So, what were you doing five years ago today?

[MrScorpio]

I got up, and heard on NPR that Masood was just assassinated in Afghanistan. Got dressed and went to work.

Later of course, reports came in of the first crash. Then, as we watched the first tower smolder, the second crashed occured. And then the Pentagon.

I couldn't help to think that I had been in both buildings. I worked in the Pentagon for 7&1/2 years and once, I visited the top of the WTC.

Knowing the interiors, I imagined the chaos inside.

Of course, we continued√to witness the attacks

It was that I would never forget.

[Broken_Hero]

1. I was sleeping

this time, 5yrs ago...there was another thread floating around asking people to tell what they were doing when 9/11 happened, and I posted the details much better in that thread...

[Broken_Hero]

4. I was on my way to work and

I had to drive my brother to church really early, and go to work. When I dropped him off around 5:15am, I turned the radio on, and the radio personality was talking about a Tom Clancy Novel Debt of Honor. Now, I'm a T. Clancy fan, and I know at the end, an incident happens where a jet liner crashes into a political building...so, I just assumed they were talking about the book...but in truth, they were talking about the first plane hitting, and drawing parrellels from the T. Clancy novel.

I get to work, I startrd coffee, biscuits/gravy, and sausage sandwiches, and when the coffee was done I turned the tv on, and the channel it was left on was CNN. I went back to my counter to continue making sausage sammiches, and I heard the anchor say "A plane has hit the WTC." I was like, WTF???? Stopped making breakfast, and I sat there watching tv, and then the second plane hit....

At this time, the Cold Storage guys were all ready milling outside, and I am not supposed to let them in until 6am, but with what was going on, I let them all in, and directed them to the tv....silence for quite some time, but with a few F bombs thrown around....

Everyone, including myself was shell shocked most of the day, a lot of anger, a lot of phone calls, because a good handful of the cold storage workers were from New York, and all of them went home to NYC, the next day....we had about 15 guys/gals who were from NYC...

After work, I noticed gas was up past 8 bucks a gallon, and the streets were rather...bare of traffic. I came home and watched the news 24/7

on edit:spelling

[Lethe]

2. got up to eat breakfast before class

turned on the tube, news was saying one of the towers was hit.

ate some more cereal, and then i watched the 2nd plane hit live on tv. then i said to myself, "holy fuck"

[LaraMN]

3. I was at home, pregnant. My BIL woke my husband and I up.

I watched the footage of the planes hitting the towers, and I told my husband, "we're going to end up going to war with someone." I think he thought I was overreacting, but with Bush in the White House, I knew that would be the result. I remember wondering what kind of world I was bringing my baby into. There were so many random reports, and so little solid information, everything felt totally chaotic and surreal.

[LSK]

5. way up in the Mountains of Colorado

Started the day outside of Buena Vista, heard about 9/11 leaving Leadville. Drove over cottonwood pass and spend the night in Crested Butte.

[qnr]

6. Working Master Control at an ABC/UPN station in Bangor, Maine until 7AM,

then I went home and went to bed, and Mrs. qnr woke me after reading about it on Bartcop & turning the TV on.

[SeattleGirl]

7. Here is my post from a similar thread in GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2103820&mesg_id=2103886

[u4ic]

8. I slept in

woke up, and turned on my computer to get my email. Went to the kitchen, made a bit of toast, then sat down to read my messages.

One was from a friend of mine, who mentioned that her dentist cancelled all his appointments that day, and if I were to turn on the tv, I'd know why.

Since we have the same dentist, I thought perhaps an accident happened to the family - turned on the news, around 10 am (12 EST) and could not believe what I saw.

I eventually got to the facilities...and found a note on the mirror from my SO at the time, explaining the situation, then adding his own personal commentary. (he was watching tv when they showed the second plane go through the second tower - live)

I found that note on my last move (just over a year ago) and I started to tear up again. Just holding the note brought back so many awful memories. :-( :cry:

[Reverend_Smitty]

9. I was a senior in high school

I found out about the events of Sept 11th in my 3rd period class. It was a music class and the teacher's office was right next to the classroom so when the first plane hit, his wife called him and told him what happened. He relayed the info to us (there were only about 5 people in this class), since I am a product of public schooling, there weren't many TVs available so I didn't actually "see" what happened until I got out of school that day. I even had to take a test that day on Romantic poetry...I couldn't really focus on it but managed to get a decent grade. I remember all of the rumors swirling around the school...and since I live in NJ everyone was trying to find out if anyone they knew was in the city that day.

I gotta say it was scary not knowing what was going on in the world. I remember thinking I would do anything just to watch CNN for 5 minutes, just to know. The administration wouldn't tell us anything. The only information we got was from teachers who happened to see something on one of the few TVs in the building...yeah it was a surreal day and I can recall it vividly and will remember it for the rest of my life.

[GalleryGod]

39. Nice school.

Yours is the ONLY High School (especially in N.J.)I've heard first person that did the "carry on, carry,on" bit.

Our University, in Philly...was done,gone,go home,go to a TV set.

[xmas74]

43. Our schools wanted to do the "carry on" bit

but we're too close to an air force base. (A well-known one at that.)

Too many parents were driving to the schools and signing their children out of classes before the base officially went on lockdown.

(MO school but I know most of the schools in the area did "carry on". A few allowed tv viewing all day and had teachers around to speak w/ the students.)

[Reverend_Smitty]

51. yeah the senior class was about to mutiny

it was bad enough that we had to stay the full day (and it was only a week or two into the school year) but the administration only gave us one "official" update on the situation...we were mostly pissed about that. We figured a mass walkout of students would not be helping things on that day so we stayed put...although I do know a few people that just left. Granted we live about 50 miles from the city so we weren't in immediate danger, we were still quite affected by terrorism in the coming weeks. Our post office (less than a mile away from my school and home) was the one that processed all the anthrax letters. So I guess the point is, you never know especially in the tri-state area.

The strangest part of the day was dismissal, the usual raucous parking lot with a thousand different songs playing at full blast on the radio was eerily quiet only the sound of the Giuliani press conference was heard...very strange.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. Woke up and turned on CNN as usual

I always wanted to see what was going on before I went to work; I was city editor of the local daily.

Chery and I watched, stunned, for about 10 minutes. Then I said, "I gotta go to work." I didn't shower or anything; I just threw on my clothes and took off.

I don't remember anything else except what the front page looked like.

[deadparrot]

11. Freshman in HS.

In first-period science class when we heard the news. We had made edible candles for extra credit and were trying them out when the principal came over the loudspeaker. Ironically, it was a prescheduled half-day, so we basically watched TV in every class, had a prayer service at noonish (it was a Catholic school), then went home. In all honesty, I don't remember much about the rest of the day.

[BlueIris]

12. You know, I have tried to remember that so. many. times.

On Sept. 11 itself, I woke up inexplicably early and watched the chaos unfold all day long. But on September 10--I have tried and tried to remember and can't. Logic says I was either up in the living room watching one of our 900 channels and being mega-depressed or sleeping. I honestly do not know.

[jobycom]

13. Balancing my checkbook.

I checked CNN.com just before signing on to my bank to balance my checkbook. I saw that a plane, reportedly a twin engine plane, had hit the WTC, and I tried to remember details of the plane that had hit the Empire State Building in the 40s. After balancing my checkbook, I tried to sign back on to CNN to check the headlines again, not really remembering the plane story. I couldn't get CNN to load, so I checked my other favorite web sites, and none of them would load, either. I thought "Hm, I wonder if it's my connection or if something big has happened." About then my wife came home with our daughter, who had thrown up in the car just as they were getting to school, and so had to come back home. We talked about her sickness for a bit, then my wife asked, very somberly, "Are you following the story out of Washington?" I was confused for a moment, then I said, "Oh, the plane crash? That was in New York." She told me a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and she thought one had hit the WTC in New York, too.

I remember trying to walk slowly up the stairs to the television so I wouldn't frighten our daughter. Before I turned it on I was trying to guess who had attacked us. Bin Laden was my top guess, but I couldn't remember his name. I remember thinking "Bush will be impeached by the end of the week for this. This is what Clinton has been warning the Republicans about since 96."

I spent the rest of that day checking websites on maximum age to join the military, and checking out sites on the FBI, NSA, etc, trying to find some way to get involved. I kept thinking this was our Pearl Harbor, this was our time to sacrifice.

Sad how many god intentions were wasted by the "Feel Good" Republicans after that.

[speedoo]

14. I was at a friend's apartment in Elmhurst, Queens. (long)

(reposting an edited version from another thread here, for my lounge friends)

Elmhurst is maybe 6 or 7 miles east of Ground Zero. We had just gotten my friend's kids to school and had some breakfast. I was reading the paper, she was watching TV when they broke in to show the first Tower burning, and she called me to watch with her. My reaction was the same as others... a random crash by a small plane. But the size of the fire was not consistent with that, and the TV people were just as confused, so I was not really sure.

Then we watched the second plane hit and I knew instantly it was terrorism. I started swearing that it was Bush's fault because he had allowed the Middle East to spin out of control. I was furious, nearly out of control, my hatred for Bush escalating. My friend, who is from the Dominican Republic, without even a high school education, was begging me to explain what was going on. I know now that she was beginning to panic over concern for her kids, in school. All I could do was continue to swear at Bush, and try to tell her it was an isolated terrorist incident, that we and her kids were safe.

Then we started hearing reports of other planes, very confused at first.. one possibly crashing into the Pentagon, another somewhere in Pennsylvania. Maybe one or both shot down by our own fighter aircraft. And reports that people were jumping out of the Towers, to their death. And her panic was growing. Then, we watched in horror as the Towers fell. After the first one fell, I told her with certainty that the second one would as well. Of course, it did. Then the news people started talking about bin Laden, who everyone seemed certain was to blame, even that soon.

We called the schools and were told to come get her kids, schools were closing. So that kept us busy for an hour or so.

Back in the apartment, we now had four young girls (aged 5 to 12) to try to settle down, try to explain what was happening. They would look at the tapes of the crashes and the Towers falling and look at me and ask, "Why?" They were frightened and confused, but I could only try to answer them. We had all visited the WTC a few weeks before, and stood at the top of the South Tower.. I am sure that memory just added to their fright.

I spent some time telephoning family and friends to see if they were OK and to let them know I was OK as well. Later that afternoon, I was lying down, resting, when my ex-wife called me on my cell phone. She was worried about me, because she knew I was somewhere in the City, but had no idea where. After assuring one another we were OK, we spoke for a bit about what had happened. Her father was a retired ARAMCO executive, and therefore very pro-Arab. I had had a long running low level feud with him about the Arab-Israeli conflict, that my ex had tried to cool down. I remember saying to her over and over again during that phone call... "Fucking Arabs. Fucking Arabs."

I stayed in the Queens apartment that night, and the next day I drove to my place in Brooklyn. I saw the smoke from Ground Zero as I drove past lower Manhattan on the BQE. Soon I could start smelling the smoke and whatever else that was, from the smoke being blown by the northwest wind over Brooklyn.

About ten days later, I went into downtown Manhattan for an appointment with my lawyer, whose office was just two blocks from Ground Zero. He had just been able to return to his office the day before. I exited the subway and the smell was there, just much more powerful. Even though there were police and barricades everywhere, I was able to see the smoke still rising and the infamous rubble.. those Tower facades eerily coming out of the smoking debris.

And that was the first day I really began to grieve, after seeing that. It was no longer a TV image... it was real. I broke down in my lawyer's office.

To this day, I still do not know if I lost any old friends on 9/11. In all likelihood, I did, because I grew up in New York, so there must have been some old friends in those Towers that day. But my infrequent attempts at perusing lists of victims have not told me yes, or no. I can see now that is a task I must complete... maybe I just was not ready to do it before.

I can still see images, and recall events and conversations, in minute detail, about those days. Just as I can recall in detail what I was doing when JFK, Martin Luther King and RFK were assassinated.

[ThomCat]

67. I remember that smell.

I will probably never forget it. It lasted for weeks. :(

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

15. At this time, getting to sleep after a few Meister Braus & joints...

I'm crossposting what transpired once I woke up from another thread in GD...

I had overslept that morning, so I hopped on my bike and frantically pedaled over to the scene shop (my workstudy job was set construction). I went over to the technical director and started to apologize when one of the MFA students walked in and said, "A second plane just hit. We set up TVs on the stage." The TD looked at me and said, "shop just closed." Then, he yelled out over the blare of the powertools & stereo, "We're being attacked. They're watching it in the theatre. I'm shutting down the shop for the day."

I went into the theatre and sat down glued to the three small TVs they had set up. There were probably about two dozen theatre students and professors already in there watching. Most of them were crying, but I was just frozen. I didn't know what to feel. I was thinking of my ex-boyfriend's mom who worked in the WTC, and had survived the 1st attack. Later, I found out she didn't survive this one. When the first tower collapsed, I remember saying, "Fuck, we're going to war. He's (Bush) going to send us to fucking war." One of my design professors was sitting behind me and she put her hands on my shoulders. I just stood up and walked out.

I rode my bike back to my dorm, which was a quad of four houses actually with a gazebo in the middle. It was really eerie. It was an absolutely beautiful day and pretty much everyone had their windows open. Everyone also had the news on. So even outside, you couldn't escape it. A few of my friends were sitting in the gazebo, crying and smoking joints. Eventually, we decided that we couldn't hear anymore of the news, so we set out to one of the fields.

We spent the day laying in the grass smoking weed. I was just laying there with my head on my friend's stomach, when a couple of fighter jets flew kind of low overhead...and that's when I cried for the first time that day. It was bizarre seeing no commercial jets, just military aircraft flying around.

I ended up losing two people I knew that day. My ex-boyfriend's mom and the father of a guy I had worked with (and a member of our church). He was a Port Authority cop who didn't make it back out before the collapse.

I also wrote a poem that day about the whole thing. If I find it, I'll post it later.

For the first ten years of my life, I lived in a shitty neighborhood but I had a beautiful view of the NYC skyline from my street. I still find it surreal looking at the skyline without the twin towers there.

[DainBramaged]

16. Watching the tragedy unfold on TV with my 12 year old daughter

Who was sick that day and I had stayed home from work to be with her. And then driving to Hoboken later on in the day to get a glimpse of the skyline without the towers. Everything stopped. Schools closed, businesses closed. I was sick for a week.

A close friend's sister, who worked for Canter Fitzgerald, was on her way into work. Her bus was 15 minutes late getting into the city. She was getting off the bus by 47th St. Photo when she realized what was happening. She got right back on and the bus escaped damage, and got her and a few others to safety before the streets were cosed and the Towers collapsed.

To this day she is on total disability and has become a recluse, her life destroyed, afraid to venture out of her home.




9/11 by the numbers.

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/news/articles/wtc/1year/numbers.htm

Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02): 2,819

Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343

Number of NYPD officers: 23

Number of Port Authority police officers: 37

Number of WTC companies that lost people: 60

Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402

Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614

Number of employees lost at Cantor Fitzgerald: 658

Number of U.S. troops killed in Operation Enduring Freedom: 22

Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115

Ratio of men to women who died: 3:1

Age of the greatest number who died: between 35 and 39

Bodies found "intact": 289

Body parts found: 19,858

Number of families who got no remains: 1,717

Estimated units of blood donated to the New York Blood Center: 36,000

Total units of donated blood actually used: 258

Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks: 1,609

Estimated number of children who lost a parent: 3,051

Percentage of Americans who knew someone hurt or killed in the attacks: 20

FDNY retirements, January–July 2001: 274

FDNY retirements, January–July 2002: 661

Number of firefighters on leave for respiratory problems by January 2002: 300

Number of funerals attended by Rudy Giuliani in 2001: 200

Number of FDNY vehicles destroyed: 98

Tons of debris removed from site: 1,506,124

Days fires continued to burn after the attack: 99

Jobs lost in New York owing to the attacks: 146,100

Days the New York Stock Exchange was closed: 6

Point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average when the NYSE reopened: 684.81

Days after 9/11 that the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan: 26

Total number of hate crimes reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations nationwide since 9/11: 1,714

Economic loss to New York in month following the attacks: $105 billion

Estimated cost of cleanup: $600 million

Total FEMA money spent on the emergency: $970 million

Estimated amount donated to 9/11 charities: $1.4 billion

Estimated amount of insurance paid worldwide related to 9/11: $40.2 billion

Estimated amount of money needed to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $7.5 billion

Amount of money recently granted by U.S. government to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $4.55 billion

Estimated amount of money raised for funds dedicated to NYPD and FDNY families: $500 million

Percentage of total charity money raised going to FDNY and NYPD families: 25

Average benefit already received by each FDNY and NYPD widow: $1 million

Percentage increase in law-school applications from 2001 to 2002: 17.9

Percentage increase in Peace Corps applications from 2001 to 2002: 40

Percentage increase in CIA applications from 2001 to 2002: 50

Number of songs Clear Channel Radio considered "inappropriate" to play after 9/11: 150

Number of mentions of 9/11 at the Oscars: 26

Apartments in lower Manhattan eligible for asbestos cleanup: 30,000

Number of apartments whose residents have requested cleanup and testing: 4,110

Number of Americans who changed their 2001 holiday-travel plans from plane to train or car: 1.4 million

Estimated number of New Yorkers suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder as a result of 9/11: 422,000

[enigmatic]

17. I had been up here for less than 2 months

to be w/ Mrs. E; we woke up around 11am our time and I don't know why, but I half said/half thought to myself, "Something bad happened".

I remember turning on the TV to see replays of both towers falling, then switching over to CBC to see replays of the second plane hitting. I'll never forget that feeling of shock at that moment, like I was frozen in my chair. Mrs E. had to go to work, so I watched and watched, still not believing what I was seeing.

And being here in Canada while watching it happen in the US? Very, very surreal. For that first 24 hour period I kept thinking to myself, "Is this is? Is it all over?". And deathly afraid that W was going to go Dr. Strangelove on us, drop some nukes on whatever moved.

And I drank alot of scotch those first few days, too.

I can't believe it's been 5 years...

[hfojvt]

18. I was at my new job, about week 4 of 7 weeks of training

somebody came into the classroom and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center in NYC. I thought "what kind of plane? Was it an accident, or what?" Then I heard two planes and knew that it could not be an accident. When I went to lunch I saw that alot of people were glued to TVs and alot of TVs seemed to have been set up that were not there before. Reports trickled in during the day - a plane hitting the Pentagon and another one they think crashed in Pennsylvania. Then that all flights had been grounded and I thought "holy sh*t, they can do that?" A couple hours after that, we heard a plane taking off from the nearby KCI (it was later rumoured that that was Air Force 1 stopping for fuel, but other people said it flew over us but never landed).

By the time I got back home by about five there were lines all around the local gas stations. I think the radio had been saying they thought gas would goto $4 a gallon so there were half mile long lines of people trying to top off their tanks before the price went up. United we stand (in line as each person tries to get the cheap gas before it is all gone).

Then I watched the news, like I usually did, and they showed the buildings going down over and over and over again. It reminded me of the scene in Blue Thunder where the missile hits the office building - it seemed like a neat scene from a movie. I could not really comprehend that it was actually happening and that real people were getting killed and injured, although the TV was saying there might be 50,000 casualties. That seemed astoundingly high. But I was reminded of the Monday Night Football game where Joe Theisman's leg was broken. I tuned in sometime after that and of course was curious as to what happened to Joe. Over the next hour as I watched the game, they must have shown it again every five minutes. I watched it only once. That suffering seemed very real to me and was too sickening to watch again.

Then I tuned into W's promised speech and that was sickening, a bunch of jingoistic machismo and Bush promising to lead us into battle, and Trent Lott seeming to gloat that "there is no opposition party now". It seemed like a wet dream for them and they were going to milk it for all it was worth.

[astral]

19. I was at home, learning about it live on the computer

I was scared that war had come to America. I was freaked at the straight down collapse of the towers but I did not know in my head why I was seeing what I was seeing, it just startled the hell out of me that they crumbled to the ground they way they did -- both of them. You don't have to be a genius to go WTF!!! when you see something like that.

I felt like I was in a different country since that day, having that underlying sense of dread that something else is going to happen and it's going to be big. It was a strange feeling to me, as to so many Americans.

[ForrestGump]

20. Diving

After I watched the collapse of the towers. Perhaps I shouldn't have gone diving (it was my job, not a recreational dive trip) but part of me needed to get away from the world of humankind and back to a place where life makes more sense, the coral reef.

A TV show I worked on and was in premiered in the US on the evening of September 10 but I didn't see it because I was out of the country and had been for several months by that point. I heard from others who saw it but, of course, it was hardly the big news that week. I knew immediately, after I left the area where everyone was watching the events in NYC on a TV, that this was going to end in tears for everyone because the US was going to go rogue and declare a war on terror that would only escalate hate and terror and that the first casualty would be the American people and their Constitution. It's not like it took a brilliant political analyst to see that right from the first few minutes of filmed footage of the World Trade Center on fire. Funny, then, that so many Americans still seem totally unable to see the inevitability of the course the US took after 9/11 and how transparent it is as anything but a justified campaign in the collective national interest.

One research intern where I was, a little b-word (actually, the c-word would be appropriate for her, the putrid little pig) at the best of times who worked with one of my less-qualified and more-threatened peers to undermine my authority, began to rail against Arabs and Muslims that day and loudly stated her opinion that they all be blown away...nuke the entire Middle East. I don't think she was particularly a Freeper type, though it'd perhaps explain her general piggishness, and I understood her being in shock and awe after seeing what we all saw beamed from NYC that day, but I just broke character and flat told her to shut the hell up and to shut the hell up right now, that the US was probably going to do just that, anyway, and that killing a bunch of people -- innocent and guilty alike -- wasn't going to bring anyone back or change the events of that day. I should have drowned the evil sow.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

21. I was at school. I was nine, in fifth grade.

They wouldn't tell us anything, of course. But I went to the public library that morning with my honors class at the time, and I heard some librarian say, underhand, to my teacher: "Did you hear? They think someone bombed the World Trade Center or something." At the time I hardly even cared, as things were blowing up all the time, and I didn't even know what the hell the WTC was. This was obviously before the second plane hit, since the librarians were under the impression that it was a bomb.

That afternoon they said over the intercom that all after school activities were CANCELLED and we were to go right home. All of us were confused, and the teachers had been horrible all day at pretending that nothing was going on, so we were all nervous. When my mom picked me up from my aftercare program that day, she asked me if I knew what had happened. I said that I had heard that a bomb went off somewhere. She said no, that some people had driven planes into the WTC. I asked her what the WTC was, and why on earth anyone would be stupid enough to drive planes into it. She explained that it hadn't been an accident.

At home I was pissed that all that the TV channels that evening would show were these damned towers burning. I was missing my favorite shows. :D Again, I was only nine.

My tenth birthday, and the day that I first got my clarinet, was two days later. I told my mom that I was sad that everyone was sad on my birthday, and that everyone was not happy that I was happy, because I thought I was supposed to be sad or something.

[Sequoia]

64. That's my sister's birthday too.

So Happy Birthday, how's that clarinet playing coming along?

Okay, so while I'm here. I woke up in Santa Monica, CA at 5:45am and sat up with a start wondering if there'd been an earthquake because my first thought was that something awful had happened. All was quite on the Western Front so I went back to sleep and then around 7am turned on TV to watch Seasame Street with my child and get her ready for kindergarten. First scene on the tube I thought it was that refinery fire still burning in Texas or something and then flipping through saw another and thought, why that looks like New York Harbor. When it dawned on me what was going on I saw the tower with the antenna on it collaspe and sort of freaked out which upset my daughter so I quickly turned the channel to Seasame Street and went into the other room to watch the events in the living room. (One thing about Sesame Street back then was at the end when credits scrolled was an animation of the Twin Towers dancing.) All day, all week I watched TV and really can't even watch any footage about it now or see that movie about flight 93. So, count yourself lucky you didn't see that footage all day long. It's better not to feed on it.

[bicentennial_baby]

22. I was at work

Prepping orders to ship, packing boxes...Heard it on the radio across the room... :(

[In_The_Wind]

23. I was at home watching CNN as usual.

I had become a news junkie while I was housebound. I watched for days, then I turned my TV off for a long time to avoid seeing any news clips. :cry::grr:

[DainBramaged]

24. bump

[av8rdave]

25. I was packing for my trip that day (first flight was to LaGuardia) and

watching the "Today" show. When the second plane hit the WTC, I knew I wasn't going to work that day.

Scheduling called about 3 hours later and said to not go to the airport, but to "consider yourself on reserve." "Reserve for what?" I asked. He had no reply.

[jus_the_facts]

26. Asleep untill 'bout 11 Central time....awoke to my b/f yellin' OMFG.....

....then we watched the towers fall over and over and the media already startin' the rhetoric...my soul started grapplin' between LIHOP/MIHOP before that afternoon was over. :cry:

[AirmensMom]

27. I was working.

Well, I was at work (maybe not working at the moment). I had just ordered chocolate cigars for our grandson, who was about to be born a few days later. My daughter was getting tired of being pregnant and hoping she would have the baby TODAY ... until the planes hit. Then she was happy to wait.

Harleydad's management sent everyone home to be with their families. My management acted like nothing had happened and didn't even cancel any meetings. So harleydad went home to an empty house. I got home as soon as I could after putting in a full day plus the required overtime. I didn't get why harleydad's management thought it was a big deal and mine didn't.

[miss_american_pie]

28. I was at work

and a co-worker came in and asked if anyone had heard a news report. She had heard about the first plane hitting the tower from Howard Stern, and had no idea whether it was true or not.

I was 21 weeks pregnant with my first. The next day we found out he was a boy, healthy and big.

[bluethruandthru]

29. At work...in DC

Very scared! I left work just before the mass evacuation so, luckily I was home to get my kids from school. All schools in the area were dismissed early.

[seemunkee]

30. Making funeral arrangements and cleaning my mother's house

Her body was at the airport when they grounded the planes. My brother was at her house when the first plane hit and I was in my car on the way there. I got there when they showed the second plane.

[meegbear]

31. Attending a one week Java class ...

being taught by a guy from South Africa, who really helped put a world perspective on things.

He was getting IM'ed during the class, he was the only one with an internet connection, from friends all over the world, some with grief, some with horror and some with the worry that we would nuke the middle east.

It was a day.

[Fox Mulder]

32. My mom called me and woke me up when the first plane struck...

I was just starting my sophomore year in college. After mom called me, I turned on the tv and the second plane hit. I was in total shock. I though it was all a horrible nightmare. For the rest of the day, my brother, my roommate, and I skipped all of our classes and watched the coverage. I remember that I had a geology club meeting at 8 pm that I went to, and all we did was discuss what happened. We were all in shock.

That's a day I'll never forget.

[NewWaveChick1981]

33. Working.

I knew nothing of the attacks until my husband called me at 9 AM and told me. :( The campus where I worked was just starting to find out what was happening. There was misinformation coming out of the media, so nobody really knew what was going on. I turned on NPR radio and kept it there, and I monitored news websites constantly. There was a general feeling of panic on campus, but I kept a level head. My staff was freaking out, so I sent them home. The student body, which was only about 1200 students, had two students who lost family members in the WTC attacks. One of them was in NYC for three months searching for him alongside the rest of her family. They never found him. The other student had a brother who was a NYC firefighter, and they found his body not long after the attacks.

The phones were basically silent in an office that had constant phone and foot traffic. The only call I can remember that afternoon was a cold call from a copier toner vendor; he sounded all chipper and upbeat, and I told him no thanks. The college president closed the campus at 4 PM.

[Blue Diadem]

34. We had just dropped our dog off for his surgery and

came home to the news of the first plane hitting the tower.

I remember being very upset, asking why they were saying it was a small plane..the damage was too extensive for it to be a small plane. Then the 2nd plane hit..

[Mutley]

35. I was at work.

I'd gone in early to catch up on some things, and had not watched teevee at all that morning. I did notice that business was very slow that day, but I had no idea anything was happening until my SO at the time called me at 10:30 and told me.

Apparently I was the first in the store to know, because I went around telling everyone and we all turned on the radio to listen. Then the district manager came in and made us turn the radio off, saying it would scare away the customers. We'd probably had two customers all morning.

I didn't see anything on teevee until I went home from work that day at 3.

[bleedingheart]

36. I was at home...my mother called me and told me to turn on the TV

I was watching the TV as the second plane hit.

I called my friend at work to let her know. Then the Pentagon got hit...then the plane in PA.

I was on the phone relaying information to my coworkers at work because they didn't have a radio or TV.

I then went to pick up my son at school...he was in morning Kindergarten and there was a police officer at the school. Other parents were arriving to pull kids out...I think they just wanted their kids near them to hug them ...it was all so understandable.

I remember crying for all those folks and their loved ones.

[SKKY]

37. I was on my way to the gym at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington...

...when I heard Andy Savage on 107.7 The End announce that a plane had hit the WTC. As I walked into the gym, I noticed several people around the juice/coffee bar watching television. I barely had time to digest what had happened when I saw a plane hit the second tower. At that moment, I knew America would never be the same again. I just didn't have the foresight to appreciate how much we would change.

[mulsh]

38. I was about to start working at my computer

I turned on my radio to the Jazz station I listen to, they play long blocks of music. The DJ was playing very funereal music and broke in to say "if you're near a tv go look at it." I did so and saw the first tower on fire a little later the second plane crashed. the world did not change for me. I figured who ever did this had been around for a long time and did lots of planning. Also growing up in a first strike nuclear target area, major earthquake zone and living through the '91 fire storm has kind of conditioned me to be ready for a catostrophic event.

Later that day I went out to Berkeley and picked up Bob Dylan's Love and Theft which had been released that day. That evening my dad's best friend, a retired CIA anylist told me "It's payback for all of our meddling."

and I felt very sad for a couple of months.

[RedStateShame]

40. I was at a job I hate, reading articles for a service for people who...

didn't want to read them on their own. Now, I watch TV news, monitoring segments for a service for people who don't want to watch the news on their own. Yes, I'm down today, but it doesn't have a thing to do with terra.

[xmas74]

41. Just got off of work.

Picked up my daughter, went home to fix her breakfast.

Got a phone call from work telling me to get back there right at that moment. At the same time I saw the initial pictures on television.

Went back to work and stayed there for 24 hours straight.

[Midlodemocrat]

42. I had just come home from walking my youngest to school.

Booted up the computer for work and saw the headline about the first plane, turned on the TV and saw the second plane go in.

I was terrified. My company used to be located in the Empire State Building and I had two brothers there. Neither one of them was in the building at the time, but I didn't know it then and of course, I couldn't get through on the phones.

I did manage to get through to my pregnant SIL (God rest her soul) and tell her to get out of the city and up to their lake house where my brother would meet her.

I remember the fear I felt for my family and the deep, deep sorrow for all those in those towers as they fell. I was on the phone with my mom, (God rest HER soul) and we were sobbing about all the lives lost. I lost two friends that day in the towers, but it could have been worse.

Knowing what I know now, mostly from DU, I am sickened and repulsed by the powers that be that allowed this tragedy to happen and that have profited from it. May they rot in Hell.

[idgiehkt]

44. I was home outside with my dogs.

I was actually staying with my grandmother who was starting to show signs of alzheimers even though she wasn't bedridden at that point. I remember because she came out on the porch and was trying to tell me something and everytime she did there was a man down in the 'holler' that kept firng up a chainsaw just as she began to speak and she tried repeating herself five or six times but to no avail. I started to go on in the house just as she kind of fell backwards and sat down in the flower bed...she had Parkinson's too so her balance was pretty unstable at times, even though at that time she was in much better health than she would be when she passed. I went running up there and helped her up and then she looked up at me and said "it's war". Which I guess to someone who was around when Pearl Harbor happened that's what it looked like. Then we just kind of sat in front of the tv for hours and hours. When I went to work that night I got a tv from the guy next door and watched. I got in trouble with my boss the next day, he said the owner would have fired me for bringing the tv in during business hours. He was Canadian and I just kind of looked at him like...wtf, do you realize what has just happened...

[Writer]

45. I was trying to find a way out of Manhattan...

back to my husband and home in New Jersey. I was part of an incredible crowd of citizens waiting outside Penn Station for the next NJ Transit train to Newark. I remember seeing a few people with powdered white hair. I realized then that it was dust from the towers that had fallen.

[SaveElmer]

46. Was driving from Key West up to Miami to catch a a flight home...

We didn't have the radio on so didn't hear what happened until we arrived at the airport and had already turned in our rental car. We lucked out and were able to get one of the last rentals in the Miami airport and drive home. We live in Virginia outside of Washington. As we drove to National Airport to drop off the rental and pick up our car, we could still see smoke coming up from the Pentagon the next day...

[querelle]

47. 9/11/2001

I was in a meeting with my boss when a colleague burst into my bosses office shortly before 9:00 AM to tell us that he had heard on his radio that a plane had just slammed into one of the towers at the World Trade Centre. I didn't really think much of it at the time because I know that a plane had hit the Empire State Building during WW2 and these things are bound to happen where ever there are tall buildings. Newsworthy and tragic, but not enough to halt the day's activities.

Well........

The same colleague interrupted our meeting again about twenty minutes later to tell us that ANOTHER plane had hit the other tower at the WTC. This time we knew it wasn't a tragic accident. We all gathered in the board room where we have a big screen television and stayed there for most of the day watching CBC Newsworld (CNN equivalent in Canada). We tried from time to time to check news sites on the web, but the traffic was just too heavy and we couldn't access any of them.

Went home early that day feeling kind of numb and full of dread about what was about to come.

Q

[Roon]

48. I slept through it all

My ex came downstairs and told me that america was under attack. I was groggy because my favorite football player broke his leg in a game the night before on monday night football and I was up late being depressed about it.

At the time we had a huge 62'' TV and I came upstairs just in time to watch footage of one of the towers collasping.

I remember bin laden warning us weeks before. I remember because I was following the taliban in the news.

[ProfessorGAC]

49. Was At The Airport Waiting To Board A Flight To Atlanta

At least we were not airborn yet.
The Professor

[fizzgig]

50. i was a junior in college

i just got up and was headed for the bathroom when my sister came downstairs to tell me a plane had hit the first tower. i, like others, thought it was an accident until i went upstairs and watched the second plane hit.

i was absolutely stunned as my entire family watched everything unfold and to say that my heart broke watching the towers come down is beyond inadequate.

my father, ever the rock in the family, told us there 'weren't any missiles coming over the horizon' as my mother tried to talk him out of going to work (he does telecom for the non-military side of a major defense contractor) and headed to work. but most concerning is that we couldn't find my grandmother, whose office was (and still is) only a few blocks away. my grandparents had just gotten back from a longish vacation but she wasn't at the office and of course the cell phone towers were gone. it turned out she'd gone to do some shopping as the high holidays were coming up.

my boyfriend came to pick me up and the only class i went to that day was my poli sci class and the professor offered fantastic insight as to what was going on, the rest of the day i spent in the student center watching tv before going to work (was working at the subway in the student center) and it was a very slow day.

at one point my mother called me to tell me that we had to put our cat down that afternoon and we buried him that evening. it was the closest i've ever seen my father to tears.

i'd been in the trade center a month before, took the elevator to the top and in my subsequent trips to the city since then it still does not feel real looking at the hole in the ground.

[mark414]

52. god i remember every detail

it was between first and second period, my junior year of high school and i was sitting on a couch in our school's radio station when this kid jeff came up and told me that a plane had crashed into the WTC - i remember thinking that it was just some single engine plane and thinking damn, that's too bad, i hope not too many people got hurt - and then i walked up to my physics class where my teacher had the radio on and as i walked in the second plane had just hit, and then we all sort of realized what the hell was going on...though we hadn't heard anything about the pentagon or flight 93 yet

he put a live news feed up on the computer and we watched the towers fall - later that day at the radio station we took a couple of tvs and put them outside along with a bunch of chairs and so i spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV - and did the same when i got home from school that day

[cwydro]

53. watching the Today show

before work. Could not believe it. Called my mom and best friend to tell them to turn on the TV. They both asked which channel? ANY CHANNEL!!! I said...pick one! Called my then girlfriend at work, who told me she was too busy to talk...typical.

Later our company closed for the day with a message on the phone saying "pray for our country". (This was NC.)

Mom and I sat glued to the TV the rest of the day and she kept asking "where is the president, where is he?" Good question.

[CottonBear]

54. 5 years ago I spent a wonderful morning taking a riding lesson

on my beautiful bay Thoroughbred gelding, Chipper. We had a wonderful ride, the day was beautiful here in Northeast Georgia and I was very happy and content. I finished the lesson and my trainer got on him to cool him down for me because I had to get on to work. I hopped into my car in my riding clothes and headed toward my office. As it turned out, I never had a chance to change into my work clothes.

I had no idea that anything had happened until I got in my car and I turned on NPR. The news was shocking. Both towers had been hit but they had not yet fallen down. I spent the rest of the day listening to NPR on the radio and working on a 4 PM project deadline that I met. All of us at the office (an engineering firm) worked all day while listening to my radio. (These are people who normally never listen to NPR.) I heard the live coverage of the towers collapsing.

I did not see any TV coverage or internet images or feeds until about 7 PM at night. On the way home from work, I picked up a paper that showed a full color, full page photo of the burning towers.

[WolverineDG]

55. Just arrived at work for the day

One minute, I'm in the car, listening to whatever tunes were on the radio, all seemed normal. Got out of the car, into the office, usual start of the day stuff that takes about a couple of minutes. Turned on the radio (same station) & the DJ is talking to someone, end of the conversation & he's telling the guy to watch CNN some more & call back with more information. They cut to commercial. The secretary comes in & says "A plane hit the WTC." I told her it was probably cloudy, maybe it was a small plane, I've flown into JFK & LaGuardia, so maybe there was fog or something. Then another secretary came running down the hall towards the library where the TV is, screaming "ANOTHER PLANE! ANOTHER PLANE!" We watch TV for a while, all of us in shock, then watched in disbelief as the towers started to fall. At first, you couldn't really tell & we kept asking each other "Are they falling? Are they really?" & then it was obvious they were.

I can't remember what else I did that day except listen to the radio & call friends & family. This was before I even knew about DU, so I didn't even think to check online for stuff.

dg

[Coventina]

56. I had flown back from LA on Sept 10th with friends.

We had gone for a long weekend to visit my now-husband's sister.

Her car door was broken, so my DH had brought his toolbox as part of his carry-on luggage. He had no problem leaving Phoenix, but on Sept. 10th, at LAX they confiscated the ice picks from the toolbox.

The next morning, Sept. 11th, I had to get up early for an appointment with my therapist. My alarm was set for the local NPR affiliate. My alarm went off, just before anything had happened. I hit "snooze".

The first plane hit the WTC, and my snooze alarm went off, but I turned it off so quickly I didn't hear the report. I jumped in the shower, running late.

During my shower, DH poked his head in the bathroom to say the US was under attack.

I finished getting ready in front of the tv. At some point I said to DH, "You'll never be able to bring tools on a plane again" after we heard about the box cutters.

The first tower fell just as I was leaving. As I was driving to my appointment the second tower fell.

When I got to my therapist I told him I felt stupid talking about my little problems when the world seemed to be collapsing.

His response was that I shouldn't let terrorism distract me from living my life. So, we had a fairly normal session, except that the whole time I was wishing I was watching the news.

Then, I went to work at the college. We had a normal day. The administration felt that the best response to the terrorism was to "carry on". I think it was the right decision. We did have a little prayer / meditation session at one point in the afternoon. Nearly the whole campus was there.

It is kind of strange, but that day, and for about a month following, I had a strange sense of being more fully alive than normal. All my senses seemed sharper. The whole world seemed to be in sharp focus, and maybe a little slowed down. I also remember that for awhile, people were more polite while driving.

[graywarrior]

57. I was posting on Michael Moore's forum when someone there

from NY saw it happen and announced it to us. I was living in NH at the time.

[Debi]

58. Driving home from dropping my son off at school when I heard the first

tower was hit.

My husband was sick so we were moving slow and watching the news. He called to me when the second tower was hit.

That was it.

We closed our office for the day and stayed home and watched the news all day.

His sister worked at the Pentagon, we got a call from his brother..she was okay (in one of the inner offices).

We picked our son up from school and we all watched tv together.

My husband was still really sick so we went to the hospital. It was silent except for the news on all the tvs.

We talked to all the medical response people.

We went home and I headed to a prayer service at church.

When I came home we watched more tv, just could not stop.

My husband tells me about the day JFK was shot, he was in college at the time and can recall almost everything from that day. That's how I feel about 9/11/01.

[AllegroRondo]

59. I was at Ft Hood with the 1st Cav Division

we spent all morning wondering if/when we were shipping out to Iraq.

[haf216]

87. I lived in Temple, Tx. at the time.

I had to work but spent a lot of time on the phone with my friends, also worry that they were going to be shipped back to the middle east. I was a very sad, scary day.

[Ariana Celeste]

60. Got up, got ready for work.

Turned on the news, like every morning. Got sick, didn't go to work. Spent the day sick and scared. This is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

[mvd]

61. I was up early at home, going to see someone on..

the Today show I believe. I knew there was big trouble when the SECOND plane hit.

[Left Is Write]

62. You can read about it on my blog if you are interested. Link inside.

http://thatsloanegirl.blogspot.com/2006/09/septembers-winds-of-change.html

[sarge43]

63. I was on my way

to see my mother in the nursing home and caught the news on the radio.

Between watching her dying by inches and that ghastly news, all in all a day I don't care to revisit.

[ThomCat]

65. Calling all the area hospitals

trying to find my housemate Tracey, who was one of only 3 Cantor-Fitzgerald employees to get out alive.
:cry:

[lizziegrace]

72. OMG

Was she badly injured? Cantor-Fitzgerald. Oh my God.

[ThomCat]

77. Yes.

She was severely permanently disabled. She got trampled at one point and survived because some people picked her up and carried her out.

As you might imagine, her life is very different now. :(

[lizziegrace]

82. Not just the physical injuries

but the psychological ones. Only one of 3 who survived. I don't know how I would live with that. :(

[ThomCat]

92. She went to the ceremonies yesterday

and met Michael Bloomberg. She sat and talked with him on the Staten Island ferry on the way to the ceremony for the people who were lost who lived on Staten Island. A bunch of photographers took their picture, so she might show in the newspapers or magazines.

"Bloomberg speaks with survivor." It will be interesting to see if they say anything intelligent about the help the survivors need.

[dback]

66. Driving to work, listening to--of all things--Ricky Martin

My partner called me and told me something awful had happened in New York, and he wanted me to come to his office to be with him; I refused and went to my own office. The rest of the day is a blur, except for regularly checking in on DU. :)

I remember the next night (Wednesday) we were so overloaded on everything, we went to the movies and saw "Ghost World." It was very good, but may have been extra-poignant due to how we were feeling.

[bertha katzenengel]

68. In WDC, had just dropped Mrs. V. off at work. Heard of the first plane on

NPR. They said "no details yet, it appears as if a small plane has crashed into the World Trade Center."

When I got to work and walked by the delivery booth, I saw it was festooned with huge pictures of Michael Jordan. He had just agreed to play for the Wizards. I asked Rodney, "did you hear about the plane hitting the WTC?" and told him to turn on the news.

When I got to my desk, my phone was ringing. My boss had been calling and calling from the road. He begged me to hurry and get in touch w/ his dear friend who was an executive with Cantor Fitzgerald. Like a fool -- and because I didn't know exactly how bad it really was -- I tried to get through to his office in NY. With all circuits busy, I gave up and called his ranch in Virginia. A worker there answered the phone and said the man had called to say he was fine.

He had stopped outside the building to finish a phone call, because he knew it would be dropped when he got into the elevator.

I called my boss back and told him his friend was fine. He actually screamed "Thank God" and dropped the phone. I heard it hit the floor of his car. I heard him praying loudly to God and Jesus and Mary, thanking them that his friend was okay.

Right after that phone call was over, Mrs. V. called me from a pay phone where she had been sixth in line. She said her building was evacuated -- well of COURSE it was; it's two blocks from the WH. She'd tried to get a cab but they were all crammed, three in the back and two up front with the driver. Everyone desperate to get out of town. So she was walking the mile to my building.

We spent the morning in the office of one of my bosses, watching TV, crying, and waiting for traffic to abate so we could get out of town. Once all the street traffic was gone, about 2 PM, we left. It still took us four hours to get home.

That night we found our feral foster cat had given birth. A sweet ending to a bitter day.

Thanks for starting this thread, MrS. :hug:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

69. I was a home in bed.

I didn't have class until ten. I was watching Charmed. They hadn't broken in on EVERY Channel yet. The first tower had just been hit. Skip called. He told me about the first hit. We hung up after I flipped it over to CNN. I watched with bated breath. Then, I watched the second plane hit the tower, and I got on the horn to Skip. I was scared to death. I didn't want to leave the house, but I had to. I had a test at ten. I got dressed and went to class. Luckily, the professor delayed the test and we went next door and watched CNN on the big screen projector. I skipped the rest of the day and went home. I didn't want to leave the house again, and when Skip got home for lunch, I didn't want to let him go back to work. I was terrified all day. It finally subsided by friday, even though I made myself get out and go to classes all week. It was a freaky time.
Duckie

[bigwillq]

70. I was in class.

I was a senior in college. A girl, who came in late to class, told us that her b/f, who was in NYC, said that a plane hit the WTC. We all thought it was a small plane that had mechanical failure.

Then a short while later, her phone rang again. Boyfriend. Second plane hits. We all knew this wasn't just an accident.

About a half hour later, they closed school for the day. It literally took me two hours to get home and I lived 15 minutes from the school. There was so much traffic. Just everyone trying to get home.

I can only imagine what the chaos was like in NYC.

[lizziegrace]

71. I was going through the new building

with the architects (from Boston, they flew in the day before) and the general contractor creating a punch list.

I had no computer access or phone and my cell phone was dead. One of the subcontractors came into the lab and said a plane hit the World Trade Center. Honestly, that didn't really hit me because I'd never been to NYC and really hadn't paid much attention to those buildings.

Later that morning, we watched some footage of the tower fall on a 4" tv in an office. The architects were quite upset. They had flown out of Logan the day before and all had spent time in NYC. Still didn't register with me.

It finally hit home when Lelapin called from the HS and said "mom!?, would you PLEASE come get me. I can't get away from it. It's on every television in every classroom." I picked her up and later at home, finally realized the magnitude of the events when I could see the video.

Another thing happened that day too. My sister moved to the UK two weeks before the attacks. Her son was 5 and a little girl in his kindergarten class tied his shoe for him. It was *love*. That night, the girl was beside herself. It finally came out that she believed that my nephew went home every night to America, and she was terrified that his plane would crash. Her mother took her to my sister's house and showed her his room and she was fine.

Small children believed that every time that footage aired that it was a new plane hitting a new building. They couldn't comprehend repeats.

[martymar64]

73. I was at work in El Segundo, CA

We had TVs on in the office to watch the developments of the day.

[SacredCow]

74. I was working for an honest to goodness pathological liar...

She came running back babbling about planes hitting the WTC, and my coworkers and I were of the opinion that we'd be able to get her committed, finally! Unfortunately, it was the one time she told the truth...

[ikojo]

75. I had started a new job eight weeks earlier and

was still in training. OH I live in St Louis. Around 8AM someone comes in and says the US has been attacked. Of course general freaking out ensues. I brought my small radio into the training room so we could listen to NPR all day. I am thankful I was in training class because those who were "on the floor" (this was an HMO where claims are processed) were told not to talk about what had happened "we understand the country has experienced a tragedy but we still have customers to serve, so it's important we get back to work." That's insurance ocmpany compassion for ya!!!

Those of us in the training class sat and talked all day.

9/11/01 really didn't touch me the way it touched the rest of the world. Barely two months before (on 7/17/01) my youngest brother was found dead in his apartment. We found out in August 2001 that he had taken an overdose of Elavil On 9/11/01 I was still in a state of shock over his death.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

76. I was....

a freshman in high school. After second period someone told me that the WTC had been hit by an airplane, but I thought (in my infinite wisdom) that that was a building in Chicago. In third period class all we did was watch the TV and I saw the first tower fall in real time. I blocked from my mind any possibility that there were still people in there... it wasn't until later that I realized the magnitude of it.

I left in the middle of the day. I couldn't concentrate, and the teachers didn't mind if we left.

[Rabrrrrrr]

78. Having my office destroyed. YAY!

:cry:

[ThomCat]

80. Was your office was in the WTC?

Or the Pentagon?

I'm glad you were not there. :hug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

81. Depends on how you define it -

after the north tower fell, then, yes, my office was in the WTC; or at least, in some weird way, commingled therewith. I was in the World Financial Center, in the buiding that the north tower fell partly into.

I was there, I just happened to get out in time.

[ThomCat]

91. Wow!

:hug:

[InvisibleTouch]

79. I was oblivious until evening.

I don't usually have TV on in the morning (seldom at all, in fact), or radio, and I don't/didn't have a phone, and so my contact with the world and my access to the news is mostly through the net. Though I usually check mail at least a couple times a day, on occasion I don't check my e-mail or get on the net until late in the day or evening. 5 years ago was one of those days. It was a beautiful clear sunny day, and I remember being happy, feeling good - and had no clue as to what had happened. I only found out when I finally got on the net that night, and a friend told me. Like having the floor drop out from under me. My greatest fear was that we'd launch instantly into a nuclear war in retaliation.

[DainBramaged]

83. bump for the last time.

[Skittles]

84. I called in sick, the first time in six years

laid on the couch and watched the whole thing unfold...that is, by the way, still the last day I called in sick

[dajoki]

85. Preparing ror a trip to...

Philly to see a Dr. He called and changed the appt.

[Kajsa]

86. I was having breakfast with my son

when one of my best friends called at 7 AM PDT and told me
what had happened. I was in total shock when I turned on
the TV to see the two towers burning.

When I drove my son to school I remember the streets were
nearly empty. It was one of the strangest, scariest experiences
of my life.

[Ediacara]

88. I woke up early

My boyfriend at the time had to be at class extremely early, so I kicked him out of bed, and then got up myself. I signed onto the internet and saw a curious photo of smoke and flames coming out of one of the WTC towers. It was so early I thought, "Oh it must be the anniversary of the truck bombs."

I didn't click the link, and proceeded to read my email. Then I put on a pot of coffee and took a shower. Only while I was in the shower did I think to myself, "Now I don't remember flames from the truck bhombs." I hurried out of the bathroom and then clicked the link. I read that both towers had been hit by planes. I ran into my living room and turned on CNN.

Then I called my mother. I was surprised she hadn't called me first. She's something of an insomniac, and is up extremely early with the TV on every day. She was up that morning, but had turned the TV off because she was trying to do some last minute cramming. You see, she and my dad, and about 20 of our family were taking a trip back to the "old country" leaving on 12 Sept 2001 and travelling from Venice to Naples. She was trying to learn some phrases from the phrasebook. My conversation is as follows:

Mom: Peter? What are you calling me so early for?

Me: Are you watching TV?

Mom: No, why?

Me: Turn it on!

Mom: Why?

Me: Someone flew planes into the World Trade Center, they're on fire.

Mom: What? You've got to be joking!

Me: Why would I make a joke about that?

At this point she turned on the TV and said, "Oh shit!" and then yelled across the house, "Bill, turn on the TV right now!" From across the house and over 700 miles I heard my dad say, "Oh fuck!" and nothing more.

I spent most of the day glued to the TV and trying to get ahold of two friends. One lived in NYC and worked around Times Square, which I know isn't terribly close, but you never know. The other was visiting family in Boston and was travelling from Boston to Seattle via LA and on American. Luckily I was off by a few days and he was already safely home.

There were lots of rumors. No one knew what was going on. There was a phantom fire or bomb at the State Dept. There were eight hijacked planes. Bush was nowhere to be seen. He was literally nowhere.

When the towers collapsed I had had too much. I collapsed on my living room floor and wept.

[Nailzberg]

89. Drinking.

Heavily.

[Kire]

90. Here's my answer to this question in another thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2822498&mesg_id=2822627