September 11, 2001...where were you that morning?

[Barry Goldwater]

For me that date will be like the JFK assassination for my parents' generation...

 

I was working at home when DW put the TV on and saw just 1 WTC tower standing, and all the smoke...time slowed down...I remember kneeling in our kitchen with DW and the wee little DD's (3 of them) praying for the victims of the terrorist attacks, for protection for our nation, for un-accounted-for loved ones (a family friend's son worked in North Tower, but escaped B4 the collapse), for wisdom for our leadership and for our military, who would be called on shortly into harm's way.

 

I remember the phones didn't work for awhile because they were jammed up.

 

I remember that evening seeing NO contrails in the clear sky, because all flights had been grounded.

 

I remember putting my flags on the car on the way to the office and getting a lot of horns blowing at me in approval.

 

And I remember that I was scheduled for a flight to Toronto that day, but it was cancelled the week before.

 

I'm getting chills again recalling this...

[Rhonda in TX]

I was getting the kids ready for preschool. I had gotten online briefly to check a scrapbook message board I was a member of and saw someone post about the first plane hitting the WTC. I turned on the TV minutes before the second plane hit.

 

DH was in bed with a bad back and I would report to him what was happening. He finally managed to drag himself to the couch so he could watch the reports himself.

 

I remember the absence of airplanes in the sky. It was so strange.

 

I haven't been the same since that day. I wonder if I will ever feel completely safe again.

[DawnM]

I was living in Pasadena and heading to the gym before work when I heard the news.

 

Dawn

[mom31257]

I was teaching at a Christian school in TN. It was 3 half-days a week teaching the academic core, then assignments given so that the parents could teach 2 days a week.

 

I taught a combined 5th/6th grade class. We met at a church, and I remember they had someone bring in a TV so that we could watch what was happening. I remember crying, praying, and being in shock from the disbelief. I remember wondering what else would happen.

 

I am still moved to tears each year when I watch the tribute type videos on Youtube. It is very sobering and makes you grateful for every day you have with the ones you love. None of us know when our time could come or if something like that will happen again.

[Nakia]

Patrick and I were at Myrtle Beach with our oldest daughter. She was just over a year old. We had just parked our car to go in some shops at Barefoot Landing (I think that's what it's called) and couldn't figure out why the place was so quiet. It's usually busy even early in the morning. We walked into a sports store that had a huge TV and just as we walked in, the 2nd tower was hit. I remember watching my husband stand in front of the TV in shock and denial. I will never forget the look on his face. I remember my little brother was in boot camp in another state, and he wasn't allowed to get in touch with us for days because everything was all of a sudden so secure. I remember looking out off the balcony of the our hotel room the next day and seeing flags everywhere on the other hotels and the beach. And I remember staring at my little baby girl at she crawled along the beach and wondering if this world would ever be safe for her. :crying:

Edited September 10, 2010 by Nakia

[Mrs Mungo]

I was living in Germany, so it was afternoon for us. I was working on some family readiness group stuff when my neighbor knocked on my door and said "turn on the tv." I turned it on just as the second plane hit the building. We looked at each other and as we realized what was happening I said "we're at war."

 

Life changed for everyone in the military at the moment. Both of our husbands have been in combat multiple times and now her son (12 at the time?) is deployed.

[Mom2J112903]

I was doing one of my first days of nursing clinicals and actually watched the 2nd plane hit as it happened. The lady I was taking care of was a huge news junkie at over 80yrs of age and always had some sort of news on, no matter what the hour of the day. We had no idea what was happening and netiher one of us could believe what we were hearing.

 

My nursing instructor's son was in NYC, our Dean's son was at the Pentagon. Thankfully both of these young men are still with us today but they do have some rather haunting memories.

 

My parents worked for the goverment, my Father still does, and since where they work and what the site does, they too were evacuated. We lived in W.Va at the time and my sister was still in HS. I called the HS and told them I would be picking her up soon and when the receptionist asked why I simply stated that our parents would at xyz and she said "get here as safely but as quickly as you can".

 

Our grandparents were also in town, they were out walking when everything happened and did not realize what happened until I got home. By this time the Pentagon had been hit.

 

DH and I were still dating at the time, he was working in PA at a Honda Dealership and of course they always have the radio on. It happened and the dealership came to a hault. Everyone piled into the customer lounge to watch things unfold on the big screen.

 

DH's Grandfather lives less than 45 minutes away from the Flight 93 crash site-we couldn't get a hold of Pap and this scared all of us.

 

I will never forget where I was or what I was doing when America was attacked. I have lived thru so many tragic events, the Challenger and Columbia explosion but 9-11 will always be "the" event of my lifetime. I pray every day that something like this *never* happens again.

[Jen in PA]

I was doing circle time for a small class of preschoolers with speech delays at a Head Start site that I was managing in Pittsburgh. We had all 40 of our students at that site picked up by parents within an hour of making the immediate decision to close. Getting home took several more hours and is much more firmly imprinted on my memory.

[Jennifer in MI]

We were at home. Dh was nearly ready to leave for work. I was getting the 3 boys ready for the day (in 2001, they were 5, 4, and 1) and dh turned on the tv saying that he heard on the radio that the WTC had been hit by a plane. We watched in horror for the next couple hours. My calm, cool, collected dh who never loses it, absolutely LOST it!!! He kept saying, "I think we're under attack! I think we're under attack!!!"

 

I panicked and ran to the store and stocked up on food! then, I took the kids to the park where I learned that PA had also been hit. Right where I used to live.

 

A day I'll NEVER forget.

[dhudson]

My dh was home sick and I was in bed nursing our 3 month old twins with my 3 year old having his morning sippy cup of milk. My dh was on the computer and he said, "turn on the T.V.". We watched in disbelief as the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center. I remember looking at my kids and wondering how life could change so drastically in the blink of an eye.

 

I spent several days praying especially for the new orphans and for the babies that would never know their parents. Having to be so much in baby world with the twins the thought of Mom's having babies that would never know their Dad's because of this tragedy was horrifying to me.

 

I was just thinking today that I will never forget how long ago 9/11 was because that's how old my twins are.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I had just walked home from taking the children (my kids and nephew) to school. I turned on GMA and got something to eat and some tea. I sat down and *watched* the second plane hit. It was so weird. I wondered all day about going and getting the kids. I went to a neighbor's house and the school told us to leave them there. We watched the news and said "how could this happen?" all day. I rode with her to get the kids. I picked up my son and my daughter didn't come so I went to find her. I was glad I did because it gave me the opportunity to ask her teacher what she knew (nothing; the school had told them nothing at all). The kids could tell that something was up in the world.

 

Anyway, it was a crazy few days.

 

ETA: I have NO memory of dh that day at all. I have no clue where he was (asking this minute--oh, he had taken a day-labor position digging a ditch). My sister-in-law called right after it happened (we lived with her).

Edited September 10, 2010 by 2J5M9K

[specialmama]

I was driving to a second-hand clothing store. I was visiting my mom 5 hours north of Toronto, where my dh was working. My mom was babysitting my baby while I scooted out for the morning. I turned the car radio on and it was just pandemonium; people screaming in the background; the first plane had hit. I was confused and thought that surely this was radio theatre? It felt surreal. The employees in the store were glued to the radio, and I just had to hurry to get back to my baby. I arrived just in time to see the first tower fall.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I was in school. I would have been.... 11th grade? Yeah. I was actually in Latin class. They brought TVs into the classroom after the first plane hit and we watched as the second plane hit and then heard about the Pentagon. I lived in Charles County MD at the time, so EVERYONE knew someone who worked at the Pentagon. That day, we had a substitute teacher whose husband worked there. She left the classroom in tears and I jumped on the computer because my boyfriend at the time was working in DC and I was worried about him.

 

I didn't hear from him until late that night when he showed up on my doorstep.

 

It was horrible. There were a number of people from my town killed in the Pentagon, including a young man who was very well-known and well-liked. There was a run in his name for a number of years to raise money for ... something? It might even still go on, but I'm not there anymore.

[Barb_]

We were living in Southeastern Oklahoma. Summers there are brutally hot and humid--like Phoenix with 90% humidity. 9/11 was the day the heat broke so I turned on the weather and sent the kids outside instead of homeschooling that morning. I remember thinking that the entire country had such lovely weather. The whole map was under this mild, sunny, breezy beautiful high. So ironic.

 

My mom called and we watched the tv together trying to figure out if the pilot had had a heart attack or had an accident or what. We didn't immediately think terrorist attack. But when the second plane hit she yelled, "Holy Cr*p and I hung up the phone to look for my husband. I was about 38 weeks pregnant with #5. I had to turn off the TV by the end of the day and separate myself from the whole thing or risk going off the deep end.

 

Barb

[unsinkable]

I was watching the regular Today Show and watched the coverage from the very beginning.

 

I, too, ran to the grocery store and the bank.

 

When I got home, I spent the next few days on the phone with my firefighter brother. He thought for sure it was what he called "Tim McVeigh" types.

 

That was one of the worst periods of my life. Within a span of 3 weeks my dog died, my BIL died, and then the attacks on 9/11.

[Laura Corin]

It was evening in Hong Kong. I was watching it all on the news. Husband was on his way home on the ferry. The next day I steered Calvin away from the news stands on his way to school. I didn't tell him about it for some years.

 

Laura

[brijen97]

I was home late that morning because I had a dentist appointment. We saw the second plane hit but continued to the dentist any way. It felt so strange but at the same time it felt like we just had to keep going even though the world might be falling apart. We got home and my husband (who worked as a chef so was home during the morning) told me to go on to work because what else could I do? It was the strangest ride I have ever had...hands down. By that point no one was on the road, everyone was on alert. The police kept going past me, doubling back, looking at me but not stopping me...due to being in a mini van maybe? I went past an Army base on my way to work at a call center next to the Albany, NY airport. That whole day and week of no planes was so eerie. Then it was almost worse when they did start flying! Every time we heard one take off everyone sort of held their breath and ducked. I can't imagine what it was like to actually be on the plane!

[4kiddies]

I was sitting in an executive office building next to the Pennsylvania State Capitol. I watched the 2nd plane hit and the towers collapse while sitting in my boss's office. We were then told to go home when they realized that there was a hijacked plane somewhere over PA.

[AngelaNYC]

I was 5 miles away holding ds (6mos at the time) answering the phone. It was dh telling me to put the TV on.

 

A million images passed through my mind. My husband just started a new job the day before - in Manhattan, down the block from the UN. I had just dropped the girls off at school - do I go get them?? My sister was catering a breakfast in the South Tower that morning. OMG what do I do?

 

After the towers fell, I got the phone call to pick up the girls from school. Dh walked home over the 59th St Bridge, since the subways were not in service in case of more attacks. F-15 jets were flying right over my head... and no other planes at all. I found out my sister got home from downtown before 8am.

 

I was dumbstruck. I knew so many people who worked in those buildings (I worked there in the early 90s myself). Dh's friend (who he grew up with and who lived down the block from us) and a woman I had met the week before at a candle party were both killed. I remember being in a total brain fog for weeks. I cry every year.

[mrscopterdoc]

We were stationed in Puerto Rico at the time and hubby was off playing Army in another country. I was on my way back from the grocery store when my neighbor called me. I thouht she was joking. :(

 

Went and pulled DD out of school, and the base shut down for 3 weeks. Didn't hear from hubby for about 2 weeks. Life as we knew it in the military changed forever that morning, just like Mrs Mungo said.

[Heather in OK]

WalMart.

 

I had picked dh up from work (he worked 11pm-7am) and needed to get a few things before we went home. The lady who checked us out asked if we had heard about the planes that crashed into WTC. We thought she was joking or had heard something that was totally false information. When we got into the van we turned on the radio.

 

She wasn't passing on false information. :(

[Quad Shot Academy]

I was driving to the airport when we heard about plane number 1 hitting. We assumed it was some terrible accident. We heard about plane number 2 as we were parking. We thought it must be a mistake. I was second in line when two men behind me started talking about the Pentagon. I still didn't get it! As I walked up to the desk, the airline said all flights were cancelled. They put the concourse on lockdown and would allow no-one on or off. We raced out of there as fast as we could I went home and watched it all on TV, feeling very lucky that I was not on a plane at that moment.

[duckens]

I worked as a parttime nanny for a local family (in Iowa, not live-in). I homeschooled the two youngest kids. The older 3 went to public school.

 

The mom telephoned me that the WTC had been bombed. She was concerned that we were going into town for Recorder lessons later. I personally didn't think that a terrorist attack in NYC equated danger in smalltown Iowa, but I didn't tell that to her. She's the mom; she makes the decisions!

 

I was tempted to see what the tv showed, but it was not my place to introduce this to the young children. That was their parents' place.

 

After work, I went home and listened to NPR's coverage of the bombings. I had no tv, but I had never been so tempted to go out an buy one for that night.

 

I wonder if I am less traumatized by the images of 9/11 because I did NOT see the buildings come down again and again and again on television on that day and the weeks that followed.

[Kim in Appalachia]

I had finished breakfast with the kids and was starting our school day. The phone rang, but I didn't answer it because I didn't want to be interrupted. I listened to the message as it was left. It was my mom. All she said was turn on the TV and see what's happening in the world. I had assumed that war broke out in the mid-east, Israel was having a lot of problems at the time. I turned on the TV and saw one building on fire. I didn't know where it was or what was happening, then I saw the 2nd plane hit. It was clear that it was a shock to the TV crew and announcer, I still was unsure what was happening or even where it was happening. Then I realized. It just hit me that I was looking at the twin towers, that it was NY. I was in shock. I told the kids to go downstairs to play and I just stared at the TV and cried. When I stopped shaking I called my mom back. I watched that TV all day long.

 

I can still remember every detail. I was pregnant with my 4th, and had just got over the worst of my morning sickness. I spent that whole month with the TV on all the time. I couldn't turn it off.

[LauraGB]

We had an interview scheduled to take place at our house with a local news team. The kids were on the couch, the county director of the program with which we contract and I were standing in our living roomwith a national morning news program on the television (Good Morning America? I'm not sure, it was odd for us to have the tv on in the morning). He and I were chatting and waiting for the news crew to come. Dh was helping the residents with breakfast in the dining room and the tv in there was tuned to the same channel. We all saw it happen out the the window behind the anchors and all the pandemonium that followed. I very distinctly remember bringing my hand to my mouth and tears filling my eyes, paralyzed and staring at the television. Dh was calling from the other room to "turn on the tv!", but neither the director nor I could even answer him.

[patchfire]

I was watching GMA when they started reporting about the first plane. I wasn't sure what to think, and I had to take dd to preschool so I could go to class. I got in the car and went through my preset radio stations frantically until I could find someone talking about it. I was listening and I heard one of the DJs say, with absolute horror, "Oh my God," and I knew before they said it that it was another plane.

 

I called my dad, who works at a *newspaper*, and told him to turn on the television. Yes, I alerted a news organization. Silly me, thinking they'd have some information. I called dh & my mom. When I got to preschool, there was *no one* discussing it. Everyone seemed so... normal. I went to the grocery store, went home, turned on the television, and watched the South Tower collapse. I remember Peter Jennings thinking part of it had falling and standing there shaking my head. I knew it was all gone. Then the preschool called, and I went to pick dd up. We lived in downtown ATL at the time, just blocks from the two tallest buildings. I packed up & went to my parents. Just in case there were still planes in the air.

[athena1277]

Dh and I had been married only about 6 months. He was on his way to Atlanta for a conference and I was at home (looking for work). Dh's parents and some friends of theirs where in NYC at the Today Show that morning. I was watching the show with the remote in hand to record them in the outside audience. In Central Time, the show is delayed an hour. Suddenly they went live and showing/talking about what was going on.

 

It was very frightening. They mentioned other cities that might be hit and included Atlanta in that list. My new DH was headed there! We did not have cell phones at the time. Thankfully a co-worker he was with had one and someone called that person and they made the decision to turn around, although I would not know that for an hour or 2.

 

I have never been to NYC, so I had no idea how close my in-laws were to what was happening or where their hotel was in relation to the towers. Much later in the day when we finally heard from them, they said the Today Show quickly took down all the outdoor equipment when they realized something big was going on. They were able to safely return to their hotel and fly home a few days later.

 

For me the worst was not being able to get in touch with people who may have been in harm's way. Dh and I got a cell phone a week later. He was in the military and worked 18 hour days for a couple weeks after, helping with security. It was a tough time.

 

It's still hard to believe it happened in this country.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I turned on the t.v. to do my prenatal exercise video since I was pregnant with my 2nd child. It was all over the news. I remember sitting there with tears running down my face and my son (only 3) looking at me in concern.

[Farrar]

Getting ready to go to work. I saw the coverage of the second plane crash live and yet it didn't occur to me that it would be dumb to go out. Totally freaked, but I just went on autopilot and headed across the bridge to DC. I think I must have just missed actually seeing the plane that hit the Pentagon as it went over the 14th St. Bridge - they announced it when I was literally just into downtown DC. I somehow made it through the city and then waited out the day at school in Maryland because I knew there was no way I was getting back to Alexandria until much later. We slowly dismissed the kids as parents came to retrieve them. A good family friend of one of the kids had been a contractor working at the Pentagon and was killed. And all the students were just anxious for weeks.

[eclipse]

I was at work, locked in a little office by myself counting the previous day's deposit at the store I worked at. I hadn't been there for long (it was early morning on the West Coast), when a co-worker knocked on the door to ask if I'd heard about a plane crash at the WTC. I had the only radio in the store, so everyone crowded into the office. I actually had on Howard Stern (a replay of the earlier live show) and was about to change the station to find the news when they jumped to the Howard Stern show live - the studio was located very near the WTC. So we left it on and listen to them tell what was going on. I remember hearing the rumbling as the first tower came down and hearing them all freaking out, not knowing what was happening. After a few seconds everyone on the radio was choked up saying that at least one of the towers had completely collapsed. The first thing I said was "Oh my god, the fire fighters!" because I just knew they had been in there trying to get people out. I looked at the calendar to see the date, because I knew I'd remember it forever. Then I kicked everyone out of my office and called to wake my husband up. I couldn't even tell him what had happened, I just told him to turn on the TV, any station. He was just silent for awhile and said, "I need to try to call my family," so we hung up (He's from Long Island and most of his family still live in NY and many work near the WTC. Thankfully no one was hurt, but there was a near miss with a cousin who worked next to the WTC and used their parking garage - lost the car, but he was out of the building - and another cousin who worked in the WTC, but happened to be on a business trip to the Pentagon of all places - also fine - but we didn't know for days because it was impossible to get through to anyone). I finished up my deposit as fast as I could and went home to hug my husband and then 7 month old son.

[NanceXToo]

You'll probably never believe me if I told you but I swear on my children that it's true.

 

That morning, I woke up to get my daughter off to school. My husband talked in his sleep as I got out of bed. He said something about "evil airplanes" and then said "Jesus, that was $@#$! scary."

 

I rolled my eyes, sort of amused (it's not completely uncommon for him to talk in his sleep) and took my daughter to the bus.

 

I came back and still tired, I laid back down for a while.

 

I awoke later to the phone ringing. My mother, who was at her house on Long Island, telling me to turn on the TV.

 

I did so- I was living in the Poconos at the time, but had only moved to PA very recently. I was born and grew up in New York (on Long Island), so New York was still like "my" state. My aunt (who lived in NYC for many years, but by that point had lived in NJ for many years) was visiting us and sleeping over. She and my husband and I sat and watched the TV, watching all the replays of the first tower collapsing. We couldn't believe it. All of us thinking it had been an accident.

 

Until we saw the live coverage of the second building being hit. Then we knew it was not an accident.

 

My uncle was working in the city not far from the towers. My aunt tried to get in touch with him but couldn't. Nobody could get through on the phone lines that day. Finally she did hear from him that he was okay. But very traumatized. He had seen first hand people jumping out of windows to escape the flames, only to die on the streets below. He personally knew people who were working there and who were just never found. While I knew people who knew people, no-one I knew personally was involved.

 

Horrible all around. :(

 

We were so shocked and glued to the TV that it wasn't until much later in the day that I remembered my husband's sleep-talking, and how he had talked about "evil airplanes".... freaky!!!

 

I still feel very sorry for all the people who lost loved ones that day.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I was at home with the kids, getting around to do school. I knew nothing about it because I never turn on the tv or radio at home during the day. Dh called me from work to tell me about it. I turned on the news and could not stop watching the images. I kept shooing the kids out of the room (except for dd who was 15 months and an avid nurser in the afternoons.) I was spellbound and in shock.

 

My mother called me to let me know that my sister was safe. She was traveling to Vancouver and was stuck in Seattle. She ended up renting a car and driving up there before they started heavier border checks.

 

I walked outside and it was so eerie not to hear planes flying overhead. We are in a flightpath for both airports and can faintly hear planes most of the day. All our neighbors walked outside in a daze and we all commented on how surreal it was - a gorgeous September day without a cloud in the sky and the world was falling apart for so many people. When they first put it together that it was a terrorist attack, they were worried about their children at school.

 

Later that day, one of my childbirth students called me, totally freaking out. Her husband was a pilot who was to be flying out of New York that day. She was visiting friends out in CA and could not get a hold of her dh. She had no idea if he was on one of the planes that flew into the towers. They did not connect for several days (cell phone difficulties and she had to stay with someone else since she was stranded.) and she kept calling me crying. Her husband was OK, but couldn't understand why she was such a mess. After the birth of the baby, she was a wreck. I think she was definitely suffering from post partum depression and maybe PTSD. I urged her husband to get her some help, but he was in denial. I kept calling to check on her, but she stopped returning my calls. I had a sense that their marriage was falling apart. It was all very sad.

[pdalley]

I was pregnant with our youngest. The other two were not school aged yet. I remember being grumpy with DH for calling and waking me up. He worked in Sales then and had been at an early leads club meeting. It was on ESPN radio when he came out. He told me to turn on the TV and I did - just after the second plane hit. I called him - told him what was going on - or what they thought at that time - sent the two little's back to the oldest's room to watch Nickelodeon and videos then I called my Grandmother. Together we watched the towers come down.

 

I worked at a Police Department for almost ten years. I got to know firemen and rescue workers as well. When those towers fell I cannot describe the horror and sense of loss I felt. Not just for the people trapped and on the planes but the first responders. The ones who charge in while the rest of us charge out. Gulliani said it best - 'The losses will be more than we can bear.'

 

I will never forget. Ever. My Grandmother said it was worse to her than Pearl Harbor because she actually could see it happening.

[nono]

I was packing for a flight out of Newark airport. One last check of business email before I was leaving, and folks were flipping out trying to figure out who of our people were in the building, as pretty much every tenant was one of our customers. (My husband, who worked for the same company as I did, was scheduled to be in there on 9/12 at 9 a.m.)

 

Our company lost no one that day. However, I trained hundreds of customers throughout various companies in the Towers....many didn't make it.

 

One of our new hires worked in a data center on a high floor. He took a long video of the place before he left to join our firm. Everyone in the video died that day.

 

I remember more about what we did in the weeks after -- helping our customers put their companies back together -- all in coordination with NYC, which was my account.

 

It was tough watching the aftermath...folks who came unraveled some time after, etc.

 

It changed my life -- I lost my desire and drive to excel in the business world. Now, here I am...

 

<sigh>

[gingersmom]

I was living in Queens, NY (about 15 minutes by train to NYC). I was standing in my kitchen watching a little 9 inch black and white TV.

 

I called my mother who lives in NYC and told her. She thought I was crazy. I made her put on her tv. We watched together as they announced a 2nd plane had also crashed.

 

It was horrifying. I have other family members that live/work in NYC and we were frantically calling them to make sure everyone was ok (thankfully they were).

 

My daughter was due to start Kindergarten the next day and it was canceled till the following week.

[littlebug42]

I was 8 months pregnant with our oldest dd. I had been taken off work for pregnancy complications. I was getting ready to watch Regis and Kelly and the news broke in about the plane hitting the first tower. I watched as the second plane drove into the second tower. I called dh at work to tell him about it and I stayed on the phone with him and my sister all morning. I cried and cried thinking about the world my baby was being born into.

 

Ironically, I was babysitting my infant nephew watching TV when the news came on about the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City also. I had similar thoughts about what my nephew's world would be like. Little did I know what something the likes of 9/11 would bring.

 

ETA: I had friends in Manhattan at the time, one of whom worked temp jobs that often had her in the Trade Center. I was terribly worried about her and my other friends there as well. Fortunately, they were all OK.

[Beach Mom]

I had just taken my oldest to her first day at preschool. She had cried and I was home on the couch crying myself for having left her and nursing my DS who was 6 mths at the time. I turned on the Today Show to occupy myself since DH was flying to Boston that morning and I couldn't call and cry to him about preschool. I watched as they interrupted when the first tower was hit, I watched as the second tower was hit. I watched as parts of DC were evacuated and the Pentagon was hit. It was weirdly close to home as DH worked a block from the White House and countless of our friends worked in various parts of DC and at the Pentagon.

 

I called my parents while freaking out - I had no idea whether DH was in the air or not. I went and got DD from preschool early as I had an intense need to hold my children close. Eventually, hours later, I heard from DH and he was fine. Later that morning I wrote a letter in a journal I keep for DD. It begins "I have a sense the world changed today". I still cry when I go back and read it.

 

It is a day imprinted in my mind forever.

 

I am profoundly grateful for those who serve to preserve the freedom we enjoy, I know the world became more complicated and dangerous for all of you that day. For those military spouses among us, your loved ones are continuously in our prayers and as their families you have my utmost regard and thanks.

[DianeW88]

The top floor of the "Excalibur" hotel in Las Vegas ready to leave and head to Disneyland with the kiddos. It made for an interesting vacation.

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[Dobela]

I was at work teaching developmentally delayed preschoolers. I don't remember exactly who found out first or how, but I remember going to the main office (where the only internet connection was) and watching the first plane hit. Over and over. We had a phone in our room and we each tried calling family (I had 40 students and 4 assistants). Some parents began picking up their children. One of the public schools had a bomb threat and closed. One of my assistants then got a call from her dh saying the family gas station had a run and they were officially out of gas. Rumors of this happening all over town started coming in and folks not assigned to classrooms started leaving just to get gas.

 

My dh worked in the tallest building in our state capital and they were all sent home. It took him almost 3 hours due to traffic on the roads.

 

My mom was babysitting my then 14 mo son across town. I literally could not get across town to pick him up until the next morning thanks to traffic and people lining up to buy gas.

 

I distinctly remember when planes were allowed to fly again. I was driving by our local airport and one small one flew over my car going to land. I had to pull over I was so scared and shaking too hard to drive.

[Carrie12345]

I was working at a fitness center in Trenton, NJ. For some strange reason, I turned the TV on in the kiddie room, which I never really did.

 

It was pretty crazy b/c I had a hard time reaching dh to see if he had gone into the city that morning (he hadn't, thank goodness). Ds was in a daycare that was full of military kids and spouses, and there was talk of closing, but my boss was refusing to let me leave work, so I was freaking out. Then the whole city shut down, and the hospital across the street's sidewalk was lined with people in suits, waiting to give blood, hoping it would be needed.

 

Eventually, I called my boss and told him I was leaving, and I'd deal with the consequences later. We hadn't had a single client come in! I got ds, dh came home, and we watched the news reports all day, with military jets flying overhead.

 

That happens to be the day I realized I was pregnant with my first dd. And then our post office handled the anthrax letters that were sent in the following weeks. It took me a LONG time to learn how to relax!

[unsinkable]

A different kind of 9/11 story:

 

My DH works w/ a doc whose first day at work in a Manhattan hospital was 9/11. She had just moved from Germany and English was her 2nd lang. Her first patient was a pregnant woman from the attack who died. The doc was so upset she walked away and someone had to come and get her and say get back in there b/c we need you!

 

Her next patient had a broken arm. Well, guess what?

 

Today, he's her DH and they have a few kids!

[KatieJ]

I was home getting ready for our annual neighborhood homeschool group's back to school donut party.

I had on a christian radio station and heard something about a plane crash and turned on the TV.

Some families decided to stay home.

For the rest of us it turned into prayer time for our country in stead of just prayer time for school year.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

Laying on the couch at my MILs, near Boston, where we were living a the time. My oldest was 2 and got up each morning insanely early....so I was napping and he was watching PBS Kids. My SIL called to tell me to turn on the TV.

 

Tried to not cry in front of my baby. I knew the world had changed at that very moment. It was impossible not to cry.

 

"Mommy," he says, "Why did that building fall down?"

 

All that death. All that horror. All those innocent 2 year olds who wouldn't see their mommies, daddies, uncles, grandpas, aunts again....... I just hugged and hugged my son and cried.

 

My MIL lives over Logan Airport's flight pattern. It was SOOOOO quiet at her house without the planes flying over that the quiet was LOUD --- does that make any sense?

[kewb]

I was on the way to work after dropping my kids off at daycare. Windows down enjoying the gorgeous day. Walked into the office and someone told me a plane crashed into one of the twin towers. I thought they must mean a small plane. Maybe the pilot had a heart attack.

 

I called my dh to find out where he was and to tell him what was going on. Thankfully he was running late that day or he would have been right under the towers when it happened. Instead he saw them fall on the bus he was riding to the path.

[Mimm]

I was at home. Imogen was 5 months old. Someone called me... don't remember who... told me to turn on the news. I turned it on, and saw both towers. They worded it ambiguously. "Someone has crashed two planes into the towers." I had just woken up and with a new baby was still rather sleep deprived. My first foggy-headed thought was, "How could two people accidentally crash two planes in the same day at the same place?" Took a second for it to hit me... that it wasn't an accident.

 

I spent all day holding my baby in front of the tv.

[LisaKinVA]

I was at my home in Mechanicsville, VA (a Richmond, VA suberb). I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. We were watching the news...ds was playing. My husband was in NY, NY or across the river in NJ (I didn't know which one, because he was there for business and would be in both areas).

 

I could not get through to my husband. I called my brother who was at my old office in No. VA -- I was on the phone with him as the plane flew past his office window and below the tree line into the Pentagon.

 

I started crying.

 

I got ahold of my husband later that afternoon, and my brother agreed to drive with me to go pick up my husband, so that he would not be stuck. My mom was *sooo* angry with me (thought I was being foolhardy). All I knew was I wanted my husband *now*, and I wasn't going to wait for flights or train service to be back up and running from NY!

[elegantlion]

We were living at my parents, we had just made an offer on a house and waiting for it to close. My ds was turning 4 the next week, so we were focused on his birthday and my mom's (they share a birthday).

 

I heard the news on the radio and thought it was the morning show trying to be funny. I turned on the TV and then went upstairs to wake up my parents. I called dh at work. We sat around and watched the TV stunned.

 

After a few days and a news report we realized ds wasn't old enough to know the footage was a replay. We turned off the TV for a while. We had a small birthday party and took ds to use some of his gift money. He bought a stuffed dog. He carried it around everywhere for at least a year. I think it was part of his security.

 

Ds turns 13 next week. Ironically we are visiting my parents and trying to buy another house so we can move back up here. We will be celebrating their birthdays tomorrow too.

 

Ds remembers a lot of the footage and we talk about it every year. It's hard to believe it's been so long. We still have the stuffed dog too, although he gave up caring it around long ago.

 

We closed on our house shortly after 9/11. Until that point I had been very bummed to be living with my parents, even for a few short months. After 9/11 I was very glad to have my family close.

 

:grouphug::grouphug:

[Britomart]

I was at my parents' home; I lived there for the second half of college. I remember their voices in the living room waking me up, and I stumbled out of bed and saw them watching TV (rare for my folks to be doing that in the morning). I think the first plane had hit, and we all thought: horrible accident. Then the second one hit . . .

 

The worst part is I remember looking at those buildings, and saying out loud, "Those buildings aren't going to stay up." Even as I thought it, I hated that I could think it, but I was looking at those shots of the damage, and the fire, and just couldn't help thinking that they were going to fall . . . and then they did. It was just horrible. It wasn't even believable.

 

I was dating my future husband at the time, and I remember how long it seemed before I was able to get to the university campus and find him and hug him. I just wanted to know he was still there.

 

Lord have mercy on the souls of the departed. May they rest in peace.

[Classical Country Mama]

I was working half a block away from the White House, my second to last day on the job. After watching the second plane hit live on TV, we evacuated and raced on foot to north DC, trying to find payphones to call family members since cell phones didn't work. However, most payphones are underground, which they had closed off. It took me 5 hours to get home, including a harrowing hour on the Metro right past the Pentagon. (Power kept cutting out and we sat in darkness for long stretches, with nobody telling us anything.)

 

Spent my last day on the job calling our counterparts at Merrill Lynch etc to see who was still alive.

 

I gather nobody really knows where UA93 was supposed to hit--the Capitol, maybe, or the White House. But I still feel somehow that the heroes who brought it down saved my life. I will be grateful to them forever.

[edithcrawley]

I was in 7th grade, taking the ISTEP test. The teachers didn't tell us anything until after the test was over (around 12:30), and really didn't explain anything, just said that some planes crashed into the pentagon and WTC. I really only understood what happened when I got home and turned on the news. The highschoolers got to watch the tv coverage of it during the school day.