Where were you 9/11/01?

[cindi o'h]

The news was on the TV in the breakroom. Someone turned the TV on. It was the first hour of work for the day. All were in shock.

My brother, John, was dying of lung cancer in a nursing home. I was sad that the end of his life had to be marred by this national tragedy. He said, No. He found the whole thing fascinating and wanted to see how it turned out. His humor superceded any despair he may have been feeling. While watching the repeat news footages of the planes hitting the Twin Towers, he said, "Damn fools! When are they going to learn to go AROUND them?"

He died Oct. 12, just one month later.

I had lung cancer at the same time. I just didn't know it yet.

Oh well.

Cindi o'h

[MsC1210]

I was at home getting the days lessons in order as I home schooled my daughter at that time. My youngest son was only about 18 months old and was settled on the floor watching Sesame Street. For some reason he picked up the remote and turned the channel as the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. I had no idea what I was witnessing.

My husband and I were both volunteer fire fighters at that time and immediate thoughts were OH GOD.. I guess I need not say more.

Prayers to all of those who lost their lives, to those who lost loved ones and for the rest of us whose lives changed on that day...

Chris

[Don Wood]

I was having breakfast at a restaurant with some friends when the waitress informed us about the attack. I went to the gym to work out and it was all on the TV monitors there. Don

[RandyW]

Standing In front of a Flat Top stove cooking scrambledEggs at UPS Call Center in High Point North Carolina. THe Love of My Lfe was Out front running THe register. My Brother In Law Watched the Whole thing From The Windshiield Of his car as he was driving to the Lincoln Tunnel While running Late for a business meeting in The WTC. His office was the Verizon building Next Door to those Towers.

[Maryanne]

I was sitting in my guest room on my computer, when I put one foot up accross my lap and accidently hit the power on the TV. That was right after the first plane hit. I saw the 2nd hit live, and that was it, I was glued to the TV, No work that day.

I will never forget those feelings and so many images left over from that day. My G-d I can't believe it was 5 years ago. It seems like yesterday.

Maryanne

[Muriel]

Five years ago we lived in Fairfax, VA, some distance from the Pentagon but not so far that I didn't hear the impact of Flight 77 (Dulles to Los Angeles). I was watching Today (NBC) before it even happened, so I watched it all from my kitchen table as my coffee was getting colder and colder. Just couldn't leave that spot to warm it up. Our oldest son lived in NW Washington. I called him to tell him what was happening and we spent several hours on the phone watching tv. He assummed - correctly - that the Smithsonian wouldn't be open that day. My husband was in a govt. office building in Arlington - much closer to the Pentagon. Our youngest son lived in Manhattan. That was scary for us. His apt. was E.21st St.(N of the Towers) and his office was very close to Grand Central Station. We all tried calling him and he was trying to call us. Finally, mid-afternoon we connected. Several days later, tho., Tom called me about noon one day. His building had been evacuated and no one new what was going on. He was hoping I could find out on CNN or MSNBC. It was nothing- just another scare.

The next day I learned that two of my colleagues from National Geographic had been on Flight 77. Very sad.

Muriel

[Ry]

I was at work when the husband of one of the women called and said to turn on the TV. The TV in our office is mainly used for playing training videos so we watched it through the "fuzz" (no cable) as the second plane hit and everything else unfolded. It is like when Kennedy was shot-- everyone remembers exactly what they were doing.

[joanie55]

I was at work in my office in New York City. Someone said that a plane had flown into the twin towers. I immediately thought of the time a plane hit the empire state building. I ran into our reception area where there was a TV. I sat there mesmorized as the second plane hit tower 2. At that moment I knew it was terrorists.

By then there were very few working phones, but I needed to find one because my very good friend had just opened her office at the world trade center. I was able to reach her, thankfully, at home. She was running late.

I made my way uptown to my son's apartment, watching the dust covered people arriving from downtown. In shock, some crying. Lots of people were crying and huddled around cars with their radios blasting. It was like out of a movie.

I stayed with my son for two days. That first night we could hardly sleep, as there were fighter planes circling the city. It was just crazy and scary. I've never seen the city like that and hopefully never will again. It was a ghost town the following day.

I'll never ever forget that day, especially the sky. It was the most beautiful blue sky with the most awful mushroom of smoke.

My husband lost his best friend from his early years, Harvey. He had been at our wedding. Many people I knew lost dozens of friends.

Just incomprehensible, even 5 years later.

Joan

[chloesmom]

It was my first day post-radiation treatment for my breast cancer. I was so happy getting ready for work that morning knowing I was done with radiation and would not have to stop at the hospital on my way to work for my treatment. I wanted to resume my life as I had known it before cancer. I was in the bathroom finishing my hair and makeup when my husband left for work, saying, "Have a great first normal day in a long time."

Half an hour later I was at work getting called to the nearest tv in time to see the horror that was the second plane flying into the second tower. So much for a normal day.

We also had tentative plans to be in NYC for the White Sox/Yankees series at Yankee stadium that was to start on Sept 11 that year. But, earlier that year when Yankees tickets became available, we decided we only wanted to make our New York trip a long weekend, so we changed our plans and went in late July instead. We got a gorgeous photo of the WTC on that trip, never imagining that the events would unfold the way they did only 6 weeks later.

NYC is my favorite place to visit in the entire world, and I will never forget or forgive those acts of madness on that terrible day.

Cindy

[Debi]

I walked in work and someone told me they heard that a plane had just hit the WTC. I called my daughter who had just moved to OK, my son-in-law answered the phone and I told him to turn on the news. As he was on the phone with me, the 2nd plane hit, neither one of us could believe it. To make it worse for him, his mom and stepdad work on Wall Street and his best friend was working right near the WTC selling cell phones (he wouldn't find out that all were okay until later that evening).

There was a sense of surrealness at work, reports started coming in of the Pentagon being hit, the plane going down. We take calls from customers all over the country at my job, and many of them were giving erroneous reports -the Space Needle in Seattle was hit, the mall in Minneapolis was a target, on and on. I am lucky enough to have a private phone on my desk, so I was able to get calls and call people to get updates to give to the employees, to stem the panic that the entire country was under attack. It was this way that I heard about the collapse of the tower.

I went in the conference room where a couple of the other managers had set up a TV with terrible reception to hear about what happened. Just as I entered, I watched in horror through the TV snow as the 2nd tower collapsed. I felt like I was in shock.

As much as everyone was in shock and horror at what happened, I never felt so far away from home as I did that day. Every bone in my body wanted to be back home, I was a New Yorker, and although this sounds corny as hell, those were my people and I felt this, all the way through to my bones. I wanted to be there, not halfway across the country. I had only been in OKlahoma for 10 months-this wasn't my home. I felt so distant.

I actually made it to work on Wednesday, but called in sick on Thursday and Friday- I couldn't function, all I wanted to do was hear about what happened, talk about what happened. I watched CNN 24/7, I had to somehow come to grips with what happened, without being able to read Newsday or the Daily News with front to back coverage. After 4 days of basically laying on the couch watching the tv, I was able to get it somewhat together.

[rvillella]

I was at work on an Air Force Base. They closed us down and sent us home for the next 3 days due to the increased security for the Bases.

As a retired military man I always felt that some day they (Those that believe we are evil incarnate) would do something to the U.S. itself. I wish I was wrong.

I spent the next 3 days watching and rewatching what happened.

Ralph

[shelliemacs]

my husband and I were stationed at Incirlik AFB in Turkey. I was sent back to the US 5 days later and he was sent back to King Fahd AFB in Saudi Arabia the same day. He spent 14 months in IRAQ and I lived in fear all that time.

Shelly

[ginnyde]

I am probably the most naive person here.

I was watching GMA while cross stitching a Christmas stocking for my granddaughter. They came back from commercial and said that a 'small' plane had hit the WTC. A short time later as we watched the second plane hit, my first response was 'WHAT A COINCIDENCE'.

Maybe I am just a cockeyed optimist.

[Geri]

We were on vacation in Cape Hatteras NC, enjoying the first week of a beach side "pseudo" camping trip.

I had turned off the TV about 10 minutes before the first plane hit and then for some unknown reason I put it back on just as the first tower went down.

Richard was outside checking on the water tanks and in absolute disbelief I ran out and shouted the twin towers are falling down! We both sat for the next few hours glued to the TV, he was remembering meetings he had attended in those towers over the years and I was thinking how glad I was that his last meeting there had been 2 weeks before.

When we left out trailer a few hours later the first thing we saw was the fifth wheel across the way with "United we stand" written in white shoe polish on their very large back window and a large flag had appeared attached to the king pin in the front........the first of many patriotic signs that were soon to be seen everywhere.

Our daughter fielded many calls that day from our families in England, they all knew we had gone south but not knowing US geography had them wondering if were anywhere near NY city.

How the world has changed since then.

Geri

[ztweb]

I was with 110 kids on a field trip at a local field station here in SD. We were not near phones, TV, or anything, although the bus driver had been called by the district to let us know. When we got back to the school, everyone was in shock!

[ursol]

Since I work for ESPN, I have cable television in my office and I arrived to work early that day and immediately turned on the today show when I got there and watched the entire thing as it unfolded calling my mother and husband frantically as I was so frightened. But at one point all my panicking had to stop when the tower with the large antennae went down. At that point I had to go into work mode to insure the NY ABC station could get back on the air (they used that Antennae). We got them back on very quickly through ESPN facilities.

Then I went back to staring at the TV in complete disbelief.

Lilly

[Mendy]

I was in the hospital having just given birth to my first child the evening before. A cleaning staff lady came in my room and asked me why I didn't have the tv on and proceeded to turn it on for me. I saw the footage of the first plane and then saw the second plane hit. At that point I called my husband who said he was leaving work to be with us just in case the attacks were so bad that he needed to take us out of the hospital. It was such a surreal experience. I remember turning off the tv thinking I can't deal with this and just wanted to experience being a new mom. It was a difficult Sept. and we seriously debated moving to be further away for Wash. DC (we are about 40 miles away).