What were you doing, decided to do, or did do on 9/11/2001?

[Lady Freedom Returns]

I was celebrating getting my college acceptance letter. I was on cloud 9. I was still a little unsure what to study. But seeing the reports trying to get all the info out they could. They were running to the danger, just like the rescuer were. That s when I knew what I was going to study. My main interest when I started was to be a war correspondent, but when I fell in love with an ex Marine I changed it to more home front type reporting.

So what did you do, were doing, decided to do on the day the world stopped turning?

[whatchamacallit]

1. Work it!

[Vashta Nerada]

2. The world stopped turning on 9/11/2001?

Why does it still cycle night and day every 24 hours here in MN?

[Marrah_G]

19. I suppose the farther removed you are from it, the less it seems like a big deal

I know at least here in the North East.... it did indeed feel like the day the earth stood still.

The lack of planes was one of the eeriest things, you don't notice them until they aren't there

[Vashta Nerada]

37. I moved on.

There's worse events that happen daily and no one dwells over it.

[Marrah_G]

38. Good for you

I'm sure you will understand that some other people on the board are still effected emotionally by that day.

[Vashta Nerada]

39. I find that reliving it over and over again, and being constantly reminded of it every goddamn day..

is not allowing many to move on.

[uppityperson]

43. Yet for some reason you find need to come in here and bash those who feel otherwise. odd.

[duffyduff]

40. You've really got to be kidding with that remark.

Not to mention it's pretty insensitive.

[Vashta Nerada]

48. What's insensitive is thinking 9/11 was the only major terror event

when so many others occur on a daily basis. The people in those countries can move on. They don't erect morbid monuments about those events. They don't post facebook statuses about how they will never forget.

[bobclark86]

20. 9/11, NIIIIIAAAAANNN EEEEELEEEEAAAVENNN!

[hobbit709]

3. My thoughts were that our Constitution was now fucked.

TPTB got what they wanted.

[gopiscrap]

66. Yup I had that sinking feeling also.

[Bluzmann57]

4. I was out for a walk

And stopped in a local gas station/convenience store for a bottle of pop. They had a tv on and of course, the coverage was wall to wall terrorist bombing news. I asked the owner and another guy what was going on and they said, "Terrorists flew some planes into the World Trade Center." I said, "Oh shit." and we all stood there for a few minutes transfixed by what was happening. Then I decided to walk home and call my mom. When she answered I said, "Well, we're at war." She asked me what was I talking about and I proceeded to tell her. She then hollered at my dad to turn on the tv at their house. After that, it's sort of a blur. Just sitting and watching mostly.
Except for one thing. I was single at that time and had a date for later that day. We went out to eat a nice lunch and, of course, talked about the events of the day. We then walked outside, looked up and saw one large plane and two interceptor planes and we knew that the large one was Air Force One heading east from Omaha. The rest is history.

[Warpy]

5. I'd worked a 12 the night before

and got up at 11:45 AM mountain time to piddle. I flipped on the set to watch the noon news and find out what the weather was going to be and got a big surprise.

Well, not a huge surprise. I'd known those buildings had big fat targets on them since 1993.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep again until late that night. I went out in late afternoon for groceries and cat chow and was struck by the silence. I haven't heard silence like that since the Cuban Missile Crisis. I never want to hear it again.

[NYC_SKP]

7. I was standing in a classroom with a bunch of teenage students.

Wife called from work to say something huge was up, FedEx planes grounded nationwide, she knew before anyone.

Then it came on the news and students and teachers all watched as things played out.

[In_The_Wind]

8. I was recovering from a neck injury.

Sitting safely in my home, 120 miles north on NYC.
I sat and cried ... then turned the TV off for almost a year.

On Thursday I drove south on the NJ Turnpike. I'll never forget the way NYC looked.

I spent the next week in Cape May - bird watching. Celebrating the fact that I was alive.

I lost one good friend due to 9/11. He was working in the subway tunnels. Steve came up, above ground and worked alongside the first responders trying to save lives. Sadly he lost his years later when a little spot on his left lung bloomed into cancer. Miss you my friend. You always gave your all to help those in need.

[Bluzmann57]

15. R.I.P. to your friend

He was a man's man, trying to help others in need the way it sounds.

[Auggie]

9. Packing to move the next day

9/11/01 was my last full day living in San Francisco

[avebury]

10. I was at work.

Someone came in and said that a plane went into one of the towers. Nobody believed it at first. We went into one of the offices and turned on a tv. We saw the second plane go into the other tower. We just sat there and watched the TV. Later on that morning, State Agencies were closed to all by essential personnel and remained closed the next day. I went home and watched the TV for the most part for the time I was off.

[peace13]

11. What was I doing the day before when it was announced that the American people

had been bilked out of trillions of dollars? That is a better question. Where did the money go? Why was it never mentioned again.

[Mnemosyne]

18. 9/11 changed everything!1! No need to look back!1! They should find that money and never receive

another tax dollar.

[TeeYiYi]

30. Good post. Thanks for the vid. ..nt

TYY

[bigwillq]

12. I was in class.

Some girl came in and said her boyfriend in NYC said that a plane crashed in WTC. I thought it was one of those small, prop planes. Then, she said another plane crashed and I knew we were all in trouble.
Classes were then cancelled for the day.

[dionysus]

13. i tried to donate blood but they were overwhelmed and didn't need any.

[rrneck]

14. Loading a truck backed up to the dock.

Then I went to work and watched fear and jingoism blossom.

[hfojvt]

62. i watched greed blossom that night

when I came home from work there were cars lined up for blocks trying to buy gas before the price went way up. Yeah, the "county came together" after 9/11. Then later that night, Bush gave his cowboy, sabre rattling speech, and I thought "oh crap, this is gonna suck"

I was happy to be proven right about the attack though. Initial reports were saying "maybe 50,000 dead" and I did not think it was nearly that high. Final tally was less than 4,000.

Then the anthrax attacks came, and my first thought was that they came from INSIDE the Bush administration. Of course, the investigation never did find the people responsible (or a scapegoat) but they did find out it was "US Government anthrax" and I said "uh huh, yep."

At the time the media was talking like "we would have terrorist attacks every day". That was the fear, but I did not think it would happen - and I was right. So I only note in passing that our great and fearsome terrorist enemies killed 4,000 on a single day, but over 10,000 died in car accidents in the next two months.

And now, 12 years later, the 12 year toll is terrorists in the US - 5,000 car accidents - over 400,000. Oooh, somebody save me from the terrorists. I am soooo scared.

[dembotoz]

16. working

at a telecom--not a main one but a competitor of a main one.

couple blocks from the local federal building and all hell was breaking out there with guards and all.

in the conference room we had a couple flat screen tv's.

we were told there was no way we could get a tv signal--teleconference only

couple engineers disapeared for a bit and suddenly we had full cable news footage.

those guys could do anything.....

[Marrah_G]

17. I was packing to move

A friend called screaming "turn on the tv".

[broiles]

21. I was celebrating my birthday, some birthday.

[missingthebigdog]

44. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[broiles]

45. Thanks. Now I celebrate in on 9/10, my dogs birthday.

[hamsterjill]

22. I was at work with a bunch of right winger fools.

And I remember just being pissed that George Bush was in charge at the time. I felt afraid and helpless because I KNEW he didn't have the ability to handle things well.

As the day went on and more planes crashed, I specifically remember uttering the words out loud (as to Flight 93), "they shot it down"...

The right wingers looked at me with amazement.

[Dawson Leery]

32. Those right wing fools are today's teabaggers.

They would have reverted to being establishment tools had Rmoney won.

[Jamaal510]

23. I was 11 years old,

and my dad was driving me to school when we heard about it on the radio. We were both scared that there would also be attacks here on the West Coast.

[bobclark86]

24. I seriously thought I'd forgotten that song...

and all I can think of while remembering those lyrics are the noises my kittie growing up would make after eating her dinner too fast.

Also, as rude as this might be, but when will we get to not caring except on 5- and 10-year anniversaries like everything else? When will MSNBC stop re-running the exact same fucking hours of piss-poor coverage EVERY YEAR?

[Romulox]

25. I remember standing in my living room with CNN on, crying... nt

[NuclearDem]

26. I was 12, homeschooled, in my apartment.

Dad was out running errands when he called home and told us to turn on the news.

[ladyVet]

27. Pretty much the same thing I'm doing right now.

Surfing the Internet, had HGTV on in the background. I hadn't gotten to checking out this site yet (I had a routine!). I'd just gotten back from taking my youngest to school (he's now graduated and in college), while my two oldest were getting ready to go to their classes.

At the back of my mind, I was planning what to do for my middle son's 21st birthday, when my mother called and said a plane had flown into a building in NYC. I came here, and also turned the TV to CNN.

I was watching when the second plane hit. I cried all that day, and for days afterwards.

Today, I'm surfing the Internet, have Discovery ID on the TV, and I'm thinking about what kind of cake to make for the boy's 33rd birthday. I'm not crying today, just feeling such sorrow at all that has happened over the last twelve years.

[2naSalit]

28. I was just waking up to

NPR morning news and I heard Bob Edwards asking someone, "Did you say you just saw an airplane crash into th World Trade Towers?"

I knew as I continued to listen through coffee that my job I was negotiating would disappear and I would find that eventually that MA in PoliSci I just got a month earlier was going to become a financial albatross.

I knew something was going to happen in this manner the day the SCOTUS decided that we would have the decider in the white house and I knew we would be in a war in the ME by the end of the year... then.

I also stopped talking to a number of uberpatriots who were once friendly acquaintances.

And here we are surviving the aftermath... still.

[winstars]

29. I watched fire truck after fire truck driving downtown to their doom...

Lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, off Columbus Avenue, a major street that goes south, meaning that it goes downtown. I was out walking my dog in Central Park and as I walked home I saw literally dozens on fire trucks and police flying downtown on Columbus Avenue. Only when I got upstairs did I realize what I had been witnessing. Both of the fire trucks from my neighborhood fire house never came back uptown, along with so many others.


Later, in the afternoon, I saw lots of people walking up Columbus Avenue. They looked normal except their legs and feet were covered with white dust. I realized they had been down there and had just walked the like 100 blocks uptown, trying to go home. I watched this with the sound and sight of fighter jets flying in the sky above me.

And its true, it was a very very beautiful day, blue sky and like 75 degrees, a perfect day.

I remember these things like it was yesterday.

[Are_grits_groceries]

31. It was my day off and I was watching The Today Show.

Matt and Katie were the anchors and they immediately started trying to cover the story. However, nobody knew what the hell was going on. I saw the clip of the first plane hitting and then the 2nd plane hit while I was watching. I called a friend and told him to turn on the teevee because all hell was breaking loose.

Then they started showing shots near the towers. After a short while, the towers crashed. It couldn't have taken long for them to come down, but it seemed like forever. I just watched in a daze.

Alan Jackson"s song was a very thoughtful one. It wasn't some jingoistic crap that began to come out.

Some people seem to be making fun of the idea 'that the world stopped turning.' You knew before you typed that what he meant.
And Newsflash: A lot of worlds for many people did stop turning and I doubt if all of them have started again.
I cannot believe people think this is any time for snark.

Whatever the whole story was or all the other concerns can wait for just one moment to remember what happened to the people. They deserve at least that.

[Nay]

33. I was at work. A security/police atmosphere, in a city about 90 miles from DC. Needless

to say, most of us working downtown thought there was a possibility that one of our skyscrapers was next. The building was evacuated and all but essential personnel were sent home.

Mr Nay and I watched TV for several days, pretty much unable to process the horror very well.

Several weeks later we went out West for our scheduled vacation. We never felt that flying would be MORE dangerous after 9/11, but obviously others felt differently; the plane was 2/3 empty. It was actually a very nice flight.

[hamsterjill]

34. I remember the hospitals making ready to receive patients...

And then seeing the video of the doctors and staff just standing around with empty looks on their faces.

[bettyellen]

75. there were dozens of ambulances and fire trucks from every single town in NJ come up to help.....

and very little for them to do. Very touching to see.

[titaniumsalute]

35. My day

I had a dentist appt. when the first plane hit. As I checked out the office manager told the Dr. and I that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in NYC. I got into the car and was listening to Howard Stern on KRock in NYC. They were discussing the details and watching TV live when the second plane hit. The play by play from that Stern show crew (live in NYC) was pretty amazing and VERY scary. I was only about 15 miles from the Pentagon when they announced it was also hit. That really hit home for me.

I drove straight home versus going to work and parked myself in front of the TV. A friend of mine from NYC was actually in DC and called me. We met for lunch to talk, ponder, cry. He had to drive back home later that day to NYC. It must have been devastating.

Two days after 9/11 I had to drive through NYC to get to Boston. I was driving the Jersey turnpike when the 7pm candle vigil was taking place. Every overpass had hundreds of people on it with candles. It was surreal. Watching the blue, grey and black smoke rising from the NYC horizon was awful and not seeing those two beautiful towers in ton the skyline was really mind altering.

[Hekate]

64. Welcome back. Any chance of finding a link, for historical purposes?

Last edited Wed Sep 11, 2013, 06:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Edited to add: I was not at DU then, but I know that you are describing the best that DU can be because I was here for Hurricane Katrina and the Drowning of New Orleans.

I'm no good at doing Advanced Search on DU -- goodness knows I've tried sometimes -- which is why I asked if you had a link.

I finally got here in about September of 2002, and rather envy those who were here at the foundation.

[B Calm]

41. Driving an 18 wheel truck around Chicago and wondering if Chicago was going to be next.

[hrmjustin]

42. I was watching the buildings coming down from a pier in Brooklyn. I spent the next week looking for

several friends. They did not make it.

[Egalitarian Thug]

46. The dancer I was dating woke me up saying, "I think they started a war or something".

I somehow reached one of my buddies in NY and he helped me find out that no one I knew was in the buildings. That day definitely had a surreal atmosphere in LA.

[ellie]

47. I was at work in a Detroit suburb

My boss lived and worked off-site in VA. We had a deadline that day and I was emailing him about wrapping up the project. He emailed me back and said, "Something happened in New York. I have to try and get in touch with some of my friends who live there." Back in the office, the company CEO went into the conference room and turned on the tv. A group of us gathered to watch the second tower get hit then both collapse. We were all sent home shortly afterward.

[fizzgig]

49. i'd just gotten up to head to school

i was a sophomore in college, came upstairs for coffee and saw it on the news. i was in complete shock, i'd been in the towers just a few weeks before.

went to school, i wanted to hear why my polisci prof had to say about it. he was already talking about bin laden. campus was deathly silent, i worked in the student union and remember just watching the tv throughout my shift, it was a slow day for a normally busy business.

my grandmother worked near the towers, had gone shopping for rosh hashana and we couldn't reach her with all the cell towers down. it took her hours to get home to queens.

[Behind the Aegis]

50. I had taken the day off from work.

I was on the way to the dentist and was pissed that Bush was on the radio, so I popped in a tape. When I got to the dentist office, I saw the towers coming down (being hit) and thought "What a weird movie to have playing at the dentist office." Then I was told what happened. I was in the chair getting my cleaning when the Pentagon was hit and heard it live because a reporter was reporting from the yard of the Pentagon, trying to get in for an interview.

I then went to a friend's house to do laundry and woke him up to tell him what was happening. I called my staff (I had two from New York), to check on them and see how things were going. Classes were cancelled for the day.

[winter is coming]

51. I was at work, a full-time permanent job with good pay and good benefits.

How's that for nostalgia?

[applegrove]

52. I was getting ready for work. Turned on CNN. Saw that a 'small plane' had flown

into the World Trade Centre. Called my dad and he turned it on. Then we saw the second plane crash into the second building and we then knew it was terrorism and big jets that were crashing. What a horrible day.

[Crimson76]

53. I was asleep and my mother knocked on the door

"Billy, could you go get me a pack of Marlboro, and 2 planes just crashed into the World Trade Center" RIP MOM, way to bury the lead though.

[BeyondGeography]

54. I was on the A train trying to get to 59th St. and was delayed

Last edited Wed Sep 11, 2013, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)

The train ran through World Trade Center. There were no communications and I was running late for work already because I had seen my daughter off to her first day of school (I don't know why public school started on 9/11 that year--probably Rosh Hoshanah was the previous week like this year-- but it did and it saved a few lives).

Anyway, I finally got off the train at around 9:30 and a station that was usually full of people was totally empty. My bagel woman was on the phone and didn't have the time to get my breakfast...everything was off. And then she told me planes, plural, had flown into the World Trade Center, upon which I tried to look concerned but I thought it may have been small planes, an accident, whatever. When I got to the street, a woman was crying and I didn't take that seriously either, nor did the sirens particularly impress me. The security guys at the elevator were talking about it...still no big deal to me. My office was mine alone, so no colleagues to fill me in, three or four panicky vociemails from friends and family, still not impressed. Then I turned on WINS, not long after which I heard the live transmission of the south tower collapse, which I will never forget and completely freaked me out, which does not happen easily.

I called my wife back and said, leave now, this is the worst day in the history of the city. She said, you told told me not to worry. I said I was wrong...

[KamaAina]

55. Sleeping.

I was in Honolulu. The attack took place at 3:30 in the morning local time. My first inkling that something was amiss came when I stopped in a corner store downtown, and the TV was on. The images of damaged skyscrapers made me think that perhaps there had been an earthquake somewhere.

Guess when my dear friend's birthday is? Hint: No one will have trouble remembering it. We had to change our plans because the restaurant she wanted to go to was in Ala Moana Center, and the entire shopping center was closed, because clearly they hate us for our tourist souvenirs.

[HeiressofBickworth]

56. I was camped at a KOA outside Santa Fe NM

One of our party went to the office to mail a postcard and came back saying something had happened in NYC. We had no TV, no internet, no phones. We broke camp and left for Albuquerque. The radio worked for a while, but when we were between cities, there was no signal. Since we were camping and not staying in motels, we were isolated from the shock and sorrow for a couple of days. I remember odd things: going to a museum in Albuquerque and being asked if we were stranded -- people who were stranded due to no flights were given free access to the museum. Seeing military vehicles around - probably due to the proximity of the atomic bomb facilities. The Atomic museum was closed -- somehow I found that funny -- like anyone was going to go to the museum, steal the secrets and bomb the country. We picked up the local newspaper but somehow, it didn't adequately describe the devastation. It was three days later when we were in Holbrook AZ that I called home and my daughter gave me the details. She was shocked that I had so little information. As a result of where I was during the attacks, I have never felt the same fear and horror that other people describe. I was filled with sadness and to this day, I cry thinking of the horrible fate of the people who were killed. And after 12 years, I am heavily saddened by the changes to our way of life and our civil rights -- the terrorists won after all.

[burnsei sensei]

57. I was in a labor history seminar in Virginia.

[madamesilverspurs]

58. At home in Colorado.

Woke up, went to the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. Went into the living room, sat down and turned on the television to watch the news. By the time I remembered the cup of coffee in my hand it was cold.

[4Q2u2]

59. At Work

Working on the State House and job was closed down by State Police. Drove home and saw the Towers falling and was sick. Took my wife and daughter to the beach. We were the only ones out there. A bright sunny day that was so stark in contrast to what was happening that day. I knew also that I would be recalled to Active Duty in some way, I wanted time with my family.

[HooptieWagon]

60. My story:

I was checking posts on a message board I frequented before DU. My landlord was doing maintainence jobs around the house. Someone posted that a plane hit the WTC, then a minute later someone posted it was a jet, and might be a terrorist attack. I ran to LR and turned on TV, then called LL into house. We just sat there dumb-founded watching TV all morning.

OK, my story is boring. A friend of mine's is better. He lived in Conn. at the time, and worked in the WTC. He missed his train that morning. Train he got on was stopped several stations before reaching WTC. Noone aboard train knew why it stopped or had heard. Everyone stumbled out into street and could see the smoke and burning buildings in the distance. Some people went off to find someplace with news, others made their way home as best as possible. About 40 people in my friend's office died, He might have too, if he hadn't missed his train that morning.

[benld74]

61. I was driving into work listening to the local shock jocks,,

who were NOT too shocking THAT day. Just repeated reports of a plane hittiing one of the twin towers. By the time I parked the car, walked into the office and began to tell someone what I heard, I was told, 'Yeah, another plane hit as well'.

[RebelOne]

63. I was sitting in front of my computer at my job.

A coworker came in told me and airplane just hit the World Trade Center. Everyone in the office rushed to the TV in the conference room and watched what was happening. Then we saw the news of the second plane hitting the towers.

[gopiscrap]

65. I was in bed on the west coast

and my best friend who watches the stocks all the time called me and woke me up and all he said very seriously was: "Mike you better turn on the tv right now!"

[msanthrope]

67. I was about to leave for NYC. I had tickets for the Yanks/Chisox that night--Clemens was

on the mound to possibly win his 20th that year.

I saw a shite-load of uniforms at the Liberty Bell and the Mint. And then my husband, who was in Western PA on a deposition called me. And the damn world fell in.

I am glad I didn't see anything live. I don't think I could have stood it.

[madinmaryland]

68. I was five blocks away from my office in the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan.

I got home around 4:30 that evening and didn't head back into the city until Friday. No power in WFC until a week later (all back-up generators that were brought in).

[onenote]

69. I was on the 8 am metroliner from DC to NY for work

We were a few minutes late getting into Baltimore and one of the passengers getting on said he had just gotten a call about a small plane hitting the WTC; he was wondering if it would effect his being able to get to a meeting in downtown NYC (he didn't know where the WTC was in relation to his meeting).

Then after we reached Wilmington around 9:30, we heard from passengers getting on the plane that it was not a small plane and that there a second plane had hit the WTC after the first plane. Clearly something major was going on.

You have to recall that 12 years ago communications were not what they are today. We didn't have smartphones that could call up instant news and video. We had flip phones that didn't work particularly well on the Amtrak northeast corridor. I spoke briefly to my wife back in the DC area but she hadn't even turned on the tv -- she was unaware of what was going on. My work colleague and I decided that going into NY was a bad idea and we decided to get off the train in Philadelphia (at around 9:45) and head back to DC. As soon as we pulled out of the station, i noticed that I had a voicemail from my wife. All I heard was her voice, sounding almost otherworldly, saying "They've hit the Pentagon. Please be safe." Just about that time, the conductor announced that the train was stopping in Wilmington DE (the next stop) and everyone had to get out.

It was a spectacularly beautiful day and we walked from the station to a restaurant and it was there, sometime around 11:30 that we saw, for the first time, video of the planes hitting the WTC. We found a hotel and checked in. We didn't know if we would be there for a few hours, overnight, or for days. Rumors were rampant. The clerk at the counter in the hotel we checked into told us another plane had crashed into EPCOT in Florida. Meanwhile, I was desparately trying to find out about some friends and relatives who work in and around the WTC and Pentagon. For all we knew at that point, the number of dead might be in the tens of thousands.

We checked with Amtrak ever half hour or so to see if the trains were going to start running again. Finally, late in the afternoon, we were told the trains were running. I called my wife to tell her and she said the news was saying AMTRAK was still shut down. We didn't check out of the hotel in case we had to come back and went to the train station. A train pulled in and we got on it, hoping it was the right thing to do. An hour and a half later (it was still daylight) we arrived back in DC. A much different DC than the one we had left in the morning. It seemed deserted other than armed snipers on the roofs of the buildings. As we pulled out of the station parking garage, a fighter jet screamed overhead. My colleague lives less than a mile from the Pentagon and as we drove home, we were surprised that we could drive right past the building. Smoke was still wafting across the highway.

I got home and gave my wife a hug.

[Ino]

70. We were going to fly to Hawaii on 9/11 to get married.

The cab driver who came to drive us to the airport told us what happened and that the airport was closed. We'd been busy packing and didn't know! We were on the first plane out of St. Louis after 9/11... two days later. Our wedding rings are engraved with the wrong date.

[Hekate]

71. I was asleep after pulling another all-nighter on my doc. dissertation. Daughter phoned from work...

She told me something terrible had happened in NYC and to turn on CNN. This would have been about 9:30 a.m. California time -- because of the haze of being awakened by such shocking news and because of the continuous loops that CNN kept running, I was not sure for years if I had actually seen any of the towers falling in real time.

I never used to turn on the tv before the 5:00 news, but since those terrible days it's the first thing I do before making coffee in the morning.

My sis lived outside Boston, and the planes took off from Boston's airport. Her children's classmates lost two grandmas that day on the airplanes -- that was an immediate blow for my young niece and nephew. We checked on my husband's cousins in New Jersey -- they were okay. It took longer to get hold of my friends who worked in D.C.

My best friend and her husband were civil servants in Washington, D.C. and heard the plane hit the Pentagon. They had no way of contacting each other and it took hours for them to get home. Because of her position (speechwriter and general PR for some appointed department head) she was ultimately told that her place was at her boss's side in the event of any future evacuations to far-off locations, but she told me later that as far as she was concerned she had her own plans for evacuation should the occasion arise, and they involved getting to her family asap.

I think it hit them hardest, of the people I know. He was born in the Middle East, and has the looks and name to go with it. At a social gathering later someone decided to dump on him, and she ordered the asshole out of her house. (At some point they changed their name -- still a family name, but something less easily identifiable.) When everyone could fly again he flew his personal airplane to where the extended family gathered, and while the drinks were making the rounds the FBI came calling.

I wish I could do justice to the story of how he handled that interview. Finally unwinding with a glass of Scotch in his hand he stood in the doorway, laughed in their faces and schooled the two agents on proper investigative and interview techniques. That took balls. I'm grateful my friend wasn't the one answering the door: she's a hot-tempered Texas woman and I have a feeling it would have been the absolute last straw for her.

The behavior of the Bush/Cheney administration hit me hard. As much as I hated how they came to office, I believed that in such a dire event they would rise to the occasion. The sheer horror of Bush being whisked out of sight, incommunicado, then finally surfacing to tell us all to go shopping is something that was, in my mind, nearly equal to seeing the Towers fall because it was a harbinger of all that was to come. The almost instantaneous "discovery" of the hijackers' passports amidst the millions of tons of rubble and ash would have been laughable if not so heinous. All the lies, all the destruction, all of it.

The first responders were noble, and remain an example to us all. Christine Todd Whitman should have been locked into an office without glass in the windows near Ground Zero for the next several years for lying to New Yorkers about the air quality.

CNN outdid themselves. PBS did too, in a different way, by keeping all of their children's programming right where it was -- Fred Rogers did one of the most wonderful Public Service Announcements I've ever seen, helping parents and other caregivers understand how to keep this away from their little ones.

The day it happened was not just the one day. It was the weeks and months that followed...

[Spirochete]

72. I called up to see

if they needed blood donations, but they said they had plenty and didn't want any more.

[Hekate]

78. Same here. Originally it was thought that hospitals would be flooded with burn victims....

... but it was tragically otherwise.

[Blue_In_AK]

73. Awakened by my ex-husband's niece at 5 a.m.

then a lot of TV throughout the day. On Sept. 12 I started having questions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

74. I got a call from sister

Navy housing n Hawaii, hubby had just deployed. It was a regular west PAC...

That day went to the exchange and stocked up in canned goods, which within a week shortages did begin. Once regular air tragic resumed they were not immediately over but mostly over.

Next day helped other navy wives to take care of people stuck in paradise, and entertained kids in Housing. Connie, our Sun Conure, she was months old, was a good parrot and helped.

The concern in housing was simple, our husbands deployed in peace time, we were now on war time footing.

We had one particularly harrowing security brief, for families, walking into a room including a Chaplain...we assume the worst

[DreamGypsy]

76. We returned to Paris from Monet's garden at Giverney by a mid-afternoon train.

After walking back to our hotel, we called the hotel of friends who were to have arrived in Paris on a bus tour that afternoon. The phone clerk said there was some confusion (or something like that) but would try to put us through to their room. When our friend answered she was distraught and crying. She advised us to turn on a television - something we never do on vacations. The screen illuminated about a minute before the plane hit the second tower.