9/11 - where were you?

[PhillyGirl]

13 years ago today (we just observed a moment of silence on campus at 8:46 EST), isn't that crazy?

Just wanted to take a moment to thank our heroes, and to honor the memory of those lost on that day.

A great man from my town died that day, running up to the 88th floor and helped to save over 75 lives that day. Google Frank DeMartini. We named our high school gym after him.

My friend's mother was killed. I never saw my friend again after that week. My mom's friend's identical twin brother died (one of I think 10 pairs of twins who lost their counterpart). And the smoke from the collapse came all the way down my way (you could taste it in the air). Awful day.

Anyway ..

I was 10, almost 11 years old and in 5th grade. I remember it was the most beautiful day. Clear, blue skies and beautiful weather. I walked to and from school and I distinctly remember thinking that. At school around second period, my teacher got called to the hallway. We looked outside and she and a few other teachers were sobbing. She came back in and told us there had been a plane crash. We didn't fully understand. At lunch recess, all of the teachers were gathered in a circle in the middle of the black top talking in hushed tones. We thought that was weird but we just continued playing four square.

I remember walking home from school and noticing there were no planes in the sky (we lived under the Philly Airport flight path, planes always flew low over us). I remember walking in the door and my parents and brother were in the living room staring at the TV. Mom said to come upstairs. I remember sitting on the couch on the right of the TV and watching. And watching, and watching, and watching. For hours. Mom and I went to church and prayed. I called my two best friends. Swim practice was cancelled that night. I learned the words "terrorist" and "hijacking". I wrote in my diary, and used the phrase "hijackasses" (I never used cuss words so that was the ultimate expression of my anger and sadness at the time, lol). I went to bed confused and scared and wondering what would happen to my country and my family.

9/11 was the day my childhood ended.

 

[sk33tr]

i was living in vancouver, wa at the time (moved out there for work).

i remember being woken up by my roommate knocking on my door. he said, "turn on the tv and check out what just happened!" i said, "what channel?" he said, "it doesn't matter, it's on every channel!"

when i turned the tv on it was on one of the local stations. they had national coverage on and Dan Rather was reporting. i remember he was sitting at the desk with a window behind him with a shot of the towers in the distance. the first one was on fire as it had already been hit (obviously). as he was talking, you could see the second plane come in and hit the second tower. he looked off-camera as someone told him what had just happened. he turned around in his seat to see, then turned back around to face the camera with this look of astonishment and fear on his face. i have never seen that man flustered in all his years, but that day he lost his words for a few seconds.

my mind instantly went to hijacking. then i thought, "who the hell would do something like that?!"

i had to work later that day so i was able to watch the tv for a good while. everyone was saying how they thought the first hit was an accident but then after the second one they pretty much knew it was not an accident.

before i left for work, both towers would be down.....

as i drove to work later, all i could think about was the people in those planes and in the towers.

work wasn't too much fun. i was working in a restaurant at the time and obviously we weren't busy.

 

[doemasters]

I was sitting in my office at work

 

[It Takes Eleven]

I was sitting in my office in the second tallest building in Atlanta, 50-story One Atlantic Center (the old IBM tower) in Midtown. We heard about it within a few minutes and I walked into the break room where there was a TV to see the second plane hit. It was sickening, and it was certain that it was no accident. Rumors were rampant of other planes still in the air, headed for other tall buildings in major cities. They shut our building down pretty quickly, and I spent the day absolutely glued to the computer and TV.

 

[Hardkore]

I had just gotten off work that morning (7am) and got home. I did something that I didn't usually do(still don't) ,I turned on the TV as soon as I walked in. Needless to say,I was glued to the TV. My heart and stomach ached all day.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Lived in auburn. I was sleeping in that morning. My wife (girlfriend at the time) had an early class that day. I heard her come in and knew she was supposed to still be in class, so I got up to see if she was sick or something because she never missed class. She turned on the TV as I was waling in the room, and told me that her professor had sent them home because, "we were under attack". Like ItTakesEleven, I was pretty much glued to my tv and the computer all day and well into the next night/morning. I do remember, we took a break for lunch and went to eat at a Japanese steakhouse. Folks were lined up at gas stations all over town and there was a guy at the corner of a major intersection in Opelika selling newspaper prints of the WTC on fire. Always thought that was weird... it was just a few hours after it happened, and he had commemorative newspaper prints printed up and was selling them, like it was a poster you'd see with the score of your favorite team on it leaving a stadium after a rivaly game...

 

[alabama mike]

I had just finished teaching a Math class and walked into the library to watch the 9am news. National news interrupted soon and I sat there glued to the TV watching. I returned to class, the kids were not told (middle school) but they knew something was up because many of us would go to the library every chance we got. I drove home listening to the news and sat in front of the TV all evening.

 

[rick4bama]

I was moving my daughter and grandkids to her new home. She came up to me as I was putting her stuffs in the house, telling me that an airliner just flew into one of the towers. By the time I got to my home the other tower was hit, the Pentagon was hit and later I heard about the plane going down in Pa. Mike I was also glue to the TV that day.