadn't heard from her and she was totally a mess. We all held her and took care of her. Her sister finally called ona friends cell and told her she was okay but she was evacuating and to pray, just everyone pray.
I had a class in the Garrett Ballroom and I got there, it is a journalism class. One of the girls was just freaking and crying... her roommates father was on one of the planes, and he had left a message on their machine...
That was bad. She didn't want to be alone so she had come to class. We just sat there hugging. I was so out of it, tears kept coming down my face and I didn't even feel them.
Our professor came in and said he wasn't keeping us for class. This was our generations' JFK- we would remember this day for the rest of our lives and tell our grandchildren about it, so leave, go watch, and pray.
So then I walk out and there is a big screen tv int he ballroom seating area. There were about 40 students sitting around watching it. No one knew each other, but everyone suddenly starting holding each other's hands. I didn't know any of these people but there we all sat. I finally got up and stumbled back to the house in a daze. My friend is the in Marine Reserves and he called me and we went to get some lunch and come back and watch more CNN. We sat there and I kept hugging him cause I knew he would get activated and he was so afraid about what and where he was going to.
I don't remember anything except watching tv for the next few days. Some guys had asked my sisters if I was okay cause they had seen me going to class that day and saw how shaken I was. We went to church that night I remember that.
And the girl in my class who's roommate lost her dad didn't come back for another week. When she did she couldn't talk about it.

I will never ever forget 9/11 and why we are fighting the terrorists. And I pray for them and will tell my children and grandchildren about that day when they arrive here.

[Cloud9]

I was in Manhattan. I lived on 14th St. and 3rd ave. I woke up to my suitemate running into the room saying, "Yo, the twin towers exploded." I said, "haha, that's very funny," and she said, "I'm serious, come look." My roomate and I first turned on the tv and sure enough, it was true. Then the report that a plane hit the Pentagon came in, and we started freaking out and crying. I basically thought we were screwed, that there were 100 planes flying over the country looking for targets. Then I remembered a news story I had seen a week before about a terrorist leader and started shouting, "I know who did this! It's that guy, something laden, bin laden, it's him I know it!"

We then ran downstairs, went outside and saw the towers burning. The streets were filled with people walking uptown in a steady stream, or standing in the streets staring at the towers. It was so much more horrible to actually see it happening in real life than on the tv, larger than life disaster before your eyes on a sunny day. All I could do was stare, and then I started worrying about my friends. Many of them lived in a dorm on Waterstreet, a few blocks away from the towers. My boyfriend worked downtown on campus. My friend's father worked in the WTC. My family on Long Island must have been freaking out. I ran back to try and contact people, but I couldn't get through to anyone, and all cell phones were useless. My roomate and I decided to stay where we were rather than migrate with the throngs below into brooklyn until we knew more about what was happening.

Then on the tv I saw the first tower falling. roomie and I ran to a neighbor's room below us that had a balcony and looked at the huge clouds of dark smoke and debris rising from the collapse. A little while later I saw the second tower fall. There are no words. It just didn't seem real, it was like all those action movies that I always scoffed at as being "so unrealistic." Two of my guy friends showed up. They were also numb.

We went back to the room. It was weird, even after all that, no one showed any emotion. I guess it was shock. We joked about it being the apocalypse, talked about classes...and then one of my friends excused himself and threw up in the bathroom.


Much of the rest of the morning is a blur. Once things died down a bit I went downtown to find my boyfriend. He worked at the NYU student gym. I entered, and saw that it had become a refuge for the students that were evacuated from the Wall Street area. The entire gym, courts, exercise rooms, etc., was filled with mats and makeshift bedding. And students. Some dirty, some bleeding, and all of them traumatized. Many of them had a close-up view of the towers. Most had a clear view of people jumping from their dorm window. I heard one girl screaming and sobbing that as she fled from ground zero, body parts had fallen on her. I found my boyfriend, who had been drafted into helping with the chaos and would be there until evening. We left and walked through Washington Square Park, where I had always been able to see the towers peeking over the arch. Then through Astor Place, silent and dusty. You could smell the smoke very strongly even there, and the air was dense and dirty.

As evening came we walked around outside again. Union square was turned into a huge chapel, candles everywhere. It was covered in candles. From a block away it was like the park was glittering. Candles and people. Lots of people, crying, staring, embracing. But as I walked, a new fear struck me. I worried about the backlash of angry people eager for a scapegoat. Looking for anyone to take out their pain on. I knew they would find it in Arabs, in muslims, even in Indians, anyone who was brown or wore a turban. I worried about one of my sisters, who is Indian. I later heard that she had been harrassed, and people had thrown vegetables at her. I overheard a friend saying that he wanted to go to the local gas station with a bat and beat up the muslims who ran it(I quickly slapped him and told him he was an idiot).

I went to bed and felt...I don't know what. Cold, sad, empty. The clouds of smoke were still there the next day, and the next. And then it was as it the towers had never existed, and everything and about them and that day was just a fantasy I had made up.

I've heard that everyone who was in NYC that day suffers from Post Traumatic Disorder, and I think it's true, even two years later people just don't really talk about it. I never thought about it, only the issues that surrounded and had emerged out of the event. This year somehow I was drawn to open those memories again, to affirm that it really did happen. Maybe because now the fiery political speeches are past, the tourists gaping at the hole and buying souviners at ground zero are gone, the endless media frenzy has died down, the ornate ceremonies are over, and now we can really just quietly reflect on what happened. I dunno. Anyways, that was my experience.

[greeklawgirl]

We were in bed when the alarm went off so I could get ready for work. Howard Stern came on and they were talking about the WTC and the time it was bombed in 1993. Then they started talking about a plane hitting the tower and I said to my husband, "Wait a minute, I think they're talking about something that just happened."

We turned on the television just in time to see the second plane hit the south tower. I ran to the phone to immediately call my mother and see what was going on and if our relatives were OK. We were glued to the television set. A little while later, we watched the towers fall down. I'm ashamed to admit that I had a panic attack when the second tower fell. :( Thank God that I didn't know at the time that my first cousin was in the second tower attending a Port Authority meeting; I probably would have suffered a nervous breakdown.

The rest of the day was spent crying, calling my parents, and attempting to reach my family in New York. No one could get through--all the lines were busy. GC was down, and no one knew why. I emailed back and forth with OTW, LeslieAGD and KillarneyRose whenever anyone had an update about relatives in the area. I still have the emails. We didn't find out until late that night that my cousin and his wife were safe and in a makeshift bunker with Mayor Guiliani.

Another friend of the family was not so lucky. He was in the North Tower above the crash line--never had a chance to get out. He left his wife and two sons behind.

I will never, ever, forget the horror of that day. :(

[shadokat]

I was at work with a photographer taking photos for a brochure I was working on. Some guy comes up to me and says, "a plane hit the Pentagon!". I'm like, get the hell out of here...that's a low building! He says, "it did, and 2 hit the WTC!". I'm like, "shut the hell up, that's not even funny!". So he made me walk into his office and look at cnn.com, and there it was. I was disgusted and scared. Here I was, in between these 2 cities under attack...we were just worried it was us that was next! We left work at 11 am, and apparently so did everyone else, b/c the streets were just clogged with people and lines formed at the pay phones. Cell didn't work. I went home with a friend of mine, as she didn't want me at my house alone. When I finally got home at 4 pm, I had more than a few frantic phone calls.

The thought of that day still makes me feel physically ill. The courage of all of those people is what makes me know that if we made it through that, we'll be ok.

God Bless America.

[AlphaGamDiva]

thinking about this day still makes me ill......

i was as usual running late for class......i was living in the sorority house at the time, and came downstairs. one of my lils came into the kitchen and told me to go watch tv....i told her several times how late i was running, and she was like, "GO WATCH THE TV NOW"....so i went into the living room. all i saw on the tv was all this black smoke and the words "the pentagon" on the bottom of the screen. i was terrified. how could something happen to the pentagon. i sat there for a moment, found out about one of the towers, and then went on the class in a daze. when i got to class, my prof had the tv on and we watched the second tower fall. never in my life have i felt so ill.

then she turned it off and said we were going to proceed with class. i left.

this was right after air force boy had gotten to AIT, too, so i called his mother and we tried to figure out how to get a hold of him. she called me later that night saying she had talked to him and that he wasn't worried at all......couldn't understand it for the life of me.

that night i went to the top of the hill with some friends, and we just talked about the whole thing......the rumors we had heard, how many ppl we thought were gone.....and we cried. nervous about how safe we had always thought we were...............

doesn't seem like 2 years ago..........

[texas*princess]

it's so unbelievable this happened 2 years ago. I still remember where I was.. what I was doing.. what I was thinking. I still feel like it's part of a horrible nightmare, even though I know it really did happen :(

[polarpi]

I was scrambling around my apartment getting ready for my 8 am class (central time) and the phone rang in the apartment. My roommate's mom called her and told her to turn on the TV. She did and we sat there in shock watching the footage over and over again. As soon as she was off the phone with her mom, I'm calling MY mom in California (and getting no response). I had to get to class because we had a test that day, and all through the test, all I could think about was what's happening, praying for those trapped in the buildings, etc. Later that day I had another class in a different building, and we took over another classroom to turn on the news to find out what was happening. Most of my classes spent that day talking about what had happened and what we were all feeling....

(Sidenote: That happened to be my step-father's 60th birthday, so he didn't have too happy of a birthday and it was difficult being 2000 miles away from home to spend the time with my family as we struggled to come to terms with what had happened)

[rayray]

On the morning of 9-11 I woke up with every intention of waking my roommate up because it was her birthday. Me and my other roommie stayed up way after she had gone to bed and decorated our place. But instead at 7:30 I heard our other 2 roommates freaking out and really upset. I was almost going to go yell at them but the phone rang and it was my parents calling wake tell me what was going on. I sat infornt of my TV, with my other 5 roomates, all day and the days to follow.
It was a sad day and i'll never forget the details of my life leading up to it. God bless the USA

[KerriMarie]

Originally posted by MTSUGURL
September 11 is also my former roommate's birthday. All she kept saying is, "Now my birthday is ruined." :mad: She refused to watch the news, or talk abou anything except her birthday, and didn't understand why no one felt like partying. She still to this day refers to 9-11 as "that thing that killed my birthday. No one ever thinks of me anymore."

My former roomate's birthday is September 12 - and she was saying similar things "Now no one's gonna pay attention to me, this is ruining my birthday, blah blah blah" and I just wanted to smack her. But she's a selfish bitch anyways, so you know... :mad:

[LXAAlum]

Stumbled across this thread by accident, but sure am glad I did...

Still remember vividly...

Driving to work to meet my carpool at 6:30AM...the news of the first plane broke just as I left Greeley...at first the news was vague...since it was radio, all I had to rely on were the words, and no one was saying anything other than "accident", etc....

Then once I got on the interstate...that's when I heard about the 2nd plane, and everything changed. Lots of cars heading to Denver were pulled over, or going up on overpasses to turn around.

Met up with the carpool group, and two of them decided they were going home - too scared to drive to Denver. Only two of us went to Denver...got there as the Pentagon attack broke, and I remember the bomb at one of the federal buildings being reported in D.C. (later turned out to be false, but that day, so much was happening, anything was possible)....my carpool partner and I were very scared driving by downtown - who knew how widespread this was!? Then we realized there were NO planes at all in the air that we could see.

Got to work...those that showed up weren't doing anything other than trying to find radios and websites to track what was going on. My wife called in hysterics as the first tower fell....we watched the 2nd on the internet. CEO called down and told all of us to go home, and pray.

LONG drive home. Bizarre gas station stop...everyone in tears...lots of panicked looks. Got home and received an email that one of my LXA brothers from the UNC colony was a NYFD firefighter, and no one had heard from him....turns out he was in training, but got sent to the WTC after the towers fell...another friend of mine had gotten a job at the WTC...and was leaving his office (not in one of the towers but another building in the complex) when plane #2 hit...got out safe. Another friend of mine books musicians to play in the NYC area from Julliard...he was trying to find a harp player due to play at an event at the WTC that morning. She called asking if she should go down and get the harp back (no kidding!). He spent several days trying to find places for Julliard students to live - the dorms were hi-rise and closed.

At home...lots of hugs...got the kids from school...lots went home early - they were 3rd and 1st graders at the time, and were confused. We put a large sign on our garage door that stayed for months - "We shall never forget, we shall never forgive"

9/13/01 - called the Navy recruiter (I'm a veteran) and re-activated my application for OCS. First time ever in my life I was told that I was too OLD to do something. Me-angry, wife-relieved.

Never forget. This was not a tragedy. It was not an accident. It also was not a crime. It was an act of war.

[preciousjeni]

I was asleep! At that time, I had an apartment with my little brother and, for some reason, he left the front door unlocked. Two of my friends came over and found the door unlocked, freaked out, came back to my room and started screaming to see if I was alive (since I was asleep in bed). I guess with all the fear, they thought the worst had happened to me. I woke up and we all went to the living room to watch. I kept saying, "This has GOT to be a joke!??" I just couldn't believe it! Then, we found out that school was closed and that's when it really hit me. I didn't know what to do, so my friends and I stayed together all day and went to a candlelight vigil that evening.

[PhiPsiRuss]

http://images.andale.com/f2/119/101/11429290/1081032705232_New_York.jpg

When the second plane hit, my apartment shook. I spent the next few months living in the Frozen Zone. I needed to show my drivers license to get into my neighborhood. I went without hot water for a week, and without phone service for 3 weeks, but I didn't complain. I was grateful to just be alive. I got very sick twice in September because of the air, and this didn't change until I bought an air purifier. I only had one funeral to attend, so I was also grateful for that.

[KellyB369]

This is the first event in my life that I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing (since I wasn't alive for JFK, MLK, etc).

I was in my psych lab and at the end of class someone mentioned something about a plane hitting one of the towers so I tried to pull it up on CNN.com, but the site wouldn't work. I didn't realize until later that that was because so many people were trying to access the site. I went on to my next class and as I got to the building I saw on a TV in a teacher's office something about the Pentagon being hit. For a split second I thought that it might be a coincidence, but it didn't take long for me to realize that this was no coincidence. I went to class and told one of my sisters about it because she had not heard yet. Our teacher talked about it a little bit, but then we had class as normal. After class I went home to the sorority house where everyone was watching TV in shock. Classes were cancelled so we all just hung out the rest of the day and watched the news and girls called family members to make sure everyone was ok. We were supposed to have a recruitment round that night - I think Open House. That was cancelled and instead some sisters and an advisor had a candlelight. Just like a lot of other people, when I realized what was going on, all I wanted to do was to go home and be with my family. Being at the sorority house with my "other" family though was definitely the next best thing.

[RACooper]

I was in my office (a perk of being student prez at my college) at school reviewing for a tutorial that i was going to assist in later in the day when the phones all just started ringing.... the first was from the office administrator telling me to turn the TV on, and after that there was calls from students, the college prinicpal, campus security, university president, family (my dad was flying to NY on business), and to many provosts to remember.... the whole time while watching coverage on TV in a detached state of shock....

The rest of the day was spent in emergency meetings over whether classes should be cancelled (they were), the campus evacuated (didn't happen, although downtown was), were space could be made for travellers stranded in Toronto (the hotels filled up pretty fast), and dealing with reactions amongst students (mainly fights breaking out over views of attack, inlcuding at the Fraternity), and arguements over changes to campus security.....

[Tom Earp]

Yes, I do! Listen to Rock and Roll Station, they dont give much news normally!

First Plane went into the first tower. Thought is jus a mishap, one of my best friends was there, KCK PD Officer, at the store, second plane hit! He headed to my old Division HDQ that he worked out of.

I had a portable TV and was awed by the destruction and what violence went on. Became very pissed.:mad:

I learned later of all of the events that happened and like everyone else, glued to the news. Then, I became very saddened by the thought that someone would do this on purpose.

I was very lucky, found out later, one of My Chapter Brothers was at the bottem of the first Tower, He got away from it. I later learned how many of of not only My Brothers, but Fraternal Brothers and Sisters were killed then.:(

There are few times when most people remember whe some one was killed, I am sorry that I dont know what I was doing When Dr. MLK was Killed, but I so remember when and where I was when JFK, Oswald and Evils died or was killed.

These 3 men along with A Lincoln were Killed stand out in most peoples minds! So Sadly, but so true.:(

[TigerLilly]

I can definitely still remember vividly the stuff that went on that day. I went to the university clinic way early that morning, for what I don't know, and then afterwards went upstairs to see my uncle (who works there). He was the first one to tell me, and when he said "A plane crashed into the World Trade Center" I just thought of something like a little commuter plane being way off-course and accidentally running into the towers. So I walked back to my dorm, where I saw everyone gathered in front of the TV, which was when I started to realize that it was a little more than what I had thought had happenend. Saw the 2nd plane hit live and watched up until I had to go to my Honors class. I was tempted to skip and watch more news, but I figured I should go to class. We did nothing but talk about the news, and how we thought this would affect things from now on. Got back to the dorm and everyone was still glued to the TV, and I watched TV pretty much all day long.

[ADPiZXalum]

Waco, Texas........3rd floor of Draper at Baylor University. I was asleep in French class from 8-9 that morning. I went to Penland (cafeteria) to meet my good friend Charlie for breakfast like I did every Tuesday/Thursday morning. When I got there, evereyone was standing around the tvs in the dining room and I saw what was going on. I ran to my next class (Poli Sci) and we watched the footage the entire class period.

[chrini]

Houston, Tx Johnson Space Center Mission Control bldg. I was sitting at my desk with my office mate. Her phone rang and the next thing I heard her say to the person on the phone "A Plane crashed in the World Trade Center? Do you think it was terrorist?" I am thinking some idiot in a small plane had an unintentional accident. I pulled up CNN on the internet and I am looking at the picture. I tell her to do the same while she is still on the phone but she can't get the page to come up, do to heavy traffic. So all of a sudden she repeats "Another plane has crashed? This is no accident!" She quickly got off the phone and went into one of the rooms with televsions. I got worried thinking of my work location as a possible target. I said I am going to lunch early and I am not coming back today. I called my mom and told her I loved her. After the second tower collasped they told everyone to evacuate. What normally took 5 minutes for me to get home took 45 minutes as well. I watched TV all day. It was a very depressing day for me especially watching those that jumped to their deaths live on TV. We got the next day off too.

[cutiepatootie]

I will never forget that day! It was stilll very early calif time. My than mother in law called to wake us up to say turn onthe tv and then my mother called on top of her so we had a conf call going


My side of the family was very worried because my mothers cousin works in WTC and she said he was in the first bulding that went down. Trying to call my aunt and uncle in So carolina was difficult for all calls nationwide but after hrs of trying we got thru and found out he and his family were on vacation that week so relief was very strong until my sister in law came over in tears because her father works out at the pentagon.

He didnt get home that night til 12 because of the chaos. What was sad though her parents nieghbors work at the pentagon too and they are both army. well it is clock work around those parts of VA for anything and that means the parents and the time they get hoem and when kids get home from school. my sister in laws mother noticed that these kids were hoem on the porch waiting for there parents to get home and it is getting 6 pm and at 7 they knew something is wrong so the kids went to their house to wait ..... will another neigbor who works for the pentagon got thru to someone who knew someone who knew them and apparently the side that got hit was the side both worked on and were killed. It was horrible.

My best friend margie who has a friend that worked in the same office and she just went to go get coffee for her boss and she left with only minutes until the plane crashed into her office...her boss died and so did those kids parents.

[AGDee]

It is one of those things you won't ever forget.

I was sitting in my cubicle doing something (no idea what) and a co-worker who is in my "lunch group" came to my desk and told me to turn on my radio, that a plane had crashed into the WTC and that nobody could get to any news web sites because they were too crowded. I thought "wow, weird" and as others have said, figured it was a freak accident. As I turned on the radio, they were just announcing that another plane had hit the second tower. We took my radio to the other wing where most of my "lunch group" sit and listened in horror. When they said a plane hit the Pentagon was when it really hit me. It made it very clear that someone was attacking our government. Another group on our wing had pulled out a TV that was really just set up to use for watching video tapes and managed to get CBS in on it. We crowded into a room to watch the live coverage. When the first tower collapsed, we all started crying, got into a big circle and one of our leading research doctors said a prayer. I stopped in our snack shop in mid-afternoon and saw a morning newspaper that announced "Michael Jordan decides to return to basketball". I thought to myself "That was published when everything was still normal". It seemed so odd and out of place.

Most of the rest of the day, we just listened to the radio and clustered together. Some left, but I didn't see the point of going home to an empty house, so I stayed with some others. They had big TVs with CNN coverage in our cafeteria and in the lobby of our building. That night, my sorority had an alumnae club meeting and I went, still not wanting to be alone. I am glad I spent that evening with sisters that I love.

I was coaching soccer at the time and found out that one of the girls on my team had lost her uncle, Todd Beamer, on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. His wife has written a book on the whole experience. We took up a collection among the soccer association parents for this poor woman, who was pregnant at the time.

For days I was glued to the tv, depressed, re-living the horror over and over. I am at a point now where I can't look at the more gruesome pictures (the people falling/jumping from the building, etc) any more.

Bush said last night that the war on terror can be won, but I'm not sure I believe that. The terrorists won that day and, even without doing anything more in the U.S., they have changed our outlook on life forever. How many flights get cancelled due to fear? How many people, when faced with the black out last summer, first thought it must be terrorism? Will any of us ever be really free the way we were before that?

Dee

[mmcat]

after bush's speech, i found myself today looking back on some of the web sites involving 9-11. how sad. and yet no answers. to some degree those fools won.

[GPhiLlama]

I was in my AP English class, doing a speed essay on "Murder in the Cathedral". I was almost finished when our teacher walked in, told us the news, and then told us to finish the essays. I learned the towers collapsed in my Driver's Ed class. My friend and I walked in for our practicals, and the instructor pointed to a picture of the NY skyline and said, "See that? They're not there anymore."

What's really scary is what happened to a good friend of mine. Her father works for a military insurance group, and he has Pentagon clearance. In fact, he was going to go there that day, but realized that there was way too much work at his desk that had to be done. Got lucky.

[MSKKG]

Here is part of an e-mail I received:

After Sept. 11th, one company invited the remaining members of other companies who had been decimated by the attack on the Twin Towers to share their available office space. At a morning meeting, the head of security told stories of why these people were alive . . . and all the stories were just:

The "L I T T L E" things.

As you might know, the head of the company got in late that day because his son started kindergarten. Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts. One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time. One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident. One of them missed his bus. One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change. One's car wouldn't start. One went back to answer the telephone. One had a child that dawdled and didn't get ready as soon as he should have. One couldn't get a taxi. The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.

Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone . . . all the little things that annoy me, I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.

Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow getting dressed, you can't seem to find the car keys, you hit every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated; God is at work watching over you.

May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things and may you remember their possible purpose.

[Taualumna]

It was the second day of classes and I was sitting in my Canadian Theatre class (which I later dropped) when a girl, still holding a piece of toast, showed up saying that she heard about a plane hitting the one of the towers. I dismissed it, thinking that it was some small thing. After all, she just said "plane". The prof came in. We still didn't know much, and I started getting into a heated debate with the prof over something I forgot, and stomped out of class. I returned to my room to log onto my student account to drop and add another course when I saw that someone had left me a message on my phone. It was my mom, saying that two planes had hit New York, and that Dad was ok (he works there). She wasn't sure about my cousin though (she eventually called and is ok). I turned on the radio to hear the news, and kept it there all day and went into Yahoo! to check out the headlines every few minutes. Elsewhere on campus, many kids didn't bother going to class, and preferred to huddle in front of the TV, watching CNN or CBC Newsworld or some other all-news channel. One of the campus pubs was completely packed, with people doing nothing but staring at the TV. My radio was on the CBC for weeks after that.

[Rollergirl2001]

I was at my Intro to University class. I didn't hear about the attacks until I have worked out in the gym and saw the story on the screen in the workout room.

[PM_Mama00]

I think of the towers everyday. The skyline is my screensaver on my phone. It was always my favorite when we were driving into Brooklyn on the Verrazano. I don't live in NY but all my family does.

I went there for the first time in three years in August. My mom said "See that open space? That's where the towers used to be". I tried not to cry. I couldn't believe that they were gone and the whole time we were there, everytime we went over the bridge or highway where I'd normally see it, I just stared at the open space.

My cousin pointed out the dump site on Staten Island when we drove by. Tears came to my eyes when I saw that too. I couldn't believe how much there was and how much of it is probably still human remains.

Honestly, I can't think of 9-11 or the towers without getting tears in my eyes.

[abaici]

I was getting ready for work and I had the news on. At first, I thought it was an accident. Then, I saw the other plane hit the WTC and I was frozen. Then I think, "This is not an accident"

I went to work that day and attempted to act like things were normal when I entered my class of 8th graders. I didn't know what was going on and I had no clue how to explain what had happened. I felt helpless.

[hottytoddy]

I was living in the sorority house at the time. My roommate used to annoy me because she had class early and I didn't. I guess it made her mad that I got to sleep late because she always tried to wake me up every morning. Sometimes she's tell me to look at what's on TV...my excuse was always that I couldn't see it anyway so why roll over and look (I wear contacts/glasses and can't see without them).

So that morning I thought was no different...our phone rang and I could hear my roommate say, "What? ok, I'll turn it on, bye" (she's always REAL short on the phone) So she turned it on and was like "Ginger LOOK!" So same as always I was like "What, I can't see it anyway"

And she told me a plane had hot the WTC and I got up and got 2 inces away from the TV and watched for a minute. She got annoyed with me because I was so lose to the TV that she couldn't see. So I fumbled around & found my glasses. I went downstairs where everyone else was eating breakfast & kind of announced the news. Everyone ran up to my room and started watching it on TV. So there were like all these people in our room watching it for a while. I had 2 tests the next day that were cancelled...which is a good thing because I couldn't quit watching the coverage. There's no way I couldn've concentrated


Not really an interesting story, I know...sorry I took up so much space.

[XOMichelle]

I was in Spain, in a small tourist town on the north coast. I was sick that day, and taking a nap. My friend came upstairs and told be to wake up and come watch the news. Everyone in the hotel sat and watched the TV in the lobby for hours. All the Americans were trying to call their family at home, but the lines were blocked.

[efcheerBB]

I was at work that morning. I first heard about it from my mom. My mom worked at the same place I did and she was on the phone with a customer in NY. My mom came over to me and said that the person she was on the phone with said something about a plane crashing into the WTC and then the women hung up. My mom and I went into the lunch room where a lot of our co-workers were already and watched the tv all day. I was watching tv when the second plane hit. At first I thought it was the news channel showing footage from the first plane, but then I realized that both the towers were hit. There wasn't much work that got done that day. On my way home, I have to drive by the airport in STL and it was very eerie driving by Lambert and not seeing any activity going on on the runway.