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remembering 9/11 | where were you?

Published Sep 10, 2008
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9/11

I've heard stories throughout my life about the whereabouts of family members on the day JFK was killed. I've heard similar stories about the day Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. I can probably recount my grandmother's entire day verbatim. That's how many times I've heard about it.

My future grandchildren will likely know the story of where I was when I learned about the twin towers and how their mother who was 13-months-old at the time was literally yanked from the changing table and allowed to crawl around the house with a great deal of freedom that morning because I was in shock,glued to the TV and calling everyone I could.

I won't go into the rest because this will be the longest blog ever if I do. But I'd love to hear your stories. Where were you when you heard, and what do you remember most about that fateful day?

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"Many people had never heard of the World Trade Center before that day, but I guarantee everybody knows about it now. javajoe"

YEP.

I got up, took my stepson to pre-school, came home and saw it on TV, thought it was coverage of some past event, Uncle called to confirm my mom and aunts flight arangements for the end of Sept.--He told me it was Live footage. Got ready to head to class at Barton, on the way the 1st tower fell. Went into World History class and the teacher said, "Thank you for coming but there is NOTHING I can teach you today will ever surpass this day in your memory."

He was right. My mom told me many years ago about the day JFK was assasinated and where she was and how she could remember. 5th Grade Math, I believe. (She was born in July of '52.) They came on the loud-speaker and announced that President Kennedy was dead. Not long before school let out. She still remembers it plain as day.

Sept 11th is my day.

Thanks for this blog, Angela.

Wheelerx5__Ready for Football
GOLO member since August 3, 2007
September 11, 2008 12:00 a.m.

I had just woke up and turned on the TV. I watched as the second plane plowed into the second tower. I honestly thought I was dreaming or the TV station was showing a new movie that was coming out. It wasn't until they started talking about plane that was hijacked when I realized that I wasn't dreaming and they were not showing a new movie clip. I will never forget that day for as long as I live. I will pass on these memories down to the next generations of my family.

Kellion
GOLO member since June 17, 2008
September 11, 2008 12:03 a.m.

I was teaching 4th grade in a mobile classroom in Franklin County. It was my first teaching assignment after graduation. We had no telephone service yet, as they'd been slow to have it connected (mobile units were added at the start of the school term). My cellular service was spotty. A parent showed up to pick up her son, and took me aside to let me know what had happened. It was so surreal. I thought she had to be exaggerating somehow. Our intercoms were also nonfunctional, except for this tiny squeaking, barely audible voice that let me and the students know that parents were coming in droves to remove their children from school.

I didn't think it wise to inform any of the students of what was going on, as I didn't really know myself. After what seemed like hours, lunchtime arrived, and I dropped the students off in the cafeteria, and went in search of an Internet connection, so I could find out what was happening.

It was as if the entire day moved in horribly slow motion. :(

meh_whatever
GOLO member since December 4, 2007
September 11, 2008 12:30 a.m.

Yanno, my mom was a junior in high school when Kennedy was assassinated, and she also remembers that day with perfect clarity.

Weird how that happens, isn't it? The most poignant day, on a global events scale, from my high school career was the day that the Challenger exploded.

I was sitting in my car, eating lunch with my friend, Jessica, and the radio station played 'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits, and dedicated it to the people who died when the Challenger exploded.

We didn't even know it had happened. We had to go back into the building to find the nearest TV, which (of course) had everyone glued to it.

meh_whatever
GOLO member since December 4, 2007
September 11, 2008 12:33 a.m.

I was fast asleep. I slept till around 3:00 p.m. that day because I worked the night before.

Common Sense Man
GOLO member since January 3, 2008
September 11, 2008 1:18 a.m.

I was watching Imus, getting ready to leave for a meeting. Thought it must have been some crazy skit, at first. Then realizing it wasn't, I assumed it was an accident...got in my car and headed to a meeting. As I entered the restaurant where the meeting was taking place, another person came in and announced the other tower had been hit. I headed home, called my mother, husband, close friends; sat in front of the TV for the rest of the day, stunned. I looked in my journal, this morning. My last entry for that day was "The whole world has changed and will never be the same." While I knew, not a soul in the towers, not any of those that lost their lives that day, it did, indeed change the way that I saw the world, and in particular firemen and policemen and pilots and flight attendants, Rudy Giuliani, GWB, our military, and muslim extremists...all people I had never really given much thought about, I'm ashamed to say.

tmedlin
GOLO member since August 22, 2007
September 11, 2008 5:40 a.m.

I am from New York City, My dad took me and my brothers up in the twin towers when they first opened in the early 70's. I was 9 or 10 years old.

I was at work, we were watching live tv when the second plane hit, we thought at first it was a horrible accident, then the 2nd plane hit and we knew it was an attack. we watched in horror, saw the people that jumped to escape a burning death. then we saw the towers come down and I sobbed. This is something that will haunt me forever. (sigh)

Mojo 47 Blues
GOLO member since July 10, 2007
September 11, 2008 6:11 a.m.

I was in Buffalo New York at Channel 29 studio doing an inter view for a sports program and they kept playing it on the monitors over and over again I was almost sick right there the first time I seen it and it still makes me sick.

yaright
GOLO member since February 28, 2008
September 11, 2008 6:13 a.m.

I was born and raised in a small coastal town in Connecticut 40 miles outside of Manhattan Our local hangout was Calf Pasture Beach. You could walk along the edge of Long Island Sound and see the New York City skyline the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the spire of the Empire State Building I lived there for 37 years before moving here to NC in Oct 2000. When those towers fell it really hit home for me, I was at work watching it all on the TV. We don't need a holiday, However a day or remembrance is in order.

I'll never forget...

BLOCKHEAD SQUARED
GOLO member since December 4, 2007
September 11, 2008 6:18 a.m.

I was at work. We had the only TV's in the building. It was so scary and so sad. We finally had to tell folks that they could not come in as we could barely get any work done with all the talking. I remember going to lunch and standing waiting on my food and kept seeing those planes hit those towers over and over. I was so surprised when I went outside that the sun was shining. It was a VERY dark day. I had on a brand new blouse that day, and when I got home, I took it off and never wore it again. Just felt wrong. Finally gave it to goodwill.

computer trainer
GOLO member since January 31, 2008
September 11, 2008 6:21 a.m.

I was working from home. Saw the news and turned on the tv. I remember watching and physically flinching when the second plane hit the tower.

Just Once
September 11, 2008 6:56 a.m.

I had just dropped my son off at school and went straight to the bank drive-thru to make a deposit. I heard something on the radio and it sounded like a joke, but the teller told me that it was on the news (the first plane). There was more onthe radio, details about where the plane left from. I have a close, college friend who works as a flight attendant out of Boston, so I rushed home to call her. She was not working that day (thankfully) and was making calls to her family to let them know. I sat down to watch the news and saw the second plane hit. I called my husband who was shopping for supplies for a job he was scheduled to do. He decided to postpone the job and come home. I remember sitting on the couch, with a basket of laundry I was 'trying' to fold. Finally I just sat, stunned, watching tv. When the plane hit the pentagon, it was another flurry of calls to see if my uncle was there. He was not (thanksfully again). I remember how quiet that night was. Surreal for sure.

Rocknhorse
GOLO member since July 18, 2007
September 11, 2008 7:00 a.m.

When the towers fell, I felt hollow. By that time, I was sitting on the couch with my feet in the laundry basket. My daughter was taking a nap. My husband and another friend who was going to help him on the job were sitting in the living room. We didn't eat breakfast or lunch. We only ate supper b/c we had to feed the kids and 'go through the motions' for their sake. But on that day, life came to a halt. Just like Alan Jackson sang, the world stopped turning.

Rocknhorse
GOLO member since July 18, 2007
September 11, 2008 7:04 a.m.

5 months prier to 9/11 I had brought my daughters to see the beauty of the Twin Towers and the Statue of Liberty...Thank Goodness I have pictures of that day...never to be replaced or seen again.

Growing up in New Jersey and seeing the New York skyline often we had always looked for the Twin Towers, what color lights on the Empire State Building, etc. They were always a sign of being close to home. A special date at Windows of the World with my first boyfriend. Weekends in New York City with Friends to party.

The morning started as always...waking the girls up and getting them ready for school. News going because cartoons not allowed in the morning...slows the process of getting ready. I watched as the first tower was burning...thoughts of an accident being reported, people told it was under control, get back to work...my thoughts thinking what a one way street divides these two building heck no...one on fire my behind would be out of both. When all of a sudden I watched in horror

headlong
GOLO member since September 17, 2007
September 11, 2008 7:18 a.m.

as the next plane hit and exploded into the second tower. Disbelief and tears, shock as I watched, questions, concern since I knew many that worked close, etc. Then they fell from the Skyline I so loved...gone forever. Listened on the radio in my car and ran into work to listen to even more...what was going on??? Another plane in PA and another at the Pentagon...what next??? Everyone in a panic, watching skies for more planes to come down on yet another building, would it be in North Carolina, rumors of threats no matter where you went that there were more to come.

On my way to see Queen in Concert is the first time I had seen the naked New York Skyline I grew up and loved...tears flooded my eyes and still do.

Last year before my daughter's boyfriend was deployed to Iraq he had to go see the spot...so we brought him to New Jersey with us to celebrate Thanksgiving...this was why he was going, these people lost here on that day, etc. He carries the pictures of Ground Zero with him a

headlong
GOLO member since September 17, 2007
September 11, 2008 7:18 a.m.

as well as has them on his MySpace Page. He had to touch and see the ground he was going to defend...feel the pain. That touched me...I was able to share that feeling with him.

A Special Thank You to Our Soldiers!!! May God Bless and Keep You Safe!!!

headlong
GOLO member since September 17, 2007
September 11, 2008 7:22 a.m.

I was in Guatamala. I remember that it was all that was on all of the radios and tv's there too. I rushed back to my home in El Salvador, to see the news there. For some reason, in my head, I thought that I would learn once home, that it was all a mistake. But I was wrong. People there were panicing too. Every one knew someone, or had family who lived in New York. No calls could go through, so many mothers 3000+ miles away, in another country, also morned the losses, and prayed for their children and all Americans. It took days even weeks for many to find out the well being of their loved ones.

Con Amor
GOLO member since August 20, 2007
September 11, 2008 7:36 a.m.

I just typed a bunch of stuff and its disappeared. :-(

to sum it up... I was teaching 8th grade. Student had left my class and I had planning. A teacher told me what happened and I was able to watch the second attack. Our principal told us to turn off the TVs because she didnt want students seeing. I thought that was dumb. The hard part was dealing with students over the next few days whose parents were special forces and them waking up to find their fathers or mothers had gone.

Teech
GOLO member since September 19, 2007
September 11, 2008 7:57 a.m.

Taking one of the critters to the Vet (can't remember which one or for what), heard it on John Boy and Billy (who I don't usually listen to) and thought it was a joke, at first (and couldn't imagine why they would joke about such a think but wasn't familiar their style). That was the first tower. I worked a Cedar Point Restaurant in Spring Lake and drove there, where I heard about the second tower from a little radio in the kitchen. By then I was bawling like a baby for the folks in NY (hadn't heard about the Pentagon or the plane going down in PA yet). I was doubly bawling because my husband had 2 years to go to retire from the military and our son had just enlisted in April of that year and whereas, we didn't know the source yet, I knew we would go to war.

Gingerleigh225
GOLO member since January 3, 2008
September 11, 2008 8:01 a.m.

The American Airlines reservation office here in Cary was the one that took the call from Betty Ong the flt. attendant when the 1st tower was struck. My friend Winston was on the phone with her and heard her last words about "seeing buildings."

I wasn't there that day but I worked on the Supervisor's Desk and had called in to relay what I was seeing on tv to my collegues on the desk since they couldn't get to the one tv in our wing of the bldg. Across the way from what I understand, Winston's call had ended sometime before the second tower was struck.

That day brought out the best & the worst in passengers who called in about their reservations. I'm usually very upbeat but the next day when I was there a man came on my line after asking to speak with a supervisor. He said he wanted a free flight because it was "American Airline's fault that the terrorist were able to take over the flight".

I knew I'd be retiring very soon after almost 13 years at the place & I did!

nisa-pizza
GOLO member since August 8, 2007
September 11, 2008 8:06 a.m.

I have a copy of 9/11, the documentary by Jules and Gedeon Naudet, the two French brothers who were doing a film about the Firefighters in NYC. I'll watch it today in memory of the fallen.

Gingerleigh225
GOLO member since January 3, 2008
September 11, 2008 8:13 a.m.

My friend called me that morning to tell me to turn on the TV. I watched the towers fall standing in my mother's living room while my two toddlers played near by. Then I had to go to work. My boss' theory was bad things happen all the time and today is no different. We were allowed to wear a yellow ribbon, but not talk about it. I dont really think Ive ever talked about 9-11 with anyone come to think of it.

CensoredbyWRAL
GOLO member since September 9, 2008
September 11, 2008 8:21 a.m.

Blockhead, you're talking about Norwalk right? I used to go to the same beach. Remember the oyster fest? I was raised in Georgetown.

I was at work in Newtown, CT. When we heard about it some of us ran next door to my apartment to see the news. Then I brought a portable TV to the office so we could all see it. The beotch office manager made us all go back to work after a while, as if any of us could concentrate we were all in shock.

CLR
GOLO member since February 26, 2008
September 11, 2008 8:28 a.m.

I still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. I was at work when we heard about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. We had a television here and turned it on and saw the 2nd one hit. We watched the coverage for the rest of the day.

GinaH
GOLO member since August 11, 2008
September 11, 2008 8:41 a.m.

I guess for many it was a "surreal" day. I never thought, "Oh God, this can't be happening." I thought, "Wow, this really sucks." For me, it was more sad than surreal. I had been reading about what was going on in Northern Afghanistan and the assassination of Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Massoud so when the second plane hit I knew it wasn't an accident, and I figured it must be connected with Al Quaida or the Taliban. Since our building also housed some govt offices, we had to leave work. I went home and listened to WCPE. The news was too depressing.

Randy Cox
GOLO member since August 29, 2008
September 11, 2008 8:49 a.m.

I was at work. After the second plane hit, I left work and picked up my daughter from school. I next made sure I had ample food on hand. My daughter did not understand why I was picking her up, but once she saw the coverage of the attacks it made sense. I also made sure all other family members were safe.

whatelseisnew
GOLO member since October 18, 2007
September 11, 2008 9:00 a.m.

i was late going to work because my daughter's rotc unit had been on a field trip the day before, and they got back very late, so i slept in for a little while...i was on my way to work when i heard the news on the radio...someone had a tv on when i got to work and we watched it all day...

pinklady-loves.her.rottie
GOLO member since July 5, 2007
September 11, 2008 9:07 a.m.

I was at work when one of the VP's wifes called in an told us to turn the tv on. I watched in horror as the 2nd plane collided with the 2nd tower. The whole office stopped everything all day to watch the news on a little 13" tv in the conference room. One of my friends was working in the construction trailer outside the Pentagon. Trying to get a hold of her was a nightmare. The confusion, pain, anger all coming out was crazy. My daughter had just started K4 at a new school. I was torn between going to get her and staying put. It is nothing that any of us want to relive, EVER!

kitcat718 changing my life
GOLO member since July 2, 2008
September 11, 2008 9:07 a.m.

I was talking to my mom on a pay phone at the mall, fussing cuz my hungover boss was once again 2 hours late opening the store and it was cutting into my paycheck, mom started screaming OMG! OMG! she was going crazy. I walked right out on my job that day and came straight home. My cousin was in the Trade Center and we finally got a call from The Red Cross people, saying they had him, he didnt know who he was he simply had our number in his wallet. He ended up hanging himself in 2004, he never could deal with what he saw in the Trade Center......

tarheelblue919
GOLO member since February 20, 2008
September 11, 2008 9:17 a.m.

http://www.imeem.com/brattyangelbaby/music/O-rE6uxI/dusty_drake_one_last_time/

Puts it all into perspective.

CensoredbyWRAL
GOLO member since September 9, 2008
September 11, 2008 9:17 a.m.

okay, i tried to post, but i dont see it on here (sorry if this is a duplicate)

i was a freshman @ ecu when it happened. I was driving to my pt job and heard something about it on the radio. at this time, the second tower had not been hit. when i got to work i told my supervisor that there was "some plane crash in NY". a little while later, when our first customer came in, she told us what had happened. i think i must have gotten off work early b/c i remember watching all the seemingly surreal news reports on tv with my roommate. we called all of our friends and family...i guess we all felt overcome with appreciation or felt a need to be close to them b/c we everyone who was in town met later for dinner @ hams. one of our friends from back home even drove up to be with us...

iluvwilmy
GOLO member since April 24, 2008
September 11, 2008 9:30 a.m.

If one thing has remained constant since 1962, it is that when someone calls and says "HEY! TURN ON THE TV RIGHT NOW," it is never good news.

Randy Cox
GOLO member since August 29, 2008
September 11, 2008 9:33 a.m.

Two of our friends(a married couple) barely escaped the attacks that morning. He works for the Treasury Department in the Secret Service Division(currently on Whitehouse detail), he had an appointment at the Pentagon that morning. His wife works for the federal government as well and had an appointment at the south tower that morning, luckily they were both running late due to traffic that morning had they been on time, I hate to even imagine.......

Historian snuck back in
September 11, 2008 9:34 a.m.

I'd just got to work and was trying to change some 401(k) contributions. About half way through, the website stopped responding. I tried others to see if it was a problem at my end but the whole internet was gone...

I turned on NPR and listened to it for the next few hours.

JohnnyMalaria
GOLO member since October 7, 2007
September 11, 2008 9:41 a.m.

I was in spring hope.At the time i was a Metal roof foreman and we had a radio playing tunes to pass the day when the warning came on. A few guys laughed at first,thinking it was some sort of prank..then everyone started to think..wow is this real????? we were installing a roof on a buiness that was ongoing and we couldnt belive it, so we went inside the buisness, and asked the manager if he heard it, he said no, and then we went to the tv he had in the break room.We arrived just in time to see the second plane crash. we were all in horror. People were crying, i was physically upset myself. PO"D to be exact.i told the guys to wrap it up and go home. my mind was mush but all i could think of was my loved ones..and told my guys to go home..be thankful for them..let them know because it seems now a days, one doesn't know. GOD bless those in the attacks,the familes and the victims!! GOD BLESS YOU ALL

CottonTownRambler
GOLO member since February 21, 2008
September 11, 2008 9:49 a.m.

I was at home that day. I was usually out of town on business, but for some reason I had cancelled the trip. Cant imagine how my family would have felt if I had been on a plane that day. I had flown two of those 4 flights in the months before. I had a guy I hired a few months later who worked for a company on the 101st floor of tower one. He had called in sick that day. No one survived from his office.

Zillardd
September 11, 2008 9:57 a.m.

I was attending a very small college in Ohio at the time. There is a tiny corner of one of the buildings that is a little coffee shop, and had a small TV in it. We were let out of class for a scheduled break 3 minutes after the first plane hit. We crowded into that little room for hours - no more classes or even the thought of classes. Eventually they rolled out a large TV, and set it up in the classroom. I don't remember anything else but that, I was so numb. My husband (who was going to the same school, but we hadn't met yet) remembers realizing that there were no planes in the skies, and he called his mom and told her his friend (who is in the Marines) was going to war.

beauty comes from within
GOLO member since July 2, 2007
September 11, 2008 10:08 a.m.

I was at work when I got a call to 'Turn on the TV'. Our business for the next 2 weeks was almost non-existent.

eunosroadster96
GOLO member since July 3, 2008
September 11, 2008 10:17 a.m.

I worked at NC State. We all huddled around the TV and I remember hearing everyone talk about the victims and the families. My mind just couldn't comprehend what was happening. The only thing that was going through my head was that the NY skyline would never be the same. I just couldn't comprehend the loss of live that day... It still takes my breath away realizing it was almost 3,000 souls that were lost. I remember walking outside and looking up at the sky and thinking that the world would never be the same.

MaplesMom
GOLO member since October 25, 2007
September 11, 2008 10:17 a.m.

I had just dropped my then kindergartner off at school and continued to take my 3 year old to preschool. When I walked into the preschool the teachers were huddled in the hall trying to put their friendly smiles on to greet the children. I knew something was wrong. One teacher walked me into a room with a TV and I stood there in disbelief and watched and cried. After the shock of it all I was afraid of the what next.....I stayed at the preschool because I didn't want to be alone and I worried about my children. I called my Mom later and she actually saw the plane that crashed in PA fly unusually low while she was outside in her garden. What I remember the most is that I never felt that way in my life.

MOM AND LOVIN IT
GOLO member since November 13, 2007
September 11, 2008 10:24 a.m.

I was a Deputy at the time. I had just worked my last night of the 4 day rotation, and had been in bed asleep since sending the kids to school about 7:15. My mom called about quarter to 9 and said "a plane just crashed into one of the towers at the World Trade Center. Turn on your TV." I thought no big deal, a freak accident. I turned on the TV anyway and as I was watching WRAL, the 2nd plane flew into the 2nd tower. The day to day operations of the office where I worked changed immediately.

My step-daughter was in 8th grade, and was looking forward to the Washington DC trip scheduled for May of 2002. We weren't sure if they would even get to go after that, but continued planning anyway.

They were able to work out going but the planned visit to the Pentegon was changed. The bus drivers actually took a route to Arrlington Cemetary that went by the Pentegon and we could see the flag draped over where the plane crashed. 4 years later, my daughter went and we got to see the memorial

mariaburke8
September 11, 2008 10:28 a.m.

(con't) that was inside the Penrtegon in the section where the plane crashed. When I went in may 2002, my step-daughter and her friend stood together for a picture in front of the JFK speach, the Washington monument was in the background. When I developed the picture, there was an airliner flying over the monument and the whole class was in awe of the symbloism. We weren't sure if we were ever going to see planes in that area again just months before.

One of my fellow officers had family in NY and it was 4 days before he could contact them because the phone lines were busy. I hugged my family VERY tightly that day, and cried most of the rest of the day. I still cry whne I think of the people who have suffered. I read in the local paper yesterday that an elderly lady who lost her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren when the plane crashed into the second tower passed away. I don't know how she went on for so long with that grief.

mariaburke8
September 11, 2008 10:36 a.m.

I was in 5th grade, in english reading the book my brother sam is dead. I remember I had a football game that night, and a parent brought a huge american flag and raised it to half mast on the sidelines

Lrhspride
GOLO member since November 28, 2007
September 11, 2008 10:36 a.m.

I was at home on September 11, 2001. I had taken off of work because it was my wedding anniversary (my husband and I had separated) and I was deeply depressed over it. My sister called me and told me to switch on the TV because an airplane had hit the WTC. We were on the telephone exchanging words of disbelief as we watched the second airplane hit. I have never felt such a sense of helplessness as I felt that day. I sat in front of the TV and cried for the people who died and prayed for the people that were left to carry on.

n2justice
GOLO member since September 24, 2007
September 11, 2008 10:36 a.m.

I was at home (Minneapolis at the time), and I turned on the TV to check the weather before sending my son off to school. As soon as I turned it on, the 2nd plane flew into the tower. I was mortified. I sent my son to school, knowing that I could get him anytime I needed, as the school was only 2 blocks away. I started calling everyone I knew, including my sister and her husband in San Francisco, knowing they wouldn't be awake yet, knowing they had friends there. When the info from DC started rolling in, I called my mom furiously, because she was doing a lot of work near the Capitol at the time. I got a hold of her about 1 pm. My little ones spent a lot of time crawling around their playroom floor and watching Baby Einstein videos while I watched news coverage. I remember how quiet everything was in my neighborhood, which was on a flight path. We put a flag in our window that evening. A few days after, I took my older son to the memorial service in downtown St. Paul.

aquamama
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
September 11, 2008 11:02 a.m.

I was at Myrtle Beach, SC on vacation with my family. I came in from a swim in the ocean just after the first tower got hit (it had not yet collapsed). I stood there frozen in horror in a dripping wet bathing suit for at least an hour glued to the television set. I felt more than a little guilty for continuing our vacation but we did. Obviously, it was a bit less happy than planned.

packbackrb
GOLO member since October 3, 2007
September 11, 2008 11:27 a.m.

I was on an airplane (RDU to Denver by way of Chicago) from O'hare to DIA. We weren't told until we landed what had happened, but we circled forever waiting to land and there were a LOT of planes doing the same thing. The pilot was pretty good at making up excuses and keeping us placated until we could land. I had to teach a software class that day, and it went to heck in a handbasket - everyone spent the day tracking down family and huddling around computer screens. Denver completely shut down - restaurants, malls, everything. The entire day is still like a blurred nightmare to me. Then there was the task of trying to get home.....

PlanetX
GOLO member since September 27, 2007
September 11, 2008 12:00 p.m.

I was born and raised on Long Island, NY. I had just moved down to NC to be closer with my family who relocated here 10 years earlier.I was at work after just dropping my 1 year old son at daycare. My sister called just after the first plane hit. She still had the tv on when the second hit and was confused, thinking it was a replay of the first. People at my job were huddled around a tv. I stood and watched in disbelief as the first tower collapsed. My immediate feeling was fear and wanting to be with my son, but my job would not allow it (not there any longer)I remember driving home in rush hour traffic and looking at everyone's faces as we sat, we all had the same blank look of confusion, fear, helplessness, disbelief. I held my son the whole night when I got him.

jzapata816
GOLO member since September 26, 2008
September 11, 2008 12:03 p.m.

I was teaching kindergarten. It was a beautiful, beautiful morning and we had just settle down on the playground for a little recess. One of our assistant teachers came and told us a plane had hit the towers and they didn't know how many more there were. My first thought, irrational as it was, was what will I do with my class if a plane crashes into our school. Because I was teaching, I couldn't watch it on TV but I did catch glimpses of it. I remember when the first tower fell...I kinda laughed. An inappropriate response. The teacher beside me was crying. It was all just so unreal. I couldn't believe it was really happening. No, I'll never forget...or forgive.

lawpirate lives in Ga.
GOLO member since July 28, 2007
September 11, 2008 2:05 p.m.

I was teaching 8th grade language arts, and we were excited because we were working on an interesting project on the Internet. When we read about the first plane crashing, one of my new students became worried as he had family members who worked there. By the time the second crashed we were worried and when we heard about the Pentagon, we knew we were under attack.

Our principal told us to put on our brave faces and act as if nothing was wrong, but I had to cry when I saw the towers collapse. I knew life in the US had changed that day.

We never did finish that project; we switched to creating flag pins for our school body to wear. We accepted any donation and gave it to one of the organizations (I think the one helping the Firemen's families). My 60+ kids made over 1000 pins in just a few days.

hawk_fan loves her 10_2 team
GOLO member since April 25, 2008
September 11, 2008 2:10 p.m.

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