Where were you?

[demtenjeep]

I was teaching. My students were in the library doing research on Explorers. The librarian came in to our area and said that something is going wrong in NY and I think it is or will be history. Would you like your students to watch it on TV? I said of course. We all watched together as the events of the next few hours forever changed our world. There was no teaching regular curriculum that day.

Yesterday, I asked my students where they were and most of them were only 5 or 6 so they really don't know any different. They don't remember a time when we didn't have to take our shoes off at the airport. This is the way their world has always been.

[Rex]

1. I was making my grandfather breakfast.

Worst day of my life.

[MorningGlow]

2. Working at a TV station

Belly of the beast. No rest for me for a few days--and the subsequent weeks and months were pretty harrowing as well.

[Odin2005]

11. WOW!!!

:hug:

[muffin1]

3. I was home alone - just about to start my day.

Then the "Special Report" notice showed up on the TV. I spent most of the day on the phone talking/reporting to hubby and friends who were at work. Scary.

[Earth_First]

4. In a post-op recovery room recovering from a surgery to rebuild my shattered ankle..

the afternoon before, I suffered a horrific climbing accident which shattered my left ankle. I spent a night in sheer agony before going to the hospital in the very early morning hours of 9/11.

I woke up in the recovery room extremely foggy to the second plane making contact with the second tower...

Very confused, not sure how the surgery had gone, was I imagining this, etc.

A very, very long day...

[chillspike]

5. I was lying in bed awake in central nj

looking at the light from the sun coming through the window shade when I noticed the engine sound of the plane overhead make an unusual sound for the planes that would pass over my house like clockwork every day. Like its engines were struggling to keep it in the air or it was making a sharp turn. Planes hardly ever made sounds like that over my house. But then this one seemed to recover and settle back into a more normal flight sound and fade away in the distance. I forgot about it and lay there thinking what a beautiful day it is. About 5-10 minutes later my mom comes in and tells me to get up a plane just hit the world trade center it is unbelievable. I instantly knew it wasn't an accident.

Later on, after I saw that the flight path of the second plane to hit took it right over my area in central new jersey, I surmised thtat that could have been the same plane I heard and I may have been one of the first people on the ground to notice something was not normal that day.

[RZM]

6. I was sleeping and kept getting woken up by the phone ringing downstairs

I finally went down to answer it because my father was in the hospital at the time and I thought that something might be very wrong. Turns out it was one of roommates from work who told me 'we are under terrorist attack.' I went to the TV, but I didn't have my glasses on, so I had to stand 6 inches from it. I hadn't the slightest clue what the hell was going on. I think the first tower had already collapsed by that point, but it was a while before I grasped what was happening.

[ThatsMyBarack]

7. Just got out of bed....

Then I found out in an email from my friend in NJ. She said, "The landscape of the New York City skyline is forever changed."

[Frustratedlady]

8. My grandson had just been taken into heart surgery 15 minutes before

the first plane hit. He was at the University hospitals, so I was nervously pacing because of him. Then, when the second plane hit, I was afraid they might be doing the same to other areas of the country and worried about my daughter and sil. They gave blood while the surgery was in progress...said the line was incredible. They kept me up-to-date as the doctors reported to them, but his 4-hour surgery turned into 6 hours. The surgeons were also getting updates on the situation in NYC and beyond.

The entire period was an emotional time, not only because of 9/11 and being an American, but the recovery of my grandson.

[AndyTiedye]

9. Still Asleep

It was like 5:30 or 6 in the morning here.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Shagbark Hickory]

16. Why? Do you really think we were attacked for religious reasons?

[Odin2005]

20. Dying for Allah isn't a religious reason?

Yes, they had grievances against the US, but it was religion that turned it into the killing of 3,000 innocent people.

[demtenjeep]

37. there are extremist in every religion

this was far more than religion

[Zax2me]

39. Extremist in every religion? Uh - so. These were Islamic.

No matter how many times you say that, it doesn't change the fact that we were attacked by Muslim extremists.
If there were no other type religion extremists -
Still attacked by Muslim extremists.
SOME other types religous extrtemists -
Still.
Same.

[Warren DeMontague]

52. Also doesn't change the fact that there are violent Christian nutjobs, too

Honestly, when people believe they have a magic invisible friend in the sky who is intimately interested in things like who they're fucking, how many steps away from schizophrenia are they already?


:shrug:

[Shagbark Hickory]

43. I think their grievances were the primary reason.

Not the religion.

The religion teaches nothing about killing thousands of innocent people.

But I do think the terrorists used it as a tool.

[Warren DeMontague]

51. Their "grievances"?

Which "grievances" were those?

[Shagbark Hickory]

53. Odin's words.

[Warren DeMontague]

56. No, in the post I responded to, you mentioned 'their grievances'

Someone responds directly to something you yourself say, and you have a temper tantrum? If there's nonsense, it's coming from you, Jack.

Okay, now you've edited the post.

Odin can answer if he wants.

[Shagbark Hickory]

58. Deleted message.

Name removed.

[demtenjeep]

60. Please do not crap in my thread

I just wanted a retrospective of remembrance

[Warren DeMontague]

69. Fair enough.

I wasn't the one who derailed the subthread in the first place, but, fair enough.

[Odin2005]

65. US support for Israel and the Saudi monarchy.

[Zax2me]

40. If you don't, please do some research.

And BTW, 'all religions have extremists' doesn't mean this one wasn't.

[Shagbark Hickory]

42. Why don't you enlighten me?

[Name removed]

50. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JanMichael]

59. wtf??? That's what you gleaned from your teachers???

That the attack had something to do with "organized religion?"

That attack had EVERYTHING to do with Socioeconomic Inequality....and you need to burn that into your brain.

Religious nuts only come out of the woodwork when there is massive poverty.

Your teachers should be ashamed.

[Warren DeMontague]

71. socioeconomic inequality? Bin Laden comes from one of the richest families in Saudi Arabia.

Give me a break. This wasn't laborers in a shirt factory going on strike. This was religious craziness combined with people nurturing cultural grievances that go back 800 years.

[ChazII]

12. Just waking up in Phoenix.

Heard the reports and turned on the television.

[sufrommich]

13. I was home sick from work. My son came over and woke

me up. We sat on the couch and watched in disbelief for most of the day while friends and family called back and forth. The next day was just as freaky with no planes in the air ( I live 10 miles from Detroit Metro airport) except for the f-16s making circle shaped trails in the air.

[maryellen99]

31. My husband was working that day not far from metro

He said it was unreal to see all the planes coming into land and that when he was driving home seeing police with machine guns guarding the airport.

[livetohike]

14. Living in CA at the time and tossing and turning in bed with

a migraine headache. My husband was just leaving for work and had CNN on. He came into the bedroom and told me that a plane hit one of the towers, but they thought it was an accident. I went downstairs and was glued to the tv. I took my medication...it all seemed surreal. When the news came about the plane over western PA and no one knew what was going on with that, I was worried since I was from Pittsburgh and had lots of family and friends there.

[jwirr]

15. I was getting on the bus to take disabled students to their day facility

when I was told. The bus driver and I knew but did not upset the students. I was an aide on the bus. Spent the rest of the day watching at home.

[RebelOne]

17. I was at work and a co-worker came into my office

and told me that a plane had crashed in the the World Trade Center. I ran into the conference room where there was a TV and watched the events unfold.

[madamesilverspurs]

18. Home.

Had just sat down with my first cup of coffee, turned on the television about ten seconds before the second plane hit. By the time I took my first sip of coffee it had turned cold, I hadn't moved for at least an hour.

[Pisces]

19. Getting ready for work, watching the Today show as the second plane hit live on tv.

[cali]

21. I don't remember

[PCIntern]

22. Treating dental patients...

about 35 people say to their family and friends, "I was at the dentist, and he came into the room looking very upset and he told me that (a)plane(s) had slammed the World Trade Center (and the Pentagon)" depending upon what time they were in.

I ordered the office closed after the Pentagon was hit. Tuesdays is our busiest day traditionally: three hygienists and two dentists - that's why there were so many in our office over two hours. Two people came in crying who worked around the corner and didn't know where to go but to come see me. I told them both to go home and gather their families.

I recall every nuance of that day and night...and I knew there was lots more to this story than would ever be known by the general public.

[Lucinda]

23. Asleep. At home, but still recovering from emergency surgery not too long before.

My fella came in and told me the news.

[Lyric]

24. I was making breakfast for my then-16-month old.

I remember that it was oatmeal and peaches. Got the call from Rhythm, who was at work at the Merillat door factory in Mt. Jackson, Virginia.

[Arkansas Granny]

25. I was at work. My boss called me from another business where he had seen

the first reports on tv. After the first few minutes, our phones went silent except for an occasional call asking "Did you hear . . . ?". No tv or radio at work. We spent the rest of the day trying to get info using a dial up connection.

[Blue_In_AK]

26. 9/11 didn't have nearly the impact on me

as the JFK assassination which I remember in vivid detail. As for 9/11, I was asleep at 5:00 a.m. when the event happened. My niece called to wake us up to turn on the TV. It's all kind of a blur, but I remember suspecting that things weren't as they seemed by the next day. I still don't trust the official story of what happened.

Not in the JFK case either.

[mrmpa]

29. I was in my college environmental biology class.....

the secretary of the dept. came in and made the announcement on the first plane. When the second plane came in she came in and announced that the President of the college was cancelling classes for the day & tvs were being set up in the music building. We had a number of Muslim students, so what was happening was affecting them.

I was supposed to be at work at 4 p.m., but there was gridlock getting out of the city, so I called off & went home.

[Aristus]

27. I had just got into my car to go to work. I turned on the radio,

and the first thing I heard was a scream. Scared the shit out of me. They were doing a live audio-feed from the site, and all I got for 10 minutes or so was scattered, mixed reports of the attacks and the destruction.

When I go to work, first thing I did was log on to the Net to get the story. I was stunned. It was a frighteningly quiet day at work that day. Nobody wanted to do any business.

I read and re-read the reports coming in, heard about Air Force One flying hither and yon all over the place, and wondered what the hell was happening to the country.

Things went perilously downhill after that, as we all know.

Election Day 2008 was a grand, euphoric moment in an otherwise shitty decade...

[Amaril]

28. At work

I was working for a homeowner's insurance company. It was hurricane season, so one of the VPs had a TV on in his office, tuned to the weather channel, as it was every day. He heard the news first about the first plane, and before long, most of the employees had gathered in his office, watching in horror and hugging each other as the 2nd plane hit.

Shortly after that, they sent everyone home so we could be with our families. My commute at that time was about an hour. I remember crying off and on during the drive home, and calling my parents -- and every single one of my friends -- just to tell them I loved them.

[Cleita]

30. In bed. My husband woke me up to tell me that

America was being attacked.

[a la izquierda]

32. In bed in my apartment in Los Angeles.

My best friend called. We had both moved to CA from NJ the year before. We had friends and family who worked in lower Manhattan. I was hysterical-literally. The Russian lady living next door came to find out what the screaming was all about. I spent days in a sort of numb, almost catatonic state, freaked out by helicopters and planes. I stayed like that for weeks and refused to get on a plane for nearly two years.
I will take no part in the reliving of terror porn. I'm disgusted by the treatment of first responders by our government. I won't watch or listen to a single program tomorrow that has to do with 9/11 (I never have, actually). My uncle buried 15 friends in the days/weeks following (he was NYPD). My dad suffers from PTSD (his office was a block away, and was eventually leveled). My mother lost many friends and acquaintances. If the victims' families want a giant public circus, far be it from me to tell them otherwise. But I'm not reliving that awful day by watching politicians give speeches and seeing videos of the towers fall for the 150th time.

[Iggo]

33. Sleeping.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proud patriot]

35. Asleep on the west coast , but quickly roused by a phone call

telling me to turn on the TV. It was my son's second week of kindergarten. I took him to school after looking
under my car for a bomb or anything out of the ordinary. I figured he was better off there with his friends than
with me and his dad glued to the TV with horrified scared looks on our faces.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. I was living on the West Coast

Until a few days before 9/11, my morning habit had been to turn the radio to NPR on my way to the kitchen, but I had just rearranged my furniture, and the radio was no longer on the direct route, so I didn't have it on.

After breakfast, I sat down at the computer and checked to see if I had any e-mail from clients. I didn't, but the last e-mail on the translators' mailing list was from an American translator living in Japan: "Oh my God, turn on your TV NOW!" was all it said. I thought that there must have been an earthquake or volcano eruption in Japan, but I had a large job due at 5:00PM Pacific (=9:00AM in Tokyo) that day, so I intended to just check in on DU and settle down to work.

What I saw on the front page of DU made no sense to me. The World Trade Center collapsing? I had visited it in 1979 and knew how massive it was. I started following the threads--and I recall that Khephra (:cry: ) was keeping everyone up to date.

I couldn't wrap my head around it all, so I turned on NPR, and they were reporting the same thing. I decided that I needed pictures, so I turned on CNN.

Since I was on the West Coast, it was all replays, but the news finally sank in. I couldn't imagine who would do this or why, and I wondered what target was next.

About half an hour later, I got a call on my church's phone tree. They were going to hold a prayer service at noon; would I call the people farther down my "branch"? So I did and attended the service myself.

Coming back, I turned the TV back on and saw the footage of Bush with the schoolchildren and the photo of his reaction when he heard the news. That's when I became LIHOP, and various suspicious circumstances that were revealed in the next couple of days only strengthened that view in my mystery-fan mind.

At three o'clock, I realized that I was never going to make the 5:00 PM deadline, so at 4:00, the earliest I could expect anyone to be in the office in Tokyo, I phoned the client and explained that I had been too upset to work. My contact was very sympathetic and assured me that no one in their office was getting any work done either; they were all glued to the TV. In fact, it seemed that no one in Japan was getting any work done, so why didn't I just turn the work in two days later.

My mother phoned from Minneapolis later that afternoon. She and my stepfather were normally CSPAN and CNN junkies, but on that day, of all days, they had slept in and not turned on the TV. At about 10AM, they got a call from the office of their financial adviser, whose office was in the 57-story IDS Building in downtown Minneapolis, saying that the appointment was cancelled. When my mother asked if the adviser was sick or had some kind of emergency, his secretary said, "No, they're shutting down the building." And that was the first they heard of the news.

[FarLeftFist]

38. In Manhattan, working on 77th and York. 30 stories up on scaffold.

ABSOLUTE CHAOS.

[demtenjeep]

45. wow

I could not imagine

[Cali_Democrat]

41. In College

Just got back from a very late night date :evilgrin:

Had class about 5 hours later....was gonna get some shuteye when my roommate told me what happened and I flipped on the TV.

[derby378]

44. Just starting the day at work

One of the doctors entered my office and told me someone flew a plane into one of the Twin Towers. I think he mentioned the possibility of terrorists. I saw the first tower collapse on live TV as a woman being interviewed started shrieking "OH MY GOD!" and sobbing.

I could have worked through the rest of my shift, but Ginny couldn't. I took her home where we caught the rest of the news. Tried to donate blood, but all the collection centers were already jammed with volunteers that day.

[Liberal In Texas]

46. In Omaha. Saw a large jetliner off in the distance way after they grounded everything.

I later realized it was AF1 - Bush was landing at Offutt.

[demtenjeep]

48. wow

,

[Raine]

47. I was still in bed asleep it was early morning here in CA.

I kept hearing a loud speaker though from the school that's around the corner, it kept disturbing my sleep. I finally found out after I got up what was going on.

[likesmountains 52]

49. I have a bit of a different story. I was leaving that morning to drive to Phoenix

(8 hours away) because my dad was having bypass surgery. I remember driving across the Navajo and Hopi reservations and it was so strange that there were no planes in the sky. The interesting thing about the trip was that when was driving home on 9/15 I missed my turnoff in Flagstaff and ended up at the entrance to the Grand Canyon. The man in the ticket booth told me it was $10 (or whatever) to enter the park. I told him I was just trying to get to Tuba City and had missed the exit. He waived the fee for me and I told him "ok, thanks...I won't look." He said "You're going to see it whether you look or not..go ahead on in." And it was the best trip home ever...so beautiful and peaceful at the Grand Canyon. Even though the diversion added a few hours to my trip home to Colorado it was worth it.

[laundry_queen]

54. I was visiting my mom with my 2 small children

My youngest was 1 and she was generally a great sleeper, but she didn't sleep well and was up early (for her). So I reluctantly got up and did my morning thing that I did when visiting my mom - went and sat down and turned on the tv. My parents were both at work. I turned on the tv about 6:50 or so local time so it was very soon after the first plane had hit. I was mesmerized and listened to the announcers discuss about whether or not it was an accident. Some people were saying it was a small plane and others said it was bigger. The back and forth went on for quite some time. They were discussing how to rescue people on the roof, if the helicopters would be around soon and things like that. They had the cameras focused right on the buildings when the second plane approached. I thought OH shit just as it hit. At that moment, I knew (along with the rest of the world) that this was no accident and was instead a terrorist attack. I knew instantly this meant war. Then it was the pentagon, then flight 93 crashed. I don't think I moved from in front of that tv until bedtime, except to set the kids up with some food. My mom lived close to an airport and you could watch all the planes going by getting ready to land as they cleared the airspace (even here in Canada). That night, we had such an eerie silence with no planes flying overhead.

[HipChick]

55. I was crossing a bridge in Wash DC...I saw a plane flying low towards the Pentagon

I did not have the radio on...I'd been stuck in morning traffic..the plane looked really low coming in for DCA...I was crossing the bridge, I saw the smoke billowing from the direction of the pentagon...I saw police cars, other rescue vehicles driving on the other side of the road,headed towards DC. I called my mother, it was then she told me about NY....

[demtenjeep]

57. I have been on that bridge, I have seen the scarred remains of that section

That must have been really scary for you.

[HipChick]

73. It's something I can still recall vividly today..and something I will never forget

[rdking647]

61. on the trading floor in chicago

Ive never before heard the entire floor just stop...... a lot of us thought we were the next target and couldnt get out of the building quick enough..

[undeterred]

62. I was working at the University of Wisconsin call center helpdesk

and a woman working in an office called in about 9:30am and asked why the internet was down. I said "The internet isn't down. What website are you trying to get to?" She said she was trying to get to any kind of news site that would give her information on the planes that had just crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. I asked her if this was a joke and she said no. It didn't sound like a joke. She was a very serious sounding adult. I told her that if that really happened then all the web servers for news sites were probably overwhelmed with hits and I ended the call.

Then I went to the front of the room and asked someone if all this stuff really happened and found out it was true. The rest of the morning most of the helpdesk calls were from workers in offices without radio or tv who were desperate for information.

[Modern_Matthew]

63. I was in middle school. The vice principal came to my history class...

Said "there's some history being made on TV right now... a plane crashed into the World Trade Center."

We watched for a bit and then saw the second plane hit live.

[rainbow4321]

64. Driving home after dropping my daughter off at school

Heard it on our morning news radio...just the initial report of a plane running into the WTC building.
Image in my mind was a small prop plane or such. Til I got home and turned the TV on. Saw the second tower hit live,initially thought it was "just" flames from the first tower spilling over to the second tower. Til it was announced on the news that a second plane was seen and they showed the outline of the jetliner heading to the tower.

Later in the morning I went and filled the car up with gas and went to the bank---that refused to give out large amounts of money from accounts because "of the incident in NY". Yeah I was panicking and wanted my cash out. Found a loophole that they couldn't deny: took most all of it out in traveller's checks.

I remember trying to keep the rest of the day somewhat normal for my then 10 yr old daughter, helped her with homework like I did every afternoon. Except she noticed I kept excusing myself every so often to go look at the TV, she commented "what's the matter, you seem kind of distracted today"

[TwilightGardener]

66. Finishing up a night shift. Getting ready to go home and go to bed.

Another nurse was watching TV in a patient's room and said "Something's happening in New York, guys..."

[applegrove]

67. I was getting ready for work. I turned on CNN just after the first plane hit. I called my dad to get

him to watch. We thought it was just a small plane accident. Then the second plane hit. I said something like "shit it's the palestinians!". It was awful.

[Sparkly]

68. Getting ready to go to DC, to work.

An arts organization, with children. Kept hearing about chaos in the district, kept calling to ask if they were canceling classes...

Finally made the decision to call every student on my class lists and cancel MY classes.

80 calls later, they finally decided to close the whole place and put it on the website and phone.

[blueamy66]

70. sleeping...woke up my AA Dad and he cried

nt

[Warren DeMontague]

72. I was living in California. I remember that back then, I used to sleep with the tv on

but oddly enough, that night I had turned it off.

My mom called me early in the morning, told me to turn on the tv. I asked her why, she couldn't explain... she said "just turn it on". Then I called my then-girlfriend, now wife, who was living in Silicon Valley at the time, and said the same thing to her.

I think we were watching when the 2nd plane hit.

[Rochester]

74. I was working. I started at 7, and it was about 7:40 or so my time when the foreman came in...

...holding his big radio. At first we thought it was just a horrific accident, but when news of the second plane came on that thought went right out the window. We kept working for a little longer but he sent us home before noon. I spent the rest of the day watching the news on TV, they'd put it on almost every station.

[babylonsister]

75. Sleeping in Bali, Indonesia.

Couldn't get home even if we wanted to, and had a helluva time connecting to loved ones via an internet cafe because so many people had the same idea. The concern and love for the US expressed by foreigners there who were complete strangers still amazes me.

[inna]

76. so bizarre no one would probably believe me

i mean, i was comfortably in my home (in the East Bay, at that time), but... some of the loved ones happened to be pretty much right there... including my father, right across the street... we thought we lost him forever, for nearly the entire day... until he showed up late at night, all covered in dust, and having to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge...

all the communication was cut off.


what's bizarre though is the fact that i somehow knew something was wrong, and i woke up and started calling my parents' home in NY early in the morning (something that i don't do, ever, and i mean, ever!) - primordial psychic abilities, if i ever believed in that kind of stuff!

[demtenjeep]

83. I am glad he was safe

.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

77. I was still in bed, watching Charmed.

I had class at 10 and had a test I had not studied for. Skippy, who was not yet my husband, was at work and had heard it on the radio. I flipped it on CBS. The morning show crew were talking about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. Immediately, I thought about the fighter plane that had hit the Empire State building back in the 40s. Then I watched as the second plane hit the building and I remember screaming and the sobbing starting. I immediately called him back. I said we've been hit. This was not an accident. This is an act of war.
I went to school and prior to class, we went into the conference lecture room next door until class started and just watched until class, when the instructor canceled the test and sent us all home. They canceled classes for the rest of the day.
I remember going home and just sitting in front of the TV all day. I didn't want to go out of the house. I was in Oklahoma, but instantly the thought of leaving the house just petrified me.
That's really all I remember of the day. I don't remember the day before. I don't remember the day after. I probably worked at the detention center the day before or after. I probably went shopping for groceries or something. But all I remember is just being petrified to leave the house.

[Major Hogwash]

78. "This is the way their world has always been."

We've ruined an entire generation of children in this country with the over-the-top fanatical patriotism, demanding that people kowtow to Bush.

We have almost done to our kids what Hitler did to his own country's kids when he organized and trained the Hitler Youth to have strict obedience to the state.
We are closer to fascism now than we have ever been.

To answer your question, I had just gotten up and had walked into the living room.
My eldest son was watching the tv and when I walked in, he turned to me and said "Dad, someone just bombed the world trade center in New York City."
He hadn't caught the fact that there had been a commercial jet plane fly into the first tower.
I didn't even have a cup of coffee, and then the phone rang, and it was my brother calling me to see if I had heard about it yet.

[rbnyc]

79. Thank you.

It's meaningful to see a thread asking for personal, authentic experiences on this day.

I'll answer first by saying where I am right now. I'm here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=615304&mesg_id=615304

On September 11th, 2001, I was at home in Brooklyn. The towers were right across the river. My husband's job at that time was to provide AV support to all the businesses in the two towers. He could have been on any floor in either building that morning, but instead he was home. We had decided to skip work and go to my in-laws to celebrate my husband's dad's birthday.

My husband and son are out celebrating his birthday right now. I'm at work. We're hosting a screening of a film that includes the largest time-lapsed photography project in history. (See link above.) The proceeds go to provide pre-trauma resilience training for first responders.

Anyway, back to 2001. It was primary day and I was determined to vote. I knew the election would be canceled but I had a feeling this might be my last opportunity to vote. I just put all my focus and attention into going to vote. We watched the billowing smoke across the river as we walked to the school. All the children were at the windows. They saw everything. We voted.

I was not able to get to the community center where I worked. We just watched and cried, our nostrils and lungs filling up as the wind carried over that terrible air.

I listened to NPR. I showered. I waited to see if friends and family were alive. My husband lost colleagues. Our friends and family were all safe.

[demtenjeep]

81. I did not want any politics to this. Just remberance

I love this country and this was horrible.

[parkia00]

80. Was just about to have dinner

Bought a double portion of take out. I was hungry and a little greedy. I remember what I had and from with shop the take out was from with strange clarity. Put the food in a bowl, sat in front of the tellie which was left on CNN before. Saw the smoke bellowing from the first tower before I had a chance to take my first bite. At first thought it was one of those realistic disaster movies made to look like news channel broadcast. But realized it was indeed on CNN instead of a movie channel. Thought maybe it was a smallish plane. Then saw the gaping hole on the side and realized it was not.

Then saw what I recognized as a twin engine jet airliner possibly an A320, B767, B757 or B777 slowly move across the screen and hit the second tower. Realized this was no accident. Knew I was watching a pivotal moment in modern history unfold before my eyes. Knew the world has changed. The tellie was on till after 4 am local time.

[lynne]

82. Home, getting ready for work when the first tower was hit -

- and I thought it was a small plane and a horrible accident. When the second tower was hit, I thought that maybe the smoke from the first tower blinded the vision of the pilot in the second plane, causing it to hit the second tower.

I COULD NOT wrap my mind around the fact that this was done on purpose. My husband had to tell me it was terrorism before that thought even came into my mind.

[Liberal_in_LA]

84. Driving to work. Turned on the radio & heard talk of what was going on. Got to work, went to staff

lounge and watched the first tower fall. Felt like a dream. Had to stop watching for a while.

[closeupready]

85. Manhattan, 41st and Park, southern view of everything.

It was traumatic, but life does really go on. Life HAS gone on. People here keep living, smiling, laughing, making friends, loving - all the good stuff that makes life worth living, regardless of where you live. :)

Meanwhile, the media would like us all to cry on cue for some really great "grief" porn. Not going to indulge them.

[MANative]

86. In my Manhattan office...

at 30th & 7th Ave. 13th floor conference room with a full view of every second. I was managing a group of nineteen brand-new Executive Trainees for my company, who had started work on that Monday. All of them were under 25, and many had just moved into NYC within the last several days to begin their first real job. Since I had responsibilities for other employees, I put my most senior direct report in charge of that group while I went to my office. She did a fabulous job of keeping them reasonably calm and together. (One or two wanted to leave immediately, but our SVP of HR was insistent that nobody leave the building, particularly because we had no idea what major dangers they would face if they left.)

I went to my office to turn on my radio (one of only five amongst our group of 500+ employees, unbelievably - and local TV was generally not working because the transmitters were on top of the Towers) and listened to WCBS News880. Wave after wave of bad and worse news. Telephones went down - cell phones first, then our digital system, although we were able to call within the building. Was finally able to reach my parents in eastern MA via email, and that's when they told me that my brother, who was a Project Director for the Defense Dept., was scheduled to fly out to San Diego that morning - American Flight 77.

The mass transit system, including MetroNorth, our commuter line, was completely shut down, and we were told that we wouldn't be allowed to leave the city. We started making arrangements for blocks of hotel rooms, and commuters to bunk with Manhattan residents. I'm trying to stay calm, haven't been able to reach my husband for hours (he was safe in CT, but he didn't know what was going on where I was), and my parents were not able to reach either my brother or his wife, who also worked in the Pentagon.

Around 2:30, if memory serves, we heard a rumor that they would be running MetroNorth trains outbound to allow people to get home to CT and Long Island, and a group of about 25 of use decided to make the hike over to Grand Central in the hopes that we could find a way to get home. We brought along a handful of colleagues who lived downtown and likely wouldn't be able to return home that night no matter what. A dear friend, and my next-door office neighbor, was a resident of Battery Park City, and had already been among the casualties of the day. She was hit by debris from the first plane strike and had somehow been transported to a hospital across the river in NJ. She still doesn't remember how she got there.

When we first got to GCT, they were still not allowing anyone into the terminal, and there were thousands of people waiting outside, including dozens who were covered in dust, blood, and God-knows-what. Why they were not in hospitals was beyond me. I guess the only thought was for escape. Eventually, we were told that all trains would be leaving the city, making all local stops. Just get on a train, any train, and go. Every car was packed well beyond its intended capacity. When we got to Stamford, every car was met by an armed State Trooper and a Red Cross worker. I still don't remember how I got home from the train station that day, because my car was parked at an off-site garage. I remember going back a couple of days later with my husband to retrieve it. I honestly don't remember if I walked home, got a ride, called a cab. No idea.

It was about 4:30 or 5:00 when I did get home to Stamford, and was able to make a few calls. My parents still hadn't heard anything from my brother or his wife, and we were preparing to hear the news that he was gone. The phone rang numerous times that night - friends and relatives reaching out to make sure I was okay, and wondering about my brother, whom they knew worked in the Pentagon even if they didn't know about his travel plans. I barely remember any of those conversations, except one from a relative from whom our family had been estranged for a long time. Lots of tears and apologies in that one.

My husband, a pharmacist, couldn't leave the store per company orders, so he didn't get home until about 9:30 that night. A very emotional reunion in contrast to our quick goodbye that morning. The phone finally rang around 10:30 - my father calling. My brother was indeed supposed to be on that flight, but had had a last minute problem with the specs on their project and had to stay behind to make adjustments with some of the other engineers. He sent two of his project managers ahead and planned to take the afternoon flight to meet them in San Diego. Those two men, along with two other people from their department who were actually inside the Pentagon, were killed when Flight 77 struck. He lost half his team in one horrible minute. He hadn't been able to reach us all day, though he had tried many times. He was as worried over me as I was for him, because he didn't know exactly where my office was in NY. We had a very emotional reunion the following weekend at my parents' house.

It was one hell of a day, most of it still as vivid in my memory as if it had been ten days ago instead of ten years.

[femmocrat]

87. I was at home on the computer.

I had the TV on in the background.