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

[angela in ohio]

I had dropped my girls off at kindergarten and preschool and headed in to work at the credit union. I first heard about it from a loan officer who had the radio on in her office. We waited anxiously to find out where the missing Pennsylvania plane was headed as they talked about it being near Cleveland, knowing that we were near some targets (nuclear power plants.) My dad was on lock down in the tank plant, and my mom kept calling me, worried sick that it was a target, too.

 

I just remember the helplessness of not knowing what was going on and being far from my dc. On the way home, I filled the gas tank, and dh and I loaded our emergency bags into the trunk, just in case anything else happened and we had to leave the city.

 

That night, dh and I decided that life was too short for me to keep working and have someone else be with our girls, that the time we had had together would be all that mattered if disaster struck. I was at the OB in late October with a positive pregnancy test in hand, and we gave notice at my work and the girls' school. By January, I was homeschooling through the tail end of morning sickness.

 

My other "never forget" moments are the OKC bombing (I was waitressing and the manager cam eout of the office crying after someone called to tell us to turn the radio on,) the Challenger (I was in sixth grade and had just gotten back from band, the other students had been watching it when we got in the room,) and the start of bombing during the first Gulf War (I was in hgih school and had just gotten back into the car after pumping gas.)

[mommylawyer]

I was in law school, 3rd year. I was running back and forth between the law library (where I worked) and the break room (where the club I was president of was having a bake sale) and noticed a large number of students in the TV room, so I stopped in to see what was happening. A few minutes later, my husband walked in, and within 10 minutes most of the law school students and some profs were in the room, too. As we all stood there watching in disbelief, announcements came stating classes were canceled.

 

DH and I went back to our apartment and watched the news with some friends for HOURS.

 

I'll spend this anniversary trying to explain to my children why I get upset every year on 9/11 and look at pictures of collapsed buildings.

[gaillardia]

Making muffins, 1 year old daughter was watching pbs. Dh called and told me, he works in the media industry. I didn't get it, I changed the channel, saw the first one had hit. Then watched in horror, while my kids gathered near, as the second jet hit. We got off the phone, he was only 3 miles away from home.

All traffic on the state road in back of our house was gone. Everything was very quiet.

We had the fright of two fighter jets escorting the jack*** who violated airspace over Camp David within that week, they were escorting him to our local puny airport. I have never seen a fighter jet that low, right over our neighborhood.

We had a 2 month old baby, we didn't sleep well for weeks. Late at night the fighter jets would blast over.

I got my first speeding ticket that week.

[Marylou]

Moscow, Russia. Relaxing in a hotel room at 5 p.m. Finally gave in to my husband's pleas to come over to the TV (BBC). Started watching as the second plane hit. Will always remember how the news anchor winced as the plane crashed and exploded. We were supposed to return home via Air France on 9/13. Ended up buying new tickets with Aeroflot and finally arrived in the U.S. on 9/22.

[celticmom]

I was at work in the casino accounting department of a casino/hotel on the Mississippi gulf coast when my dh called and told me. We did not have internet or television in our department and I was the first to hear about it. Our managers did have access and did not say anything until after I had told my coworkers of the event. :glare: I think that we might have been able to leave early after all the work was completed. That job was the one with the worst management that I have ever had.

[Vida Winter]

We lived in Virginia.

 

I remember trying to call for a hair appointment and getting my hairdresser's boyfriend on the line instead - and he was crying, screaming for me to turn on the T.V.

 

I remember what a beautiful clear day it was and walking around with my 6yo and 1yo and a friend with our strollers in a complete daze.

 

I remember calling my parents who were in Los Angeles with my step sister who had just had her first baby two days before. It was early there - I was the first to tell them what had happened. Turns out one someone my step sister knew had died on one of the planes.

 

I remember trying to watch the horror on TV while at the same time trying to keep the younger kids away from it.

[Alenee]

I woke up late that morning and came downstairs to the tv on. Dh just pointed silently. I remember sitting there dumbfounded. I was utterly confused. Terrorists? It was too shocking to believe. We were glued to the television all day.

Edited September 11, 2010 by Alenee

[annandatje]

We were all at home without tv, radio, or internet on, and we ignored phone during school hours. Around 1:30 p.m. eastern, we learned of the day's events when a work associate stopped by our homeoffice.

 

I was on basketball court during recess when our elementary school learned of Kennedy's assasination.

[dansamy]

I was at home sick with my 3rd pregnancy. I was laying on the couch watching one of those morning shows filmed in New York. I saw both planes impact. The first one, they thought was a small plane and an accident. Then the second one came& it was clear then. I saw the towers collapse and I saw people from the upper floors jumping out the windows. I saw people's faces as they fled up the street away from the towers. I saw firemen and LEOs and medics running to the scene.

[DaffodilDreams]

I was on my way to work thinking how strange it was that traffic was so light. The streets were so deserted that I wondered if I had forgotten a holiday. I remember taking in the vivid blueness of the sky and thinking what a gorgeous day it was.

 

I walked into my office, put my things away, and received a phone call from my dh. I thought he was playing a horrid, sick joke and recall truly not believing what he was saying.

 

Then, I went into the conference room and turned on the tv. It wasn't a joke.

 

A colleague of mine was on the very last plane allowed to land before the grounding of flights. The plane was escorted by fighter jets. The passengers were told nothing until they landed - just informed to keep their window shades lowered. This colleague was the daughter of one of the partners, the sister of the sales manager. I remember how torn up they were wondering if they would see her again - the relief when they heard from her after she landed.

 

I remember not being very productive that day - the office a somber, dark place. I remember going home, turning on the tv, and sobbing for those lost, for our country, for a world so damaged by hate.

 

DH and I kept up our evening walks, and I remember the weight of a huge silence in the face of what would normally have been a very active FedEx flight path.

 

I remember wondering if I would ever feel safe again.

[gracesteacher]

I was at work. My bf at the time (a pilot) called and asked if I was ok as I worked mins from the airport. I said yes and he asked me to get home now I asked why and he told me. He hung up and called his sister who has A govt job she was safe.

I went and told the owner of our company who looked at me and said well are they a customer? Shocked I replied no then demand I get the conf room ready for prospective client. I. Mechanically did that and the own of the other business walk in shocked to see us all the told my boss that he stopped by out of respect but would not do the demo in light of the tradgey. I watched my well educated boss stumble and trip over himself and called me in to his office nd demand to know why I didt tell him this was a big deal. He refused to let us leave because to many companies were closing and that was good for business

[TravelingChris]

My husband, who is and was AF, was attending a four month class at Ft. Belvoir, VA. We decided, since we were homeschooling and our kids had not seen the east coast, to take a road trip and have my three kids and I visit the DC area for three weeks and then fly home to NM. This was the second day of class so we dropped off my dh at the class building and I started driving to the National Mall to secure early parking and have us start visiting museums. Since there were four of us left in the car, we got into the HOV lanes. I turn on the local news radio and here about the first plane crash. I started crying and trying to figure out how to get off the HOV lane, and get back to the base since I knew this was a terrorist attack. You see, I had read a book or article in the '90s that described such an attack. We were still in the jammed HOV lanes when the second plane hit the second tower. THen the plume of black smoke rose and for a minute, we didn't know what had been hit (White House, Capital, what). We could see the smoke but not the buildings because we were too far away. THen we heard it was the Pentagon. WE finally managed to get off the HOV lanes, get back to the base, and then find my husband. They were supposed to be having a speaker come from the Pentagon but of course, none did. THe base was closed very soon after we entered.

We just watched on the tvs they had there.

 

It was really strange since we were on vacation and staying in a hotel without food we had to still eat. But we were one of the very few at a restaurant that evening.

[TammyinTN]

We were living at Fort Irwin, CA and just getting up and moving for the day. My mom-in-law called and told us to turn on the TV. We were in absolute shock...the kids stayed home with me that day.

[Paz]

I was at home homeschooling my kids. I was upset with my dh and accused him of "ruining my birthday" because he was taking a client to a baseball game instead of celebrating with me. Then someone called and told me to turn on the tv. I saw the country in crisis, completely shut down. I realized that life isn't all about me. What a life lesson.

[JFSinIL]

Homeschooling two of the kids - one was at his special needs school, the other in the nearby preschool. My sister in CA. called me to turn on the tv after the first plane hit. When the second plane hit she called again, hysterical (and I was beginning to feel the same). Hubby's mom then called wanting me to tell hubby (who was at work in a building next to the Sears Tower in Chicago) to come home NOW.

But all local lines were jammed. I could NOT call hubby! I ended up having my sister in California call my husband (long distance got through when local calls did not, go figure) and tell him his wife said his mother said to go home - Metra (commuter train) was reported to have abandoned their regular schedule and just doing a load and go to get folks out of downtown (no one knew if other big cities or landmarks like Sears were to be hit next).

 

As soon as hubby got home he grabbed the flag and hung it out front. We still hang it every day, weather permitting, and have the 9/11 flag sticker on the front door.

[Closeacademy]

We were watching Barney when my dh called and asked me to turn on the TV to make sure that the radio station wasn't making a bad joke. The planes had hit the towers but I thought they were just little planes and it was a while yet before they fell.

 

It was all so awful that I still have a hard time with it.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I was driving to work when they broke into the radio program to say that a plane had flown into one of the towers. When I got to work, I went to the lunchroom and turned on the TV. Eventually more people came in, and then the other tower was struck. People at work were very upset and we all congregated around the several TVs in the various offices. Then, when people were finally starting to calm down and get to work, they announced that the Pentagon was hit. Well, that sent everyone into a frenzy again, and everyone milled around wondering what to do. When the radio announced that a hijacked plane was flying over Ohio (the one that eventually went down in PA), it was mass panic (we are in Ohio), and the bosses closed the office and everyone went home. I was dating dh at the time, and we worked together. I invited him back to my house, but he said he needed to be alone, so he went and hiked in the woods for several hours. I went to my mom's. My sister from MN was visiting, and we all sat around on the porch trying to figure out what to do next and going inside periodically to watch the news. It was a terrifying day and weeks that followed.

 

ETA- One of dh's friends from college worked in one of the Towers. It was several days before dh could contact him. He was not at work because their nanny had called in sick that day and he was home with their twins. Also, one of my friends from college worked in NYC, very near the Trade Centers. She said she saw the towers collapsing from a few miles away. She had been on her way home after hearing what happened.

Edited September 11, 2010 by thescrappyhomeschooler

[Shelly in IL]

My husband flies for American and our friend flies for United. I was so happy that day to know where both of them were - and that they were both home.

[Just Another Jen]

We were watching Barney when my dh called and asked me to turn on the TV to make sure that the radio station wasn't making a bad joke. The planes had hit the towers but I thought they were just little planes and it was a while yet before they fell.

 

It was all so awful that I still have a hard time with it.

 

That is weird- that's the same way it played out at our house. Now every time I see Barney that's the morning I remember.

[FaithManor]

I had the morning off from my job as music/science teacher at a parochial school and was on my way to take DS to the dentist for what appeared to be an abcessed tooth.

 

I stopped by a friend's house and she was glued to the TV. When I saw what was going on, I called the dentist's office because our regular pediatric dentist had a brother and sister-in-law that worked in the second tower. She was trying to get any mode of transportation she could that would put her anywhere near New York City to be with her parents. Ds saw her associate because they really didn't want to close the office until they made sure he was okay which I GREATLY appreciated. It was traumatic to see how frantic she was and how little there was that could be done to help her.

 

I drove back to my school where dd was enrolled and picked her up. Two days later when the flight lists were put out online I found out that a dearly beloved music professor from my college days was on the second plane. It's something that I still can not adequately wrap my brain around.

 

Faith

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I was taking my son to his toddler gym class. I had my daughter with me. She had just turned 1 yo.

The first plane didn't bother me too much. A freak accident in a foreign country. Close to us, but still foreign.

At the second plane, I'm not entirely sure where I was. I think I was driving back to my parents' but I don't really remember.

When the towers fell, my Post-traumatic stress syndrome kicked in, I remember I went to my former bedroom, and cried, and I don't remember anything else from that day. My parents took care of the kids. I just wasn't *there*...

I also remember thinking about killing my kids, to spare them the horror of war. I don't know how serious were my thoughts, but it was definitely the post-trauma thinking and not me... My kids are still alive..

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[amydavis]

I was on my way to school; I was finishing up college at the time. Somehow, whatever station I was listening to on the way did not announce anything. When I arrived to class, everyone was glued to the television. I was a Mass Communications major, so we had tvs in the classrooms. There were people trying to call family, there were people from the administrative offices, etc. stopping in to watch. It was chaotic. Our professor deemed it appropriate for us to watch the live coverage, since it was a real life demonstration of how journalism works during a crisis.

 

The rest of the day was a blur. The non-major classes I attended went on as usual, without the tvs. I felt a strong need to be by a tv, discovering what was happening.

 

I remember wanting to go home, wanting to be with my children (who were 8, 5, and 1 at the time). I just remember an overwhelming feeling of needing to be with my family. There were also worries that kept crossing my mind, since our town is attached to Ft. Bragg. I kept reassuring myself that we wouldn't be a target for the other planes that were unaccounted for at the time. It was surreal.

[ThelmaLou]

In a cabin on vacation in Gunnison, CO. The property manager knocked on the door while we were brushing our toddler's teeth and told us that planes were crashing into buildings, etc... So much for our vacation without television and radio. We were glued to the t.v. down at the manager's office the rest of the time we were there. Remember it like yesterday.

[teamturner]

I was sitting on the couch nursing my 11 day old baby girl. We lived in NC at the time and my dh was still home helping me with the new addition. He heard something about a plane crash on talk radio and turned on the tv around 9am. At that time neither the news team or anyone realized it was an attack. We watched in horror as we witnessed on lived tv the crash of the 2nd plane. We continued to watch and I could not believe my eyes when we saw the towers fall.

 

I'm praying for all the families that lost loved ones on that horrible day.

[hsmom]

We were at my MIL house and I was just getting up and around. She was sitting on the couch with a look on her face I had never seen before. I walked in the room more and saw the tv, I hurried up and rushed back into the room and woke up Steven. After that we just sat and watched all of us in unbelief that this was all happening.

[nichole]

I was at work. I worked at a newspaper, and we had a TV that was always on in the newsroom. At first people were thinking it was just a really awful accident, and we weren't really focused on the coverage all that much. I had glanced up at the TV, though, just as the second plane was coming into the frame, and I immediately got chills and thought, "This isn't an accident."

[cjbeach]

Playing with my 9 mo in our home office until DH called telling me to turn on the news. DH had just opened his own brokerage firm THE DAY BEFORE (um, jinx much????) and his building in NJ faced Manhattan. Everyone in the building it seems (incl the Star Ledger staff) stood at his office window watching the fireball from the first plane then all witnessed the 2nd plane hit.

 

A few months later he hired a guy who was in the towers but escaped. I forget what firm he worked for now (the same firm that the mother who was killed in that the HBO doc "Telling Nicholas." Ugh. Fiduciary Trust, maybe?). Anyhow, "A" had been through the first WTC bombings years before and when the first plane hit he said voices came over the speaker system telling everyone to remain calm, do not leave. It was pretty chaotic. He and a few of his buddies who had BTDT before just picked up and left. They survived obviously but lost most of their office.

 

During the time he worked for my dh was a psychological mess. He was a walking PTSD case. He would stare for hours on end at pictures on his desk of the WTC. Just another example of how many people it truly touched and changed forever.

 

One of dh's stories about that day was of driving home on the NJ Turnpike with ZERO traffic. He recalls it being very weird, that the Turnpike was empty and he did 80 almost the entire ride all the way down to our exit 4. He was home in a record 40 minutes that day. There was no cell service. And of course the market closed so he was home for a few days. But he always talks about the turnpike. Afterward, we had a lot of issues getting into Brooklyn over the next 2 months because of traffic and stationed military at the bridges. We also have an acquaintance who was a Brooklyn detective and was on detail there that day. He was part of the recovery team from that day forward. Today, he's very sickly - compromised immune system and repeated lung infections with no specific diagnosis other than fungal, at one point. Most of the people he worked with that day have similar issues.

Edited September 11, 2010 by cjbeach

[cbollin]

I was home in Indiana, almost teaching my oldest in Kindy that year. She and middle gal were watching Nick Jr., Little Bear episode. I was 3 months pregnant with youngest.

My husband called from work and I remember it clearly "I know you're not watching grown up TV, but the world just changed a few minutes ago. ... thought you'd like to know."

 

I listened to the radio, I switched to "grown up TV" and after 15 minutes decided I'd just listen to the radio and let the kids watch happy shows. It was too much to watch when the tower fell.

 

I was calling my brother - an airline pilot in those days on US Air. His flights never took off that day.

 

I really remember 3 days later when I first heard an airplane flying over the house again. That was interesting as it was illegal that morning and some bozo took off in his private plane. I remember hearing the F16's over my house in formation around that Cessna 206 and my dishes and glasses shaking in the cabinet as the Cessna was only 1500 feet above my house! 4 minutes to intercept from the time that guy took off.

 

I called my parents and we all laughed on the phone as I stood on the deck watching the guy turn around. My dad is a Cessna pilot and he told me the story how the day before that, some bozo the pilot thought he could fly out VFR and found 2 air force guys on his tail and wing. They rolled around the plane and the pilot finally obeyed their order to land. I think he needed new underwear. sigh.

 

 

-crystal

[OnTheBrink]

I had just turned on GMA and they were talking about the first plane, no one really sure what exactly had happened. Then, as they were showing the hole in the building, the second plane flew into sight and crashed. I was dumbfounded and shocked, unable to believe this was really real. I think I might have yelled out or something, because ds (who was 13 at the time) came into the room to find out what was going on. A bit later, when they showed people jumping out of buildings, he sobbed and left the room.

 

I spent the rest of the day online with friends from another site and watching news. I was also worried about my dad, who sometimes works in DC and sometimes flies out of NY to LA when on business. I had no idea where he was, and when I finally got him on the phone, he'd only heard of the incident; had not seen any news or gotten any details of it, which I thought was odd.

[Garga]

On the morning of Sept 11, at about 7:00 (EST), while I was eating breakfast, I was reading an apocalyptic-type book. In the book, some sort of electro-magnetic pulse had just caused all the cars to stop and all the planes to fall out of the sky.

 

By that evening, all the planes were out of our sky, in real life.

 

On the morning of Sept 11th, at about 6:00, I officially stopped taking my birth control pills. I was going to call my mother later in the day to tell her that we were planning on having children. We'd been married 9 years and had adamantly told everyone we would NEVER have children. I was really looking forward to telling her about our change of heart.

 

But it suddenly seemed so trivial, so we didn't tell her until I was actually pregnant in December.

 

(P.S. My 1st son was born Sept 12, the next year.)

 

When the planes actually hit, I was stuck leading a meeting at work. Another coworker, crying, popped his head in the door and told us what was going on (new york and the pentagon). He had a friend who worked in the towers. A few of the people in the meeting burst into tears because their husbands worked in DC.

Edited September 11, 2010 by Garga

[LisaMarie6]

I was in the hospital, having given birth to our second dc. I had just came into my room and a nurse told me what happened. I was sure she was joking, but then spent the rest of the day cuddling my baby girl and watching the news.

 

I'm glad my dd decided to come the day before that fateful day.

[NanceXToo]

We just had a WHOLE BUNCH of firetrucks go down our street, sirens wailing, lights flashing. They were from a bunch of local towns. It must have been in honor of 9/11 and the firefighters who lost their lives that day. We all went outside to watch them go by. It gave me chills!

[laughing lioness]

I'd just nursed the baby (now 10) and was getting ready to go work out. A friend called to tell me that we'd been attacked. I didn't believe her, thought she was pranking and went to the gym where every T.V. was turned to live coverage. Horror of horrors, she was right!

[dmrranch]

I was tutoring a young lady in algebra. Her parents came to pick her up and told us to turn on the t.v. We couldn't believe what was unfolding before our eyes. We turned it on in time to see the second tower fall.

[coffeegal]

I was bending down to button my then 3yo son's pants when the phone rang. It was my SIL calling to tell us the WTC towers had fallen, and the Pentagon had been hit. My first thought was, "Sh**, that means war."

[brehon]

I was on duty that day. At the fire station where my unit is stationed the TV is always on one of the 24-hr news stations. That day I saw my guys in tears as we watched the towers fall and they realized that firefighters would be among the dead.

 

I worked the next 2 days as the rules regarding the number of consecutive hours we could work was suspended. It was eerie.

[Gwenhwyfar]

i didn't actually know about it until many hours after it happened, and didn't see any news footage for a couple of days...which sounds kinda weird, i know...but we didn't have a tv at the time and it was just me and the kids home... way later, near supper before dh got home, a relative of mine called and he mentioned it - i was like "wtf are you talking about?" and he filled me in... we didn't even have a radio in the house, so no news that way either (just basic alarm clocks and a cd player) ....dh got home and i asked him why he didn't call me - i don't remember what he said....it was a few days later before i was at someone's house with a tv and saw some of the news.

 

such a very sad, sad thing. :(

[cin]

"Sh**, that means war."

 

 

I had totally forgotten that. We were suppose to fly to Vietnam sometime in the next 6 mos to bring our daughter home, and I do remember thinking about that. And wondering what would happen regarding that. Would we be able to travel abroad? And bring our precious baby home. (Whom we had never even laid eyes on, but were still madly in love with her!)

 

Hindsight, I'm sort of ashamed to say that those were some of my thoughts.

[sagira]

I'd been married for one year, and was working at a public relations firm as the Knowledge Coordinator. This meant that my office was the library, and the only other office with a TV (the other was the President's). I was able to see the damage of the buildings smoking, and while co-workers gathered, I predicted with a sudden realization: it's going to fall down (physics, I guess). Everyone turned around and looked at me in horror. They couldn't believe it.

[Cricket]

We were living in Oregon so it would have been just after 6 a.m. when the second plane hit. My mom called us about 6:15 and woke us up. She asked if we were watching the news. She briefly explained what had happened. I couldn't quite grasp what she was talking about until we turned the TV on. I still get that sick feeling in my stomach when I think about it or see the clips on TV. Such a horrible feeling and it got so much worse as we watched the first tower fall. My dh was working an afternoon shift at the time and I was supposed to attend our first MOPS meeting of the new year. Dh said, "You aren't going anywhere! I want you right here!"

[mktkcb]

I was up getting kids ready for the day. My kids were all in elementary grades then, and we had co-op at church that day with a few other families. My neighbor knocked on my door and told me, and since I had no cable tv, I went next door and sat with others and watched it all unfold. It was just really eerie. We decided to have co-op anyway....wasn't much else to be done, really, at that point. It was so weird with no planes going overhead. It was a different world after that. It still is.

[Catherine]

My youngest was 3 months old. I clearly remember getting my then-second grader off to school and leaving the house with my baby and 4 yo, stopping to put a letter in the mailbox, and flipping on the radio while I addressed the envelope. The second tower had just been hit. It was a gorgeous, crystal clear day-every year, the first beautiful day in September instantly brings 9-11 to my mind.

[Rosie_0801]

Sleeping. When I got up for work, my housemate was already up with the telly on, and we watched it together. I don't know how long after the event that was, being in a different time zone and all.

 

Rosie

[HollyDay]

I was talking to my neighbor on the phone while throwing laundry into the dryer. Dh had flown out on a business trip that morning. Dc were watching Sesame Street. My neighbor screamed and screamed then told me to turn on the TV just as she hung up the phone. Dh eventually had to rent a car with his fellow workmates and drive almost 20 hours to get home.

[smrtmama]

It's funny how little where I was and what I was doing seems to matter now that my husband is a cop. It's a completely different ballgame, now that I'm married to the guy who runs TO the danger, not from it. I actually blogged about that this morning.

[catalinakel]

At the time we were living on Catalina Island, but we were on the mainland and had spent the night with old friends. DH had to take the early boat back to the island, so I drove him to the terminal early. As we arrived, islanders were talking saying that something had happened at the World Trade Center, that it had been blown up. A guy I know was going to be bringing some lumber on the boat, but they wouldn't let him bring it, so I told him I would take it to UPS and have it flown over. As I drove through Long Beach I listened to the radio as the event unfolded. By the time I had got to the UPS office at the Long Beach airport, they had stopped being able to fly. As I drove back to the house I kept seeing kids waiting for school buses at bus stops and I kept thinking....go home, where are your parents? You need to be home with your family. When I got back to the house, the kids were up and watching Sesame Street. For a minute I thought, "I will just let them watch it, and forget about what is happening" but I knew that history was being made, that I needed to know what was going on. We moved the kids to the den and turned on and watched the news of the day. All I wanted was to be back in Avalon, back on my island where I would be safe.

[kelouis75]

It has been interesting reading through this thread-- I wasn't sure if I was going to make it emotionally...

 

Apparently my train was one of the last ones to be allowed through the WTC subway stop before they shut it down, so I had no idea what was going on until I came up in midtown Manhattan. The first plane hit while I was still underground.

 

I thought that there had been a bomb threat in my building. Then my co-workers clarified what had happened, and we turned on a TV in the conference room. We saw the second plane hit. I got really scared because my huband worked in the World Financial Center which was connected to WTC by a skywalk.

 

Fortuately, he did not have to go in early that day. He had made an arrangement with his boss to come in at 10 since he had been coming in early the whole week prior. He heard the news and never got on the train.

 

I just thank God to be here today. We did have friends of friends who perished, but not a person that we knew directly. I think this is a miracle in and of itself given the fact that we had numerous friends and colleagues working down there. My husband was fine, I was fine and our unborn daughter (who is now 8) was fine.

 

It was a day that literally changed the course of our lives. His department was outsourced and 18 months later we moved down to Atlanta.

 

The Haiti earthquake was another near scrape for our family, but no one was touched...

Edited September 12, 2010 by kelouis75

[Barry Goldwater]

I know that wasn't easy...THANK YOU for all the replies...I really found it to be an encouragement and a help for the day...I'm glad (not really the right word...satisfied?) that the anniversary still holds meaning to so many besides me, as I think this threat to the Western World is still present and not over by any means.

 

Please keep posting if you want to/ need to...

[AFwife Claire]

We had moved back to Ohio earlier in 2001, which was where I had graduated from high school. My best friend and I were planning our 10th reunion in October, and we were supposed to go to Michaels and a few other places to get stuff for centerpieces. I remember my mom calling that morning and telling me a plane hit the WTC, but i automatically assumed a small plane and htought nothing more. Then my friend called and said her husband didn't want her to go out. I thought, "What in the world?! Some small plane crashes in NYC, and you are worried about it here in Ohio?!" But we didn't go. I had 2 small kids and was pregnant with #3, and morning TV simply wasn't a part of our day, so it never really occured to me to turn it on, although eventually (radio maybe?) I realized how much bigger the whole thing was. When WPAFB closed, and my DH came home way early, we finally turned on the TV. I have thought, like a previous poster, that maybe me not seeing the buildings be hit and fall in real time was a good thing. So horrifying. I really thought the death toll would be something like 10,000, so I was relieved that it wasn't quite so huge. I still remember later that night hearing a big cargo plane take off from the base and thinking, "They're going to war. God bless them."

 

Interestingly, I was very affected by the one year anniversary of 9/11, even more so than the actual day, probably because I more understood the ramifications, esp. having a dh in the military. Dh was TDY to D.C., and we all went with him for a week. Every morning, I would read the tribute articles in the USA Today and the Wash. Post and bawl away. I watched specials on TV after the kids went to sleep in our hotel room (we had a 2-room suite). One in particular was a special on moms who were pregnant at the time of 9/11, whose husbands perished. It was an incredible tear-jerker. I can still remember one woman, who had her 6th baby after her dh died, talking about how she wouldn't be remarrying--how her job would be to raise these kids. Something about her body was like a car that had been around the block, and no one else would want it or something. I don't exactly remember, but I thought about her when I had my 6th baby many years later. I still pray for those families too.

 

Anyhow, I was very, very emotional, which was unusual for me. I'm not really a crier. But a few weeks after we returned home, I realized I was actually pregnant with #4, so that probably contributed to my hyper-emotions. I am still always sad on the anniversaries. So many lives.