Where were you on 9/11/01?

[freesia]

I was asleep when my MIL called me (we were in BC). I spent the day glued to the TV. My oldest took his first step that day as we were watching TV.

[dancingmama]

I was on my way to work, downtown Chicago on Lake Shore drive, on my way into court listening to Eric and Kathy in the morning.  They stopped their regular show to say that a play had crashed into the WTC and that they weren't sure but it was probably just a small plane. I listened live as they did a verbal play by play of the second tower being hit.  I arrived at the courthouse and within minutes we were on lock down but eventually we were told to go.  Went to the office but it was useless.  Everyone was stuck to the one tv in the building.  The finally sent us all home around noon and I spent the rest of the time watching the news.  

[Guest]

I had just turned 20 and just moved from Southern California to Northern California.  My husband had just left me (I am now remarried).  Our son was 3 months old and we were living with my mom.  When ds and I woke up, my mom told me what happened.  She was in the living room watching the news.  I remember being so shocked and worried.

 

 

[gardenmom5]

I was home and getting the younger kids ready for school.  my mother called and told me.  1dd was a freshman in school in upstate NY and called in hysterics - they'd lost alumni, staff lost family, and at least one current student lost a parent.  classes were cancelled for a few days.  I confess I was selfishly thinking how glad I was she wasn't at Columbia.

 

eta: I have a western view and can see the flight paths of the airlines heading to the airport.  the sky was quiet.  for several days - it was weird.   I remember just watching the planes after they started flying again.

[PinkTulip]

I was at home, playing with my kids, then aged 3.5, 2, and 3 months. My husband was on his way to work and told me to turn on the TV, but then cut out, as he was entering his office underground parking. I watched a few minutes, but then turned off the TV, because I had no answers for my oldest as to what had happened. I was glued to the radio the entire day and was shocked and terrified. My husband was working for one of the larger law firms in town, and strangely, they were business as usual, not allowing anyone to listen to the radio or watch TV. So I kept calling him throughout the day with updates, "the second tower has been hit," "the second tower collapsed," "the Pentagon has been hit," "the first tower collapsed," "there's a plane down in Pennsylvania," "all air traffic has been suspended" etc. I wondered when the bad news would stop - I was terrified.

[rjand6more]

I had just gone to Walgreens to buy a pregnancy test after dropping ds off at school(kindergarten).  My mom called me from Kentucky.  We talked on the phone while watching it unfold on TV.  My ex-husband called(a police officer) and told me to go get our son "now!!" from school.  I did.  

 

I took the test later that day.  It was positive.  Our Grace is 11 now.  What a scary(and exciting)day for us .  The emotions were so crazy that day!

[QueenCat]

I was at church, for bible study. I'd walked down to the office to let the secretary know that class was starting, as she was coming to the class & was late. She was staring at her computer screen, with tears running down her cheeks. The second plane had just hit. We went down to the class & told them what was going on. Afterwards, dh called to let me know he was on his way home from work as they were sending all non-security personnel home as the airport might be a target. His office (with an airline) bordered the airport property.

[violamama]

I was watching the news for traffic info, getting ready to board a flight to Baltimore from the west coast where I had just taken an audition. It took a while to get back to the east coast. I remember saying "Oh man, are those falling things PEOPLE?!" Because they broadcast live feed until they realized what it was.

Still can hardly believe it...

[Giraffe]

I had a doctor's appointment that morning. The office didn't have a radio on. I drove to work without the radio (unusual for me). Got to work and walked in to see my co-workers huddled around a makeshift TV set up. I saw the first tower fall and couldn't believe my eyes. After I grasped the situation I called my family to check in with them (my brother was working in No. Va. at the time and saw and heard the Pentagon plane). I then went to work. I know that sounds weird, but growing up as a military brat I understood we were at war and what the terrorists wanted was to disrupt our lives as much as possible. The only way I could fight that was to, in the words of that popular meme, "Carry On". So I did. I saw the rest of the video footage at home that night.

[Wheres Toto]

I was at school (college) not far across the river from Manhattan.  Someone in the halls said a plane had hit the tower and my first thought was "that doesn't sound like an accident".  Went to class and by the time that class was over, there was more information about what was happening and the rest of classes were cancelled for the day.  It took forever to get home, traffic was crazy getting away from the area and cell phones weren't working well.  I knew quite a few people who were stuck in the city overnight.  I didn't personally know anyone who was in the towers but knew a lot of people who lost friends or family.

 

[El...]

I was a (very) junior Air Force officer, watching my Captain race up and down the hall saying, "We're at war!  We're at war!"  We moved very, very quickly after that.

[Arcadia]

I was in SE Asia on a work conference call with the US HQ, Paris and London. When we heard the news in the background of a colleague's home, the US side drop off the call to call their relatives. They called back in to let everyone else knew that they knew no one affected. Since the US side was emotionally shaken, the conference call was postponed.

[AlmiraGulch]

I was at work.  We all razzed the one guy who wandered in a few minutes before 9 because he was always late.  Only this time, he said he'd been in the car listening to the radio because a plane had hit the WTC.  All of us speculated that it must have been a small commuter plane, pilot error.  When we realized by pulling up a pic on CNN that it wasn't small, we all said it was air traffic control or pilot error.  A couple of minutes later, when the 2nd plane hit, we all knew.

 

I called my sister in California, told her to get out of bed and turn on the TV immediately.  She watched the 2nd plane hit while I was on the phone with her.  We were stunned.

[DianeW88]

Disneyland.  It was quite the day.

[Cinder]

eta: I have a western view and can see the flight paths of the airlines heading to the airport.  the sky was quiet.  for several days - it was weird.   I remember just watching the planes after they started flying again.

 

At the time we lived near an international airport. We were used to having planes flying overhead (for landing) day and night. The quiet was eerie. I remember seeing, at one point, a single airplane flying up higher (passing over, not to land) and wondering if the president was in it.

[Sisyphus]

I was asleep (west coast) and my best friend called at a very ridiculous hour and told me to turn the tv on. I had a newborn and a toddler, dh had been gone in the field for a month, and I was pretty grumpy. I also didn't understand what in the world she could possibly mean. It was so unbelievable.

 

So I got up, because now my oldest was up, grumpy, and flipped on the tv and literally the first thing I saw was the plane hit the second tower behind Katie Courics head. I was glued to the tv the rest of the day, until I got a call recalling me to my reserve unit. Headed there, kids in tow, as I was on maternity leave, dh was gone and I knew no one. Not a fun day, to say the least.

[amiesmom]

I was in my car, I turned on the radio to the morning show I always listened to, they were a bunch of jokers, so I didn't believe what they were saying, changed the station, and figured out it was real. I worked at a hotel at the time, it was so strange. No one could check in because all the airports were closed and they couldn't get there, no one could check out for the same reason. Some people tried to rent cars to drive home after a couple of days, but by then the rental companies were out of vehicles. Every year I watch the footage from that day and it brings back those same feelings...

[jewellsmommy]

I was at home (hampton roads area, VA). I was supposed to be in class, but i wasn't feeling well and had stayed in bed. Dh called me soon after the news broke of the first plane strike. We watched the news for days and I remember the desperation we felt while praying each day that more people would be found alive and pulled from the rubble.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

working at a bank--was just back from getting married and honeymoon......

[Lisa in SC]

I was deep cleaning the house, and had no idea until my mom called to ask if I had the tv on. I thought that was the strangest question, because she knows I don't watch tv during the day. She told me to turn it on, and i saw the second plane hit. I called dh right after, and he was watching it at work. I remember begging him to come home. He doesn't work in a field that would put him at risk, nor did we live anywhere near there, but it just felt as if I couldn't breathe unless we were all together under one roof.

[dangermom]

I was at home with my daughter, who was 14 months old.  I live in CA and I don't watch TV in the morning, so I heard quite late.  My husband called me from work to tell me.  I turned on the TV and I remember sitting down on the coffee table in shock. I wanted to call a friend but couldn't think of who to call because of the shock.   At the same time, I had this little bitty toddler coming to me, asking for stories, and she took her very first steps that day.  We have video footage of her tottering across the living room, and in the background you can see Congress on TV singing God Bless America.

[Shamzanne]

I was working as a live in caregiver for a quadriplegic woman. Her daughter who lived in Washington DC called early and woke us up. I answered and she hollered to tell her mom that she was OK and she was leaving the city. She was in total panic and I was groggy and kept saying, "what?". She told me to turn on the TV and then was disconnected. I was glad for the woman's sake that she knew her daughter was safe before she even knew what happened.

[MommaOfalotta]

I was homeschooled through high school, so I was at home.  I woke up that morning, my father told me that a small plane had accidentally crashed into the WTC. I was watching the news when the second plane hit. I was living in North Jersey at the time and we could see the smoke from our house. 

 

 

I remember everyone thinking the first one was an accident, too. The realization was shocking after we watched the second hit.

[littlebug42]

I was at home, 8 months pregnant with my first child. I was not allowed to work due to some pregnancy complications. I had just sat down to watch "Regis and Kelly" and saw the footage and watched as the second plane flew into the towers. I talked to my sister a lot on the phone that morning and cried a lot during the day.

 

That evening, our church had a prayer service. I live in an inner city neighborhood that developed around our Catholic Church parish beginning in 1913. Still, many of my neighbors belong to the same church. I will never forget the sight of so many people coming out of their homes and all of us walking to church together for that service. Our community coming together like that was a beautiful thing. I also remember the sound of the church bells in an otherwise silent sky.

[morganvicky98]

Can't remember, sorry.

[waa510]

Showing my age here, but I stayed home from high school that day b/c I'd been sick for a week and probably had some horrible upper respiratory thing going on. My mom was taking me to the dr for some antibiotics and we were listening to the radio in the car when the first plane hit. At that point, we both thought it was a terrible accident, as did the radio announcer. By the time we got to the dr office, the other plane had hit and it became clear that it wasn't an accident.

 

I remember feeling so incredibly selfish for being at the dr to get meds while all these people were dying. Which sounds like a strange reaction now. I told my mom I wanted to go home, she obliged (rare occasion) and I stayed glued to the TV the whole day....freaking out.

[Maela]

I was 20 years old and living with my parents.  I was sleeping (CA time), and my mom woke me up to tell me.  I remember spending the next hour in front of the tv and then leaving for work.  I wore an outfit/shoes that I could run in  :o, because I had no idea how the day would end.  I worked as an aide to a boy with autism in his first grade classroom.  It was so surreal listening to the teacher acknowledge to the kids that something was going on, but everything was all right here, and that they weren't going to talk about it anymore at school.  I remember thinking that I wouldn't have taken my child to school.   

[AHASRADA]

dp

[AHASRADA]

I was with dh and dc (4 and 1.5 at the time) and several ILs at the beach on the Mediterranean. We all came in for lunch and happened to turn on the TV. It was a live feed from CNN, but voiced over in Spanish, so I wasn't really paying attention until I saw written at the bottom of the screen, "Under Attack: Targets hit in NY and DC". What?'! Then I started trying to read the anchor's lips and make out some of the Spanish at the same time.

 

My mom called later on our cell and filled me in. It was so surreal, she was very upset, trying to describe the chaos, turmoil and uncertainty everyone was going through back home, but when I hung up the phone, I was surrounded by calm waves and gentle ocean breezes, largely unaffected by the incident.

 

Extended family members and neighbors, knowing I was American, all checked in to make sure I was OK, that my family back home wasn't harmed, which was very kind and reassuring.

 

We were blessed to have the choice to deal with the tragedy in our own time and our own way, and when it became too much, to turn off the TV and our minds and bury our heads in the (beach) sand. Of course we had plenty to deal with when we returned home, but it was a relief to have a couple of weeks to process things first.

[vonfirmath]

I was waking up for the day in my comfy bed in Bellevue..  I had a radio alarm where it turned on the radio first and, half an hour later, an alarm

 

So I was lying there, drowsily listening to Kirby Wilbur talk about what a slow news day it was. Then... a plane had hit the World Trade Center. He talked about they didn't know how this had happened. That a plane had accidentally hit the Empire State Building back in (some date). And so on, so on. (But I was awake at this point!) And then the plane hit the second building and I knew we were at war.

 

At that point, I got out of bed and put a tape into the VCR player to record and called my friend in Seattle who didn't rise until late to wake him up and tell him we had been attacked and he needed to turn on the news and started getting ready for bed.

 

At least the first building collapsed (The second hit) before I left my house to drive into work.  I kept Kirby on to listen though.  There was some kind of plane in the air in Washington DC. Maybe a commuter plane? There was also talk of a lady commenter (whose name I knew at the time though I've forgotten it now) had been flying to California after having breakfast with her husband for his birthday. She called to tell him what was going on and ask "what do we do" and stuff.)  And the airplanes ALL being grounded as everyone wondered what would happen next.  Were there any other planes in the air already hijacked.

 

My mother's boss was in -- New York City I think at the time. His wife ended up driving up to pick him up because the airplanes were grounded for so long.

 

Not much work got done that day. I remember one of my friends on chat said his aunt had been on plane and called out, terrified, and at the time I scoffed because really, hijackers would let someone call and say what was going on?! Except of course I was proven wrong.