<p>My S1 was a freshman at UPenn - in his second week of school. He called me that morning and said “Turn on the TV.” I called my H to let him know what was happening, and stayed on the phone with him while the second tower was hit. He didn’t have access to a TV. I don’t actually remember all the details very clearly - only the feelings.</p>
<p>The plane in PA crashed near where my H’s parents live. A friend of ours worked at the Pentagon. His office was hit, but he was in a meeting off-site. His secretary was killed.</p>
<p>I heard about the first plane on the radio as I was on the way to a meeting. I watched the 2nd plane hit the towers at the office where my meeting was … and I realized none of us were going to be paying attention. I headed home to where I had several men at the house replacing my carpeted floors with wood floors. Most of the workers were hispanic, and I managed to find a spanish station on one of the tv’s for them, as I went to making phone calls. My brother and sister0-in-law were supposed to be visiting New York and going to the WTC. Most of the day I was in a panic because I couldn’t reach them … finally was able to get through about midnight, and they were home. They’d been to the WTC the week before. It also took me awhile to get a hold of my husband who’d flown out to Illinois very early that morning. He’d landed just before they started grounding planes. I had two kids, one in m.s. and the other in 5th grade. I went and picked both kids up and brought them home, not knowing what was going on with the world and I wanted at least part of my family where I could reach them. I remember that my daughter was distraught as her teacher had turned on the tv after the first plane hit. My 5th grader watched the live feed of the second plane attack before the teacher realized she was panicking students. It was such a surreal day, hunkered down with my kids and these floor installers (as they continued to work), and the televisions blaring in spanish and english. </p>
<p>I watched part of MSNBC this morning as they played the Today show from 9/11/01. It was so weird … seeing that glorious blue sky before the terror began. </p>
<p>I was making coffee, (in SoCal) waiting for my Fire Captain fiance to get come home from a 48 hour shift. I turned on the TV and just froze, as all I could think about was the April 19th, 1995 incident in OKC where I lost a dear friend and met my “now husband” (I was a volunteer and he was a search and rescue member).</p>
<p>I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it was like a really bad dream, a horrible movie.</p>
<p>I later discovered that 12 firefighters and police officers that had gone to Oklahoma in 1995 to assist, and that I personally knew, had been killed in the towers incident on that unbelievable day.</p>
<p>My husband is now retired from the Fire Dept., but ironically my S2 began his training today with a major airline. He went off this morning feeling proud and safe :)</p>
<p>I was home having our furnace serviced; DH had called from his office to talk to the service man to explain the problem better than I could–the service man said “Your husband says to turn on the TV”–which I did; we saw The Today show live immediately after the first plane had hit. I must have seen the second plane hit live, but I don’t remember–how weird is that?</p>
<p>The service man was from NJ, and he spent time calling friends and relatives, but periodically would go back to servicing the furnace. I was glued to the tv after that, but as another poster said, I don’t think I fully grasped the significance until the service man said, as he left my house, “I’ll always remember that I was at your house when I think of this day.”</p>
<p>My kids were in 5th grade and 10th grade; I let them stay at school.</p>
<p>I sat down with my computer with a cup of coffee, and immediately saw a news item about a plane hitting the WTC. Just as I started to read the article, news of another strike appeared. I decided that the tv would have more timely coverage and went down and turned it on. I was watching when the first tower fell, and then the second. I spent most of the rest of the day sitting there watching it in my nightgown. </p>
<p>I used to commute to work through the WTC, and I had worked on the 80-something floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago and been through fire drills, and had to walk down the internal fire stairs from the 46th floor of another building in NYC during a real fire. My image of what was going on in those stairwells was vivid.</p>
<p>Sometime in the afternoon, I got dressed and drove over to my S’s school and just looked at him through the classroom door. Then I went home and back to the tv.</p>
<p>I grew up in and lived in CT, where many people commuted to the city on the train. I kept thinking about the evening, and the cars that would be left sitting in the station because the driver never came home. I later heard that a number of Cantor Fitzgerald people lived in our former town, and that one of my high school classmates who worked for them was among the dead.</p>
<p>I was driving to work when the first plane hit. The DJs announced it, and everyone assumed it was an accident. By the time the second one hit, I was at work with the TV on. My workplace went into overdrive with very long days and nights, and I wasn’t really able to process what happened – and cry – until that Friday.</p>
<p>The image that stays with me most was NBC’s Jim Michaleczeski (sp?) at the Pentagon when the plane hit there. He was so professional, saying calmly, “I don’t want to alarm anyone, but we’ve just felt a large jolt.” The anchors said, “We want to let you go then.” Everyone was so calm; I think they were all in shock.</p>
<p>Oh, zebes, I wish I had seen that. I think it would help me process it, even seven years later. When it happened, I chose to dive into my work and just focused on that.</p>
<p>Well today, 9/11, is actually my birthday. I had gone to work where my co-workers had planned a little birthday celebration. Sitting down to work, we received an email that a plane had crashed into the WTC. Like most others, we believed it to be a small plane. No televisions at work and it was nearly impossible to get onto the internet. Gradually we all realized the horror of what was happening as we continued to get emailed updates from our office manager. We went to lunch and stared at the television. Then went back to work and tried to think of legal defenses and contributory negligence and just couldn’t do it. Kept thinking of classmates from law school who lived in the City and family in the DC area. I’m about two hours west of DC. Finally went home. Not much work got billed that day. </p>
<p>Sat with the kids and stared at the television. When it got dark, helicopters from a nearby base began flying over our house, undoubtedly en route to Washington. S was terrified, convinced a copter was going to crash into our house. </p>
<p>Finally connected with my dear college roommate later that week; her husband was “only” missing at that point. He died that day. </p>
<p>It’s a horrible day to look back on. I just couldn’t help myself, watching television almost continuously and just being overwhelmed with terrible sadness. In some ways that day seems so distant and surreal; I don’t ever want another one like it.</p>
<p>I was sitting exactly where I am right now…in front of the computer IMing with a friend. I didn’t have the TV on but she did and told me as soon as the news of the first plane crash was reported to get off the computer and turn on the TV. </p>
<p>I sat watching the reports with the dog. I was transfixed by what I was seeing. It was almost surreal, as if this couldn’t possibly be real. I did not go get my kids from their schools. Found out later they watched it all on TV at sch. (6th and 9th grade at the time). I did call DH immediately. He works at a nuclear power plant and I was terrified for his safety if the attacks continued.</p>
<p>I was watching The Today Show when it happened. When the second plane hit, someone said that she wondered if there were air traffic control problems and then someone else wondered what the odds were of two planes hitting the two towers. It took a while for it to sink in that it was deliberate. Surreal is the only word that came to mind. I don’t think I turned the television off for a week after that.</p>
<p>I live in southeastern PA, and I also recall noticing how gorgeous the weather was that morning. I had just dropped D3 off at pre-school. I was walking back to my car when one of the other pre-school moms got out of her car and mentioned to all of us in the parking lot that her husband had just called on her cell and that a plane had hit the WTC.<br>
My immediate reaction is that it had to be some kind of horrible accident. But as soon as I got into my car, I turned on NPR, heard about the second plane and was horrified. I had an appointment that morning to bring my car in for servicing and, as I drove to the dealership I heard about the third plane crashing into the Pentagon. I remember thinking how absurd it felt to be driving to a car dealership when this could be the start of World War III, but at that moment I didn’t know what else to do except to go ahead to the dealership and just keep listening to the news.
I, along with everyone else in the dealership waiting room, was riveted to the television set. When we saw the Towers collapse I gasped and I felt absolutely sickened.
I had heard that some parents were going to their kids’ schools and picking them up early. I thought about it, and decided to let them stay there, figuring that I would be watching the TV probably non-stop at home, and that it would be best to spare them the news for a least a few more hours.</p>
<p>As it turns out, D2 and, of course, D3 didn’t hear about it at school, but in D1’s middle school they turned on the news and were watching it throughout the day.</p>
<p>I was in bed when my clock radio went off, and the bizarre news began penetrating my still half-asleep brain. By the time I was fully awake, and I somewhat understood what had occurred, I still didn’t know how many hours had elapsed since the attacks took place. I woke my daughter (then an eleven year old sixth grader), related the little I knew (so far) about the situation in a factual manner, and told her that it would be a business-as-usual school day for her. I cautioned her that classmates and teachers (especially those with family and friends Back East) might be absent from school or–if present at school–upset and scared.</p>
<p>While my daughter was at school that day, I stayed glued to the radio. </p>
<p>Radio was all my family had available for news and musical entertainment at the time. (We had relocated to a new neighborhood several months prior, and had not yet arranged for cable television service in our apartment. We did not own a computer.) Local and network-feed radio broadcasts provided everything we needed to know. We acquired our news in the same manner our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had acquired their news in pre-television days; visual images weren’t necessary for us to learn the facts and comprehend the horror. </p>
<p>My most vivid memory of that day (and of the several days following) is of the eerie silence. My family’s apartment building was located under our major city’s international airport flight path, and all flights had been grounded. Many people stayed home from work and/or school, so there was less vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Residents of our normally lively building stayed in their respective apartments, didn’t play music, and when greeting each other outdoors, spoke in hushed tones. The silence was exactly like that I recalled from the days on and following JFK.</p>
<p>I wondered about my old friends from Back East. Some had either grown up in or had moved to NYC after college; others had family and job ties to southwestern PA; another had worked in DC for a number of years. I wondered if any of them were gone. I wondered if any of them had lost relatives, friends, or colleagues. Most of all, I wondered about all the first responders. (My late father was a policeman and volunteer fireman who often responded to one of my hometown’s all-too-frequent train-car railroad crossing collisions. Whenever my father returned home from one of those calls, he could stomach only cornflakes–sometimes for days afterward.) I can’t imagine the magnitude of the horror those first responders witnessed, and will remember for the rest of their lives. My heart goes out to each and every one of them.</p>
<p>At the time we lived in suburban Chicago. I had just sent the children out to catch the bus, saw it had come by, and called a neighbor to confirm afterschool carpool plans. She told me to turn on the TV. A NY friend had just called her and told her about the first tower. </p>
<p>I called to DH (he works at home) about the first crash. As I was watching, I recall seeing the second plane coming up behind the second tower. I distinctly recall thinking something was wrong with the picture as the news was already talking about grounding flights. It was confusing and unbelievable to watch the second plane crash into the tower. At that point I do recall feeling very scared. I considered picking up the children from school, but held off on that. Like many others I just wanted them nearby. With each crash I think I became more numb. </p>
<p>At some point early in the day they “evacuated” the Loop in Chicago. Rumors were flying that there were planes headed to Chicago, etc. I tried to reach one of my sisters. Her H worked in the Loop, and I started to worry for him. I did reach him at home late in the afternoon. </p>
<p>Living about 30-40 miles from O’Hare airport we were used to seeing planes in holding patterns or getting ready to land. It was the oddest thing, and very noticable, not to see them. I recall the first time I saw a plane a week or so later. It was the same kind of bright, sunny, early autumn day. It was a beautiful sight. I sat in my car, stopped at a light, and just stared. Somehow it symbolized that our country was going to be okay.</p>
<p>Heard the news on the car radio, en route to the park to walk and run. Thought it was an isolated small plane. By the time I was back in the car, the first tower had fallen. We live 45 minutes from Manhattan.</p>
<p>A friend was on the 82 floor of the south tower. He managed to get out, he’s athletic and made it down 82 flights of stairs. Many of his co-workers didn’t. I see him in church every Sunday. </p>
<p>I met a boy whose mother went into labour with him right after 9/11. His father was in the tower, and had died.</p>
<p>I was at a meeting in a hotel close to the Pentagon and we had been in a windowless hotel room since early in the morning; by the time we heard anything, both towers and the Pentagon had been hit. We understood that the “Pennsylvania” plane was heading toward DC. The hotel staff for some reason wanted us to go into the basement, as if there were a tornado coming. We felt overwhelmingly claustrophobic and went outside, and then would walk into the hotel and watch the news in the lobby, and then would go back outside. We could see smoke and hear emergency vehicles at the Pentagon so it was eerie, surreal outside. Too close for comfort.</p>
<p>While we were outside, everyone kept their briefcase close, dark humor, that our paperwork next to us would help identify our charred bodies if that fourth plane hit near us.</p>
<p>Then we heard that the fourth plane had gone down and it was a relief that it wasn’t heading toward us but many of us felt guilty for the people on the plane, thinking maybe U.S. planes had shot that plane down so it would quit heading toward D.C.</p>
<p>Many at our meeting were from NYC and were frantic to get home. My colleagues and I eventually managed to find drivers who would take us home. I was back in Ohio by about 5 a.m. Midwest Mom happy to be back in the Midwest by 9/12!</p>
<p>I was driving into New York City from New Jersey on Route 3, turned on the car radio (I hadn’t listened to the news earlier that morning), and, when I first heard about the towers having been hit, thought for a minute it was some kind of big hoax, like the Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio hoax back in 1938. But I soon realized it was on all the stations, and was real.</p>
<p>From where I was, around the Meadowlands, I could see lower Manhattan to the southeast of me. I could see that one tower had already fallen. The second one was almost completely covered in an enormous cloud of smoke. Then I saw that one fall too.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget it.</p>
<p>Even then, I’m not sure I fully realized the enormity of what had happened. I was sort of in a state of shock. The traffic wasn’t moving, and I heard that the Lincoln Tunnel – like all the other bridges and tunnels – had been closed. I was able to get off the highway, and was concerned enough about work that I actually called my office on my cellphone to tell them that I didn’t think I’d be able to get into work that day.</p>
<p>Then I went home and started trying to reach all my friends in New York. I couldn’t for a long time, because all the cellphone service to Manhattan was down because of the overload of calls. Fortunately, nobody I personally knew was killed or injured.</p>
<p>My son’s 6th-grade class wasn’t told what happened (they were told there had been some kind of “accident”), but all the kids were made to sit on the floor with their arms over their heads. Eventually, they were sent home.</p>
<p>I was returning from driving my sons to school. I heard on the radio that they thought a plane had hit the WTC. I rushed in to turn on the Today show and watched the second plane hit. I will never forget that feeling of horror.
When the first tower collapsed I just sobbed knowing that we had all just witnessed hundreds of deaths.
My children were lucky enough to go to Catholic schools. They immediately had a prayer service in the auditorium. My four sons all still remark about how comforting that was to them at a really scary time.</p>
<p>It was my first day in the pet store that I was purchasing. I was meeting with the former owners in the coffee shop next door when the second plane hit, and the towers fell. It was surreal – we could not believe the towers had <em>fallen</em>. No TV.</p>
<p>What I will always remember was the very well dressed older woman who came into the shop about noon, frantic. She needed a leash for her dog inthe car. She lived next to President Clinton in Westchester County NY. Her son had called and told her the US was under attack, we were being bombed, her neighbors the Clintons were a target, and to get in her car and drive away. She did, with her dog, but frantic and forgetting a leash.</p>
<p>I left shortly after that to pick up my children at school. Chaos – our town lost several dads in the towers. It still gives me goosebumps to think about that day.</p>
<p>My nephew was on a plane that had just taken off from Boston and was on its way to LA, and they landed unexpectedly somewhere in the mid-west. My nephew had no idea what was happening. He called his dad (my bro) to ask if he had any idea why he was on the ground in (don’t remember where) and my bro told him about the attacks and that planes were grounded everywhere. I don’t remember how he got back (maybe rented a car??).</p>
<p>My niece’s husband’s parents both were working at the Pentagon at the time. His mom’s office was just doors away from total destruction. They were both, thankfully, spared.</p>