Where Were You on September 11, 2001?
It's the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy.
I will never forget that day, or year. My first child was born in 2001 – he was 7 months old, playing in his bouncy seat while I folded laundry with the morning news on the TV.
My husband was just leaving for work as I watched the first announcement that a plane hit a building in New York City. I didn’t realize- nobody realized- what was really happening. It seemed to be a small plane. It seemed to be an accident. I casually called to hubby, “A plane hit the World Trade Center.” Said more like how odd than what we’d know it to really be.
Then as he was about to step out to his car… “Another plane!”
We didn’t leave the TV for days straight. I’d never watched that much CNN in my life. Nothing else was on, and this was all we wanted to watch. Over and over, the planes hit from every angle, the people running in the streets, the buildings crashing, the smoke, and the darkness. The wondering what was going to happen next.
I imagine if it occurred today, I would have first heard about it through Twitter or Facebook and then would have turned on the TV. Or just watched video coverage online. So much has changed since then.
But, I’ll never forget. Do you remember? Where were you?
Of course I remember. Who could forget? I was awake, even though pregnancy with son #2 had made me tired, because I was babysitting my niece that day. We lived by a small airport and it was never so quiet as it was that week…
I was out walking the dog with my toddler, newly pregnant with our second son. I got home and the phone was ringing… it was my husband telling me to turn on the news. I turned it on just a few minutes before the first tower collapsed and was so confused by what was going on that I didn’t even realize what I was seeing until the announcer said it.
So terrifying and makes me want to cry just thinking about it– it still seems like it just happened.
I was a senior in high school, in my Microeconomics class, in a different classroom than usual because of ISTEP (standardized) testing going on for sophomores. No announcement was made until the tests were done, as to not disturb the students trying to concentrate. Very little work got done in school that day- we just went from classroom to classroom with the TV on in each.
I was at my desk at work and took a call from my boss’s mom who told me after the first plane hit, then everyone ran into the conference room to turn on the t.v., but I couldn’t move for some reason and decided to pray at my desk. I remember the days to come and being glued to CNN myself, watching it play out over and over.
I was at work in a call centre in the UK when it happened. The call queue dropped to zero. I remember not being able to get a transatlantic call over to my parents in Canada for two days afterwords – lines constantly engaged.
I was living in Ohio where my husband was attending grad school at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and I’d checked e-mail that morning and had seen a “plane crashed into a tower” news headline on Yahoo but honestly didn’t even look twice at it or click on it… I figured it was a small plane, dumb or suicidal pilot, ho hum. It wasn’t until my mom called me in a panic that I turned on the TV and learned what was really happening. My uncle worked at the Pentagon and my aunt in DC, my aunt called my mom to say she was okay but wasn’t able to reach my uncle and didn’t know if he was okay or not. The based got locked down so Jason couldn’t come home, and I just sat watching TV, praying and afraid and alone. It wasn’t until HOURS later that my uncle was able to get through to my aunt that we found out he was okay–his office had been one of the ones hit, but because of the recent renovations he wasn’t working there at the time.
People on the news were imploring people to go give blood and I distinctly remember thinking, “There’s going to be nobody to give it to. There’s nobody left.” It was shattering.
I was at work, carrying two Pop-Tarts, and walking past a TV reporting the news of the first crash. And then a second. I followed the updates online (also CNN) and talked over each development with everyone at work. Being in Chicago, we were given the okay to head home at about 10, but the other guy in my car pool and I didn’t wind up leaving until about 2. Downtown Chicago was completely desolate. We passed maybe two taxi cabs and no other cars on the way out of the city. No one was on the streets in the middle of the day. Eeriest feeling I’ve ever had.
I sure remember being glued to the TV. But I also remember the feeling when there was rumor that they were going to hit a building in Chicago, near where my daughter worked. They evacuated the building but I wanted her out of that city, completely, far away. But as I called her I tried to calmly say to be careful, stay alert and away from the tall buildings.
I was living in Michigan, and my husband was in grad school. I was getting ready for a job interview when I turned on the news. Both planes had hit and the first tower was about to collapse. I was so confused as to what was happening. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing and hearing. Then my husband called and said they shut down campus. I ended up going to my interview, but the woman interviewing me didn’t/couldn’t talk about the job. We just sat for about an hour talking about what happened, searching for comfort from each other and trying to understand why something like this could happen. I didn’t end up taking the job, but I still remember the bond that was created in a moment of tragedy.
I had just arrived at my office in uptown NYC. Watched horrified on TV in the conference room with coworkers. Went back to my office. Phone was ringing, it was my husband. Screams and gasps from the conference room. Instant messenger pinging with messages from my brother that a tower had fallen. My husband said we should go home, he would meet me at the front of my building as soon as he could. More screams, second tower fell. Repeatedly dialed cell phone of sobbing coworker’s husband who was in the towers when they got hit. “Did you hear? The Pentagon was hit!” “OMG, a plane went down in PA!” Waited for husband downstairs. Sea of people all hurrying uptown from every street, not just the sidewalks, the entire street. No honking from stopped traffic, just everyone from everywhere moving as fast as they could uptown. Husband grabbed my hand, we disappeared into the sea of people, made our way to 59th St. bridge. Sound of what we later found out were fighter jets scrambling over the city, but at the time thought were the possibility of more crashing planes. We ran across the bridge, looking back to see lower Manhattan engulfed in black smoke. Sat on roof of our building, trying to contact friends and family members. Coworker’s husband got out. Later that night, got a call that my mom’s good friend, whose children I used to babysit for as a teen, went down on the plane in Shanksville, PA. She was a flight attendant that traded shifts because she was also a real estate agent and had a closing she wanted to be at that Friday. I finally cried at that point.
I was single and living on Long Island. It was the most beautiful day ever–the sky was a deep blue, with not a cloud to be seen, and just a perfect temperature. I had just woken up and was listening to a crass morning radio. I thought they were making a joke about a plane hitting the towers, but it wasn’t until you could actually hear the dj turn on the news in the station that I realized it was really happening.
The next day, all I could see was American flags hanging from almost every porch. All I could hear was the sirens of our local fire departments as they sent rescue crews into the city. That night, a friend who had been in the city during the attacks, showed me the most haunting photos he had taken while he was trying to get out of the area.
I live in Fl.,I was getting ready for school just about to get on the bus when the first plane hit.I was in 6th grade.We had the new on all day,in every class.And the next year we had a big memorial at school for the 1 year anniversary
I was already at work. at the gap. at river oaks. we were supposed to have a big ‘dm visit’ so we were scampering around trying to make the store look great. My manager got the call. We didn’t know either what was really happening. Then we got more calls… she had two cousins working at the towers. (both safe, btw) Everything closed down, the whole mall closed and evacuated. I called my then fiancée on the drive home, he sounded panicked and told me to get home as soon as possible. I still didn’t understand… ‘how’ could there be an attack? It wasn’t until I got home that I could see any video footage and then like most everyone else I couldnt take my eyes off it… it was just so unbelievable I had to watch it a thousand times for it to sink in.
we were on a bus headed to downtown NYC. The second plane hit while I was entering my office. We watched both towers fall from our window, although to be honest, I barely feel like I was there. It still feels like a nightmare. I have such weird memories of that day. we walked with thousands of other people, some covered in dust, all of us dazed, along the east river uptown away from the horrifying events. I still don’t know what to say about it. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years.
I was on the upper East Side staying at a friend’s house with my mother and sister. My husband called and woke us up. He was on the West Coast getting ready for work when the first plane hit. Everyone thought it was a small plane accident at that point, but I had worked at Windows on the World so my husband called to tell me. I woke everyone up and turned on the TV moments before the second plane hit. At first they were saying it was a bomb that caused the explosion, but I kept saying it was a plane, then they finally slowed down the video and we all realized what was happening. The City was so surreal that day. Quiet, no cars, no buses or taxis…. the dark smoke billowing from downtown. The fighter jets flying overhead.
The smell in the air. I took the first plane out of Newark back to the Bay Area. It was the quietest flight ever. I sat next to a United pilot that knew almost all the United employees that perished that day. I still have all the NY newspapers at the top of my closet. I lost a few friends that day. I can’t believe it’s been 10 yrs. I still cringe when I hear low flying airplanes nearby.