Getting close to the anniversary - where were you on 9/11?

[JFSinIL]

I was home, schooling two kids, with one at special needs school a bus ride away and hubby in downtown Chicago when my sister from California called to tell me to turn on the news. I was on the phone with her watching when the first tower fell - later my mil here had me call my sister to have her call hubby in Chicago to tell him to get on the train and come home as the local phones were down but long-distance could still get through. He gets a call from his sister-in-law at work telling him his mom said he had to go home NOW! (he worked next to the Sears Tower and no one knew yet what other planes might still be coming anywhere). He hung up our flag in front of the house the moment he got home. Rain/snow aside, it has been hanging up ever since.

 

After reading many other posts, I recall, too, a couple days later having to drive past O'Hare International airport on the way to a doctor app't and how quiet it was with no planes in the skies. Normally we have planes taking off and landing or circling overhead - like large bees off in the distance.

[Aubrey]

Every yr, the week before, I think will be fine.

 

I was driving ds to daycare after dropping dh at work, & I was on my way to school. I was sure that we were being attacked, although I thought it was China. I wanted to keep my baby close, but I realized that could be foolish.

 

It was my dad's bday, & his dad had just died the mo before. A mo later, my 2yo cousin died in her sleep w/out cause.

 

A couple of yrs later, my aunt died (48) just before her bday--9/11. She & dad were best friends until just a few yrs before she died. She & her dh divorced & she got heavy into drugs & stopped talking to anyone. When she died, right before their shared bday, he lost his chance to reconcile w/ her. And his 2nd wife had just left him.

 

9/11/05 was the last time I saw my dad alive. I was going to call him for his bday instead of driving out to see him, but the night before, I dreamed that he died, & because of that, dh insisted we go. Dad died a week later, at 49.

 

Like I said, the week before 9/11, I always feel like I'll be fine. Then the date hits, & I remember the towers & my dad & granddad & everything, & the days between that day & the date dad died tick off, & things get hard. Even though I keep telling myself every yr that this yr will be different.

 

Yr before last, we took his ashes to spread near the beach where he used to live. Dh took me to my old house, & we sat on the pier where dad & I used to go fishing, & I can see it more clearly now in my mind, & there's a little pile of ashes there, too.

 

But I think this yr is going to be easier. ;)

[Lorna in the boonies]

I had just dropped my older two kids off at school (this was before we started homeschooling, obviously) and was back home, nursing my newborn and watching the episode of "Little House on the Prairie" where the blind school burns down. The baby finished eating and a commercial came on -- I put the baby in her crib and got online. I went to a forum I frequented, and one of the ladies had just posted to turn on the TV, because news of the attack had just broken -- not 2 minutes from when I had just turned it off.

[Carrie12345]

I was at work (a Curves-like gym) in Trenton, NJ. We had a t.v. in the kiddie room, which I never turned on unless a parent requested it. For some strange reason, I turned it on that morning.

 

Dh does a lot of work in Manhattan (including the towers) and I had no idea what his schedule was supposed to be. I couldn't get through to him with the lines jammed.

 

On top of that, Trenton pretty much shut down, except for the hospital across the street. I wanted to get on line to donate blood (because everyone still thought we'd be needing it) and then go pick up ds from daycare so I could go home and focus on locating dh. My boss refused to give me permission to close the gym. Eventually, I ignored him, locked up, and went home.

 

Military planes zoomed over us all day. Dh wasn't in NY, but he could see the smoke from his NJ office.

 

It was also the day that I found out I was pregnant with dd. Hormones did not help me out that day!

[stephanie]

I remember I was blow-drying my hair then finished and started flipping quickly through the channels. I saw footage of the planes crashing into the tower, but was going through the channels so quickly that I thought it was just a tv show. Then I kept seeing it..over and over. I was petrified! I remember we had a well-visit with my youngest, and I was scared just to drive over there for fear of something happening in our town. (We have a ton of refineries here so I felt it was a target) It was such a sad time for so many people, and still is. I know that God was crying that day for our country.

[Paula in MS]

I was working at a bank and was pregnant with my only child. We didn't get much done that day. I'll never forget it.

 

Paula

[Kathleen in VA]

I was asleep and got woken my dh calling to tell me. We had had a particularly rough hs-ing day on that Monday and were seriously considering sending the two oldest to school. Dh called and said we really don't have any problems and to hold them close.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

I was doing some housework. 2 month old dd was in her cradle in the living room. I heard the words "plane" and "WTC" I went to the TV. When I saw the 2nd plane hit I picked up my baby girl and said, "OMG, we're at war."

[Nestof3]

Home with Nathan and Ben (Ben was 3 months old and sleeping).

 

My husband and Aaron were working. Dh called after a customer told him what had happened to tell me about it.

[Nakia]

My husband, Anna, and I were at Myrtle Beach, SC. We decided to go out shopping that morning. We went into a store that had a big screen TV, and everyone in the store was gathered around watching it. We walked up just in time to see the second plane hit. :(

[momofkhm]

I was on the computer having taken oldest to school. I was checking a different board back then. Everyone started "talking" about what was happening in NY. I had just tuned off the tv and thought - nothing, there's nothing going on. I turned on the tv and watched awe struck - this can't be happening. I'm pretty sure I saw both towers fall. I was glued the rest of the day.

 

I didn't think anything of middle child watching with me until a month or so later when we saw a car fire. After all what could she comprehend since she was "only 4". Her only question was "Does this mean a whole lot of people are going to die?" Because the only other non-animated fire she'd seen was the towers that day.

 

DH got sent home from work early - Cisco.

 

We live in the flight line to the airport but don't "hear" the planes. With all flights being grounded for a while, I didn't notice anything until they started to fly again and then it was a weird noise.

[laylamcb]

Oh, what a day. I was working in Alexandria, just a few miles from Arlington and the Pentagon. I remember the office buzz beginning about something happening in NYC; I quickly clicked over to The Washington Post, which had some crazy headline about one of the Towers being hit by a plane. We all made a mad dash to the lounge area, where we had a ceiling-mounted television. I remember watching this craziness and looking around the room at these silent faces, all looking up to the television with their mouths open. We just...stood there. We watched and watched and watched. We watched the second plane go into the second Tower. We watched in horror.

 

And while we watched, we heard and felt this tremendous BOOM. There was a kind of collective gasp, and then someone whispered, "What was that?" We continued watching and got a news clip that something was going on at the Pentagon--perhaps another plane? Was that the BOOM we felt? Then we watched the Towers go down--everyone was either silent and open-mouthed or screaming. Then I heard a news report that Fairfax County firefighters were being dispatched to the Pentagon--and I just took off. I don't remember even telling my boss I was leaving, but I must have. Everyone was leaving. It was the weirdest thing. We all just bolted for our cars. Truly, I've never driven so fast in my life. I flew around the Beltway out toward Dulles Airport where we lived at the time--and when I saw my DH's car parked in the driveway, I almost collapsed with relief. He was supposed to be on duty that day but was home sick.

 

Strangely, DH has a lot of "survivor guilt," so to speak, about 9/11. The guys at his station on his shift were sent to the Pentagon, and they've debriefed about the horrors they discovered (the charred bodies still sitting at their desks, etc). And then, of course, there were the 343 in NYC, a number that's branded on every piece of firefighting apparatus in Fairfax County, it seems (and rightly). For months afterward DH would become very sullen and moody--really, almost depressed--every time 9/11 came up. I think he's processed it now.

 

ETA: Rereading my response, that sounds SO selfish that I was relieved that DH wasn't on duty doing what he's trained to do: help people. And it WAS selfish. I wanted him to help me. Totally selfish and ridiculous, I know. But I was so scared, just as we all were. And I wanted him to be there with me. And then of course, those brave firefighters in the collapsed towers were fresh in my mind on my way home.... Oh, what a horrible day.

[TXMomof4]

It's amazing how clear these memories are.

 

It was a Tuesday, we had a bible study at church every Tuesday. I was getting the girls dressed, I had an18 mo and 2 mo old. I saw it on TV and just couldn't believe it. We got in the car and the tower collapsed while I was at Arapaho and Preston Road. I remember looking at the people in the cars around me and seeing people with their hands in their hands sobbing. I will never forget that.

We had a little TV on at church and one of our elders was supposed to have flown out of Boston Logan that morning and his daughter was there with us. We didn't know where he was, couldn't get hold of anyone. I watched more news that next two weeks than I ever have in my lifetime.

[Stacy in NJ]

I was dropping my boys off at pre-school, turned on the radio and heard the news.

 

In my previous life, I worked on the 77th floor of tower 2. 23 of my former co-workers were killed on 9/11 and the firm I worked for went bankrupt.

 

My husband was downtown on that day and watched the towers fall.

 

I'll never forget how vulnerable we are, and how necessarily it is to aggressively seek out those that want to kill us BEFORE they do so. And, I'll never forgive those people in power who were lazy, incompetent and complacent and let this happen because they're first priortity wasn't our safety.

[Remudamom]

Cleaning up our bedroom upstairs and turned the tv on to listen to while I was cleaning. I NEVER turn the tv on up there while I'm cleaning.

[Binalina]

My oldest dd was 18 mo old and I was 7mo preg. with my twins. We were all home and DH was at work. I was just doing my normal day (not too much at that point) ie I was as big as a house. My best friend called me to tell me to turn on the tv. I also thought it was a TV show and couldn't believe that it was actually happening. I remember feeling very vulnerable and trapped. I mean - where was I going to go, huge and with a toddler? I remember feeling sad for the two little people I was bringing into this world and the little one already here.

 

I had many sleepless nights thereafter, and then the twins came. A happy distraction as I didn't have time to think of much else except for them.

 

This time of year always feels sad to me now also because it marks the beginning of my grandmothers health issues. Leaves turning always bring me back to losing her.

 

BL

[Holly IN]

We were eating at Bob Evans then heard about a plane crashing into something when we left then went on to the dentist office (5 min away)for our kids dental cleaning. We watched the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center on tv in the waiting room, we got there just in time. Everybody was crying. I was in total shock. I just couldn't believe it.

 

 

 

 

Holly

[Mountain View Academy]

I saw the 1st and 2nd planes hit and frantically called my mom several states away who didn't know what we going on. We were on the phone for a couple hours!

 

My husband, a pilot, was headed to NYC but diverted to Detroit. He heard the towers in DC try to reach the pilots of the plane that went into the pentagon and no answer. An emergeny protocol built into the system was used that morning and had never been used before. All the pilots in the air that morning had no idea what was happening until after they were allowed to land and deboard.

[bettyandbob]

As I was leaving my dds preschool someone told me about the twin towers, I couldn't believe it. I went to get ds from OT and in his first year of homeschool and heard about the pentagon on my way. As I picked up ds I told the therapists. Two of the therapists had husbands at the pentagon.

 

I was supposed to attend the funeral of my neighbor's grandson. He was born a week after my ds and lived under 2 hours. My mother came to watch the baby and older ds so I could go. She was concerned that I was still going, but I thought it was extremely important. I was driving with another neighbor. The funeral was quite far. If you know the area, I'm in western Fairfax and the funeral was near Fort Belvior. The traffic and news reports on the radio got worse and worse as we went. The neighbor I was driving with was extremely nervous. Just over half way there we surmised we were going to be stuck in some heavy traffic and would have difficulty getting back. So, we turned and headed home. I picked up dd early from preschool, at my mother's urging. My neighbor, who had been driving with me, got her kids from school and camped in my house. I wouldn't let her put the tv on. I didn't think it was good for the kids to watch our anxiety rise.

 

My dh was working in the district at the time. He found out after leaving a big meeting. He and a partner stepped out of the office building to find complete and absolute gridlock. When I got to talk to him he refused to leave work. He said from his office window he could see there was no point in trying to drive anywhere. Another neighbor's dh worked one block closed to the whitehouse on Penn Ave. His office building was evacuated and he had to walk to Mclean (couldn't get his car out) where his wife was teaching. My dh came home quite early for him (5 pm).

 

I live on a street with about three hundred town houses and lots of kids. All day the moms were consulting eachother. One mom had grown up in a military family. She kept repeating that we must proceed business as usual. We should not panic and take our kids out of school. We should hastily evacuate our homes near Washington, DC. Her dh had the longest commute--he worked in Prince George's County, MD. Her mantra was stand firm, stay the course. We could evaluate what needed to happen when we knew more. I had to agree. I couldn't think that I had any place to go.

 

We had a prayer vigil on the sidewalk that night.

[NevadaRabbit]

Home in southern California - dh was getting ready for work and I was lying in bed in the guest room where 3 month old ds and I had slept part of the night. It was pretty early a.m. and a friend called us to tell us to turn on the tv.

[Quiver0f10]

I was bring my 9 yo, who was 2 at the time, to Boston's Children hospital for a check up. We were almost to Boston when we heard the news of the first plane hitting. We kept driving, thinking at the time that it was an accident. When the news reported the 2nd plane, DH took turned around and we headed home. The other kids were home with a sitter and I remember feeling absolutely panicked until we got home and were all together.

[JenParrish]

I was at home nursing my 2 month old son. My husband called me and told me to turn on the TV that a plane hit the tower and then I saw the other one hit. I was really concerned for the life of my newborn, fearing war on US soil.

[Dawn E]

I was in the San Francisco Bay area (Palo Alto to be exact :001_smile:) pregnant with dd, getting ready for work. We had just moved into a new apartment the month before and had not yet hooked cable up. My mother-in-law called to tell me the news about 15 minutes after Dh had left on Caltrain headed to South SF for work. It was pre-cell phones for us, and I had no way to contact him.

[Jenny in Atl]

I had just dropped on Mac at school, and Fi and I were at a small Hallmark, which also served as our local post office. There was complete panic, parents wondering if they should get their kids, everything came to a complete standstill. I remember calling my dh on the cell, really unsure what to do. Our tiny school kept the kids till normal dismissal time, and said nothing to them. They wanted them to have as normal a day as possible. I will never forget the odd quiet that week... no planes overhead. We had friends in the city. So much will never be the same.

[LizzyBee]

I was at work and my older 2 kids were at school 1 block away. I walked out to the receptionist area to ask the secretary something, and she put her hand up to signal me to be quiet. She had the radio on, and I thought she was listening to a radio preacher or something. Finally the words began sinking in and I realized one of the towers had been hit. We continued listening and heard that the 2nd tower was hit. I said, "OMG, we're under attack." I stayed at work, but it was hard to concentrate that day and I doubt I got a lot done. Dh called me several times to give me updates on what was happening.

 

DH said he was just walking in the front door at home and the neighbor came out to tell him the first tower was hit. He must have been coming home from dropping the kids off at school, and he must have had the baby with him. She was 2 months old that day.

[Just Me]

My older two children were in first grade and kindergarten, and my youngest son and I were at home. He was watching a video in the living room, and I was cleaning my bedroom and moving furniture. I had turned my tv on to catch teh morning news and saw the footage, then the second plane hit.

 

The worst part for me was that my dh was in Honduras on a mission trip, so I had no way to contact him. Then once they grounded all flights, I wasn't sure if he could come home. I was really scared, and I remember how much I wanted him there. While they were there, they found out what had happened, but couldn't understand what they were hearing on television, because everything was in spanish.

 

I also remember thinking that he wouldn't be able to see everything, so I video taped everything on television that day.

 

Thankfully he and his group were on the first flight allowed out of Honduras into America, except for two couples who volunteered to stay behind because they had no children. So he returned home about a week after the 11th. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see that man!

[laylamcb]

I will never forget the odd quiet that week... no planes overhead.

 

Oh my goodness, Jenny--I'd forgotten that. There were no planes here either, so close to DC--except military aircraft. We were in the Dulles Airport corridor then, and so when the flights started up again, I remember just kind of wincing for a while every time one passed overhead....

[jmgconner]

I was teaching when my DH called me. During my break, I went to call him back. He asked about what the school was doing about the situation. What situation? I asked. He told me and then I went straight to the teachers' lounge and turned on the TV. Our school was put on lockdown, but we were told NOTHING about what was going on. We just assumed that the police were chasing a suspect near the school. Administrators later admitted they messed up big time, but that was another huge strike against me ever working as a teacher again. I quit at the end of the year and started homeschooling.

[Heather in Neverland]

I was teaching high school. We had TVs with cable in our classrooms and my dh called me and told me a plane had hit one of the twin towers and to turn my TV on. I did and my entire class and I watched the towers fall. I was devastated and we were all crying. It was awful.

[Jennifer in MI]

I was at home. Dh was listening to the radio. He came running in to our tv room and flipped on the tv. We watched in horror. I'm sad that my two older boys actually remember the footage, but dh and I just couldn't stop watching it that morning.

 

Dh flipped out. I remained calm. I took the boys to a park so that I wouldn't have to watch the tv. That's where I heard about the third plane - right near where we used to live in PA. I panicked a bit and took the kids grocery shopping and stocked up on water and some canned goods - just in case.

 

I'm emotional just thinking about it right now. It was such a scary time.

[hsmamainva]

I was homeschooling my two oldest (then 10 and 7) and 5 months pregnant with our youngest child. My then 2 year old was watching "Mr. Rogers" so I had no clue what was going on.

 

My husband is a goverment contractor and he'd just left one of the military bases in the area (we lived in Maryland at the time) when the 2nd plane hit the tower. Not long after that, they closed the base, so he wouldn't have been able to leave if he hadn't left when he did.

 

I remember looking out the front window and I saw him running into the house and I wondered why he was running. When he told me what happened, I couldn't believe it. I didn't believe it until we put the news channel on.

 

I was a LaLeche League Leader at the time and it was the day of our group's Walk for Breastfeeding and I was rushing to finish school so I could go. I ended up having to call my co-leader to cancel the walk (it took a long time to get through because all the phone lines were down in the Washington area). I had to break the news to her because she didn't know about it either. (That was why my husband hadn't called to tell me -- he couldn't get the call to go through).

 

It was a sad, sad day. I no longer homeschool on 9/11. To me, it's a day of reflection and respect.

[Mama Lynx]

I was pregnant. That was my normal gym day, but for whatever reason I decided not to go.

 

I was online checking my email, and my kids were watching PBS. Someone sent an email about how she'd just seen a *second* plane crash into the WTC. I ran to the news websites, not wanting my dc to see a plane crash on TV. I couldn't get to any of the news sites. It wasn't until then that I realized the magnitude of what was happening.

 

I kicked the kids off the TV, and watched the news. DH was home that day, and was in the shower. I just stood there, crying. When they announced that they had shut down U.S. airspace, I went and got him. I was babbling incoherently, because I couldn't *say* the words. I told him that they'd shut U.S. airspace down, and he thought I had lost my mind.

 

Later that day, my 11 month old took his first steps.

[Mama Lynx]

Oh my goodness, Jenny--I'd forgotten that. There were no planes here either, so close to DC--except military aircraft. We were in the Dulles Airport corridor then, and so when the flights started up again, I remember just kind of wincing for a while every time one passed overhead....

 

No planes around Dallas, either. And when they started back up, I caught myself doing the same thing.

[OnTheBrink]

I turned on GMA, which I'd never watched before, and saw the footage just after the first plane hit the WTC. At that point, it was speculation as to why the plane hit the building. As the commentators speculated, the second plane hit. I was holding dd in my arms and I just stood there, stunned, horrified, feeling a deep pit in my stomach and scared to death for my father, who is often in NYC and DC. I called Ds into the to tell him what was going on. He didn't have much of a reaction initially, but when people started jumping and falling out of the WTC, the reality hit him and he just sobbed.

 

I'll never forget that day and I'll never forget the footage of people in the middle east celebrating that. Never.

[sleepy]

I was grocery shopping with three kids in tow. I had no idea what was going on until I turned on the radio during the drive from one store to the next. I remember the first words I heard were, "It has now been confirmed... both towers have fallen..."

 

We were heading for a little health food store in town, and when we got there the employees were listening to coverage on the radio. It was very surreal, and I remember thinking that I just needed to hold it together until we got home.

 

Once I was able to get home and turn on the tv, it really started to hit me. I wasn't able to sleep at all that night. It seems like I was glued to the tv for the first 48 hours or so.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

and taking care of my kids. Typical AM in my house. My bf called to see if I had heard or seen anything about an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. I told her no, but perhaps it was a news traffic aircraft.

 

Then on the radio, a commuter reported an airplane had crashed into the Pentagon. The commuter called in had their sunroof open and had a piece of the aircraft land on her passenger seat.

 

Then, my I called my dh and he watched the second plane hit the tower while he was on the phone with me. Right after I hung up with him, my mom called (she worked right down from the White House in DC) and told me she was on the road and headed to my house (in Manassas). Those were the last two phone calls I could make that day - the lines were busy or down all through the area. I kept my kids from the tv (we had one down in the basement). I remember feeling so helpless. I lived in the flight plan of Dulles and the silence in the sky was so erie. I remember seeing Air Force I flying over.

 

A year later, we dealt with the Beltway Sniper -- that was almost worse as it was a slow, prolonged stress that overcame all of us in the area.

 

I saved the newspapers for the day and plan on sharing them with my children as we study modern times this year.

 

K

[hsmamainva]

Oh my goodness, Jenny--I'd forgotten that. There were no planes here either, so close to DC--except military aircraft. We were in the Dulles Airport corridor then, and so when the flights started up again, I remember just kind of wincing for a while every time one passed overhead....

 

I remember that, too!!! We were living less than 10 miles from the Patuxent Naval Air Station at the time and we always had planes flying over our house. It was SOOOO quiet for days afterward and I remember that feeling of dread whenever we heard the military jets and then, later, when commercial planes started flying again.

[Crissy]

We were all still in bed.

My parents were visiting relatives in the mid-west and my mom called me. She knew I would still be asleep and she wanted to talk to me before I turned on the TV.

Her words were, "They're flying planes into buildings."

Knowing how my mom exaggerates, I knew it was very possible that 'they' was a single pilot, and 'planes' could be one small aircraft that had a terrible accident.

Who could have believed the truth?!

 

I turned on the TV a few minutes before the first tower fell. I just kept saying, "Oh, God. Oh, God, no."

 

I stayed in front of my television for an entire week. I sat, and I watched, and I cried for a whole week. I couldn't do anything else.

[sdWTMer]

Had just gotten off from driving my bus route and was driving to pick up the kiddos from my parents house. I was listening to my favorite talk radio show that morning and I heard that they had breaking news. When I got to my parents house, luckily dh was there and we watched in unbelief together with my father.

[Tracey in TX]

9/11 is DS's birthday. It was to be a family day. DH was home before his flight out later that afternoon. (Obviously, it never happened.) I was listening to NPR and they were talking about some strange event. I thought it was a Broadway play, but was too weird. I was in NYC the week prior with some girlfriends. The proposed week was to be there on that date, but I wanted to be home with DS. Thank goodness! I would've been staying in Manhattan.

We sat glued to the TV in shock.

 

Side note: DH's was born on the year anniversary of JFK's assassination. He once said he wished no child would ever have the burden of having such a tragedy on their birthday. Then came 9/11.

 

My hearts go out to the many children who lost their parents in the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and United Airlines 93 flights. And the many families who lost loved ones during those terrible terrorist attacks.

As the years have gone by, I've also begun to think about how the many faithful Muslims must feel about the image they have to present to overcome the radicals. No matter what the viewpoint, everyone loses. :(

[Lolly]

We were at home having school. I learned about it when I took a break to check on the WTM boards. I couldn't figure out what anyone was talking about. None of it made sense. I finally turned on the television. That was about 10 minutes before the second plane hit.

[King Alfred Academy]

We were vacationing in Gatlinburg, TN. All of the little stores had it on over their loud speakers. It was weird because no one was talking about it. Just listening. We went into our hotel room and watched the coverage for a while and then had to step away from the tv because the emotion was just too much.

[clarkacademy]

I was taking the older two to pre k. I heard it on the radio. I will never forget it a song was playing and stopped. An announcer came on the radio and stated, an airplane has flown and crashed into the twin towers, we have no idea of injured or casualities, may God be with us all.... I realized that day we were not safe. I sat at the light until cars started beeping at me. I could not believe it and at first it was like, No way that was an idiots idea of a joke. Sadly it was true. :grouphug:

[Kay in Cal]

I was six months pregnant with our oldest son, asleep in bed...

 

The phone rang, and I grabbed it. It was my mom, who said "I'm still alive." I had no idea what she was talking about, and as she started to tell me what was going on we turned on the TV in shock.

 

My mom works at the pentagon... at the time she was still a Colonel in the Air Force reserves (she was a JAG) as well as having a civilian pentagon job (she still does--though their offices are now across the street, not in the pentagon itself).

 

I spent the rest of the morning in bed, holding my belly and feeling the baby squirm as we watched TV and tried to reach all of our Manhattan friends to make sure they were OK. Then I went in to church and we started planning worship services for that night.

[Sue G in PA]

Every year at about this time I start feeling a bit depressed for seemingly no reason...you just made me realize why. It isn't for no reason. It's b/c of 9/11. I didn't lose any friends or relatives on 9/11...but I remember the overwhelming grief and sadness and fear I felt that horrid day. I wept w/ the thousands of people who did lose loved ones. I was safe and secure in my home, ready to walk my 5yo (now 11yo) to the busstop, preparing to take my 4yo (now 10yo) son to the dr. to get his cast on. He had just broken his wrist a few days before. I remember driving him to the dr., listening to the radio while there and the odd silence in the dr.'s office. I didn't even realize what had happened that day until my mother called me and told me to turn on the tv. I was horrified. I immediately thought of my MIL (well, step-MIL..dh's stepmom) who was a pilot for USAIR and immediately tried to contact her to see if she was in the air or on the ground. Thankfully, she was on the ground. We will always remember...

[WTMindy]

We were all still in bed.

My parents were visiting relatives in the mid-west and my mom called me. She knew I would still be asleep and she wanted to talk to me before I turned on the TV.

Her words were, "They're flying planes into buildings."

Knowing how my mom exaggerates, I knew it was very possible that 'they' was a single pilot, and 'planes' could be one small aircraft that had a terrible accident.

Who could have believed the truth?!

 

I turned on the TV a few minutes before the first tower fell. I just kept saying, "Oh, God. Oh, God, no."

 

I stayed in front of my television for an entire week. I sat, and I watched, and I cried for a whole week. I couldn't do anything else.

 

Crissy, this is almost exactly my story. I was sleeping and dh called from work and said, "Turn on the TV. All hell is breaking loose." I too turned it on in time to watch the tower fall. I had two little people and I couldn't tear myself away from the TV for a week. I didn't even know anyone directly involved and yet I still tear up just reading all these accounts. I can't believe how close to the surface the grief still is even after seven years.

[teamturner]

I was sitting on the couch nursing my almost 2 week old dd. My twin boys were 21 months old at the time so they were playing in the family room and my dh was still home with me and our new baby. We had the TV on and actually saw the 2nd plane hit the tower. And we saw the towers collapse. I think we were in shock for a very long time after that. It just didn't seem possible for something like that to happen on US soil.

 

I wish the news media would replay the events that day on TV every anniversary so Americans would remember and mourn our loss each and every 9/11.

[Aggie]

Stationed on a military base. Dh had just left for work at some ridiculous hr (4am I think), heard the news on the way to the office, then turned around to come wake me up and tell me. By the time he got back to housing, it was locked down tightly.

 

For the next 2-4 weeks, all we heard were military planes. The marines set up camp in the base school and tents on the grounds, the AFB was used as a staging area, the air show was cancelled, it took *hours* to get onto base because of the searches. That weekend, we hosted some friends off a submarine who pulled in to load some 'special' weapons. They had been at sea all week and hadn't seen anything.

 

Our local community is having a service next week. We'll go to that instead of having class.

[Crissy]

I wish the news media would replay the events that day on TV every anniversary so Americans would remember and mourn our loss each and every 9/11.

 

I completely respect your point of view, Michelle, but I am so glad they don't. It is one thing to remember and to honor, but another thing to experience it all over again.

Part of grief is healing. I don't think many of us could get to that point if we had to relive the events of the day on a regular basis.

 

But then again, everyone is different...

I had a conversation with my sister last month, around the anniversary of my brother's death. She is still hopeful that we will someday know who killed him. That there will be a trial.

I was shocked. I have been of the opinion for years now that the last thing my family needs is to live through the horror and the details again.

I still have a hard time understanding her point.

[Crissy]

I can't believe how close to the surface the grief still is even after seven years.

 

 

That surprises me, too. Especially because I don't know anyone who was directly involved.