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| LindaR |
Where were you last Sept 11th and what were you doing? Has YOUR life changed? How?
My daughter and I were beginning our 3rd day of our vacation at WDW. We decided to sleep in. I sent her to the food court to get our breakfast. We showered and got ready to go to MK. That is the first time I had never watched the news in the morning. Heard the news in the car. I had an overwhelming need to pray for guidance for us. My answer from Above was to go home. I drove 1900 miles from Florida to New Mexico. At that time, and for many months after, I felt like we would never return to WDW. I didn't WANT to return to WDW. I felt it was wrong to have a vacation and be carefree when so many of my neighbors (small town with Air Force base)were going to a far away land to protect ME, my family, my friends, my neighbors, my town.
Even now, while I am ready and willing to go back, I know there is something missing. I am only 80% enthusiastic. Not 100%.
Will we ever be carefree and naive again?
What about you? |
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| discernment |
I was at work when one of my associates was on the phone with a client that was in Scarsdale, NY. The client said that a plane just flew into one of WTC towers. I though it was some idiot who flew hiw single engine Cesna or something like that into the WTC. Especially since a couple of weeks earlier some idiot wrapped his flying contraption around teh Statue of Liberty as a publicity stunt. It was frustrating getting news in the first couple of minutes afterwards. The internet of course was brought to a screeching halt due to the vast traffic. All the people in my office assmebled in teh training room and watched teh coverage on ABC in sheer disbelief. |
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| Crank |
quote:
LindaR wrote:
Where were you last Sept 11th and what were you doing? Has YOUR life changed? How?
My daughter and I were beginning our 3rd day of our vacation at WDW. We decided to sleep in. I sent her to the food court to get our breakfast. We showered and got ready to go to MK. That is the first time I had never watched the news in the morning. Heard the news in the car. I had an overwhelming need to pray for guidance for us. My answer from Above was to go home. I drove 1900 miles from Florida to New Mexico. At that time, and for many months after, I felt like we would never return to WDW. I didn't WANT to return to WDW. I felt it was wrong to have a vacation and be carefree when so many of my neighbors (small town with Air Force base)were going to a far away land to protect ME, my family, my friends, my neighbors, my town.
Even now, while I am ready and willing to go back, I know there is something missing. I am only 80% enthusiastic. Not 100%.
What about you?
I was just getting up when the first plane hit. As the day wore on (I was off shift) I eventually found my way down to our main Station House where 90% of our whole department was. Both ON and OFF shift.
It wasn't planned, it just happened...
quote:
Will we ever be carefree and naive again?
Carefree yes, hopefully. Naive? No. |
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| Francine |
Mari had forgotten her money for picture day, and I was rushing around, taking my shower, and hurrying up to school to get the money to her.
I got up, and looked at the mantle clock, and it was 8:15. I didn't turn the TV on, very unusual, but got about getting ready to run out to the school.
I was in the school office, and it was just after the first plane hit. I remember the secretary telling me, and everyone was kind of in shock, not quite believing it. The second plane hit while I was there, I think, but there was no TV on.
I met Mari in the hall, with her money. I hugged her real close, and told her what had happened, telling her to pray for the people who had lost their lives. I told her the day was going to be strange, and that if she decided she wanted to come home, she could call me. I am sure she didn't quite get what I was talking about. Later she would relate to me stories of the confusion of the day, and how all the students were called down to the auditorium and talked to. A friend of hers had a grandma that was flying on American, to California, out of Boston that morning, and Mari let her use her cell phone to call home. The grandma had missed the flight.
I had to go to the bank from there, and put a news station on the radio. The Pentagon got hit while I was driving to the bank. Since my sister works for the government, in a high level departmemt of the DOD, I started to panic a bit, worrying that she was in danger. I also began to worry about a cousin of Tim's who lives in NYC, and was in and out of the WTC all the time.
When I got to the bank, no one there knew what had happened yet. So, I was the one to tell them. Again, there was a sense of shock, of not quite getting it.
I got home, and put the TV on. I went into a chat at RCH, and it was real crowded with folks who were in shock. The RCH community that day was very tight, and whatever angers or anthying did not exist.
I watched both buildings fall, and literally fell to my knees and prayed, right out loud, the Hail Mary, and the Our Father.
It was after the first building fell that I looked up at my mantle clock, and saw that it had stopped at 8:32 AM. Now, this clock had never stopped before, and I knew it was working when I got up that morning. For reference, note that I live just accross the river from Springfield, MA. The first plane veered off towards NYC right over our city, and I would assume that there was some horrific violence taking place at that point. I still wonder if at 8:32 the first heroes of 9/11 were losing their lives on that plane. The flight time from here to NYC is very short.
That clock still sits on the mantle, stopped at 8:32, as I unplugged it. I am thinking I may restart it tomorrow at the same time.
I got our flag out, and hung it outside that day, and left it out, with a flood light for several months. Today, we are putting it back out.
I shed so many tears that day, but I also felt lots of love in folks I saw, chatted with, or talked to. A real sense of sommunity came about, and exists still today, in most instances.
Francine
[Edited by Francine] |
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| Coastalwader |
I was at home getting ready to leave for the office. When they cut in to show the first tower on fire, I sat down and started watching it. A few minutes later my dad called. He asked me some question about something totally unrelated. So, I'm answering his question and watching the TV at the same time thinking, he doesn't know yet....I'll tell him when we get through dealing with why he called. Then the second plane hit. I'll never forget it. I said "oh my god". My dad said "what happened?" in a tone of voice and with a seriousness I don't think I've ever heard from him in my 45 years of being his son. There had to have been something in my voice when I said "oh my god" that just relayed the horror and shock of it all.
So, I tried to explain that a plane had hit one of the towers at the World Trade Center about 15 minutes ago, and another one just flew into the second tower. He then yelled to my mother..."Honey, turn on the TV, New York City is being attacked!"
I know my mom's routine. She was off somewhere cleaning something in the house. I asked her a couple of months later what she felt when she heard him yell "NY City is being attacked!" across the house. She said she just kind of went numb in disbelief.
Like most everybody else, I sat there the rest of the day just watching it all and riding a roller coaster of differing emotions.
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| Tigerlily |
I was just pulling into my daughter's school's parking lot when the news came on the radio. I also immediately thought it was a private plane. I took my daughter into school and ran to my office, about 2 blocks away, to get more information, as I have several close friends in NYC. Once I got into the station, I turned on the TV and sat there in disbelief. As the minutes wore on and more and more bad news was coming in, all you could hear all over the entire station were news feeds, clicking keyboards, and gasps and sobs. As a tv station, we couldn't stop working, so we plugged away while we silently grieved. It was a very eerie and surreal time. When school let out, I went and got my daughter, and we went home and put flags on our lawn. I turned off the tv because I couldn't bear to see any more after watching multiple feeds coming in from every angle all day long. For the next few days, my life was a whirlwind of changing programming, special feeds, meetings and more meetings. I guess in retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise that I was forced to keep so incredibly busy and be pro-active in the only way I was able--to bring information to my city and to become a safe haven and a place of normalcy on TV during the daytime for Houston's children.
What will I do tomorrow? A moment of silence and grief at 7:46am in my car, then I'll go to work and make sure that the children of Houston have something other than death and destruction to watch on tv all day. As I said to a friend this morning, I wish it was already Thursday so Wednesday would be a memory. Sorry this turned out to be so long-winded, but it was unexpectedly cathartic to talk about it. Thanks. |
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| annie |
Sorry if this is a bit long. I wrote it a while ago
I had just gotten my older two boys off to school, and I was getting ready to head to the bowling alley for the first day of our league season. My husband called from the road and told me a plane had hit one of the towers. He was driving on the NJ Turnpike heading to a client in Edgewater (right across the Hudson from NYC) and he could see flames and smoke. At the time the reports were saying a small plane, and we guessed it had somehow just gotten too close to the building. I turned on the TV and soon saw what to me looked like an explosion in Tower Two. A replay showed it was a plane.
My husband said he'd stay in touch and he was heading to his client. I gathered up my youngest and headed to the bowling alley. I dropped him in the playroom and then joined my teammates. It was the birthday of one of my teammates, and the birthday of the son of another. We had planned for a fun lunch afterwards.
The TVs over the bar were on. Some were glued to the sets. Others wouldn't leave the pits by the lanes.
We weren't sure what to do, so we bowled. We watched the towers go down, and we bowled. We heard about the Pentagon, about the crash in PA, and we kept bowling. We heard all kinds of rumors about even more hijacked planes. I called my husband and asked him to cancel his plans to travel to Detroit the next day (we didn't know yet that he wouldn't have a choice.) He promised he would. I called my neighbor who's husband worked in the towers' shadows, left a message telling her I would be over soon. Some women couldn't get ahold of their husbands who were in NYC, others wouldn't get off the phones once they did reach them. Rumors started to spread that one woman's husband was supposed to be at a meeting in Tower One. We weren't sure we should keep bowling, but we didn't know what else to do. Someone called the school, and they told her they recommended letting the kids stay for the day. We agreed, no reason to alarm the kids, but it was hard, most of us wanted our families close.
Afterwards I headed home and my husband arrived shortly after. They had asked everyone in the area of Edgewater where he had been to leave so they could keep the area clear to help evacuate the city.
I headed to my neighbor's house. She was sitting outside with her phone. Her husband had called, he was ok, but he had seen a lot. He was trying to get home. We looked up at the now empty clear blue sky, and wondered about those other planes we'd heard about (thankfully there were no other planes.) Her husband finally arrived home about 5:30pm.
The woman who's husband was rumored to be in Tower One was in fact there, for a meeting with a client. Their home is diagonally across the road from mine, but I don't know her well, just from bowling against her team occasionally, and I'd never met him. She put candle lights in the windows (they're still there.) Hope was held out for a long time, especially since he was the former fire chief for our small town volunteer FD. If anyone could survive, he could. Sadly, he did not, they found his remains months later.
Three weeks before September 11, 2001, my husband and I had spent a romantic weekend in NYC. We stayed in the Marriott that lay between the Twin Towers. We spent hours walking the area, watching a Latin band perform in the plaza, strolling over through Battery Park. We went up to the observation deck, and laughed at the Broadway show posters along the wall of the escalator, hung at a slant so they would fit the space. We had a delicious light dinner at The Greatest Bar On Earth, which sat at the top of Tower One. It was the best weekend I'd had in years, and we couldn't wait to bring our three boys into NYC to see the World Trade Center.
Thanks for the chance to share.
annie
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| angie henry |
I had just wrestled the remote away from the girls to check on the weather. The news had JUST reported the first plane. I called DH to let him know. Then I called my mother and MIL. DH called back and while talking to him, the second plane hit. I thought it was a replay, but then I saw the LIVE on the top of screen. I called my mom again (we are a military family and I got comfort from talking to her, although my brother was stationed out of the country. That had me a bit frazzled). When the towers fell, I called DH and asked him to come home. Somewhere around that time they were reporting the fourth plane flying, suspecting it was going to DC. I was fairly frightened. On the way home DH saw all kinds of military planes buzzing overhead. Later we learned a friend's father was on the plane that hit the pentagon. Sad day.
angie |
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| Belle |
We were in WDW on 9/11. We had planned to goto MGM that day, but decided to sleep in instead. The phone ran just before 9am and it was my mom in hysterics - all she could get out was NY was under attack. I flipped on the news and sat at the edge of the bed in shock. I watched the reply of the first plane hitting, and saw the 2nd plane actually hit, that is when I started to cry. As the reporters spoke, I watched as the smoke drifted and asked my DH where the building was - "Where is it?!" I was screaming.. "It's NOT there!!! Where is it?!" Next thing they reported the first tower fell. I tried to call my dad but all lines were dead. Then we heard about the Pentagon. I just put my head in my hands and sobbed.
We worried how we would get home to NY - we live 2 hours north of Manhattan. I wasn't sure if I wanted to fly even if the flights were allowed out. National Car Rental said we could take our rental home free of charge if we needed, but we couldn't drive - access routes around Washington DC and NYC would be near impossible. But all I wanted was to go home. Trying to continue our vacation seemed impossible - how could you be happy during all this horror? I just didn't know what to do. We decided to wait it out - there was nothing we could do. Against my better judgment, we decided to fly home on the 15th, when Southwest had started their flights again. My hands clentched the arm rests the whole time. 2 hours into the flight, we neared the island of Manhattan you could see the billows of smoke rising up against the sky. I couldn't take my eyes off the window - I'll never forget that site.
Then word came from his roommate that my uncle, who lived in Manhattan, never returned home. He was a retired veteran and spent many of his days around the towers - the most awesome sight in the world, he thought. He was never married and had no children. Nothing in his apartment was touched or missing - it was like he had just gone like he did every morning, except that day, he never came home. We checked all the hospitals and police stations with no luck. DNA samples never returned anything fruitful. I know in my heart that he is gone, probably because he was trying to help someone, and I know he was the type of person who would never think twice about running in when everyone else was running out.
Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for my family.
{hugs}
Belle
[Edited by Belle] |
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| samogram |
I was on my computer IMing with my brother in Kansas City. My back was to the TV, but the morning news was on. My husband was on his way out the door. I was also IMing with my secretary at the office. I saw the news and heard the commentators and just stared at the TV. It was so much like the OKC bombing and I felt the same numbness. I started ticking down the list of people I knew who might be in NYC, just like I did with the OKC bombing, only this time I felt more desperate because with OKC it had been three days before I had figured out that a client I had seen for three years worked in that building. When the second plane hit, I felt absolutely parylyzed and considering our common experience just felt so devastated for all I knew people were going to have to go through in the next few days and years.
I wanted my family around me where I could see them and they started to arrive throughout the day. I started baking and cooking and couldn't stop. My grandson, Sam, watching me take my sixth batch of cookies out of the oven(I was trying to keep him away from watching television),said, "Nana, is it Christmas?"
The change in me started with the Oklahoma City bombing. I'll never take the people I love for granted again. My mom, dad, brother, daughter, son-in-law, grandkids and most especially, my husband will never leave my presence that they don't hear me tell them I love them.
The thing I will never forget is the quiet. We live in Tinker AFB's flight pattern and there are always a lot of small planes flying around. That day there were no planes, sirens, emergency vehicles and there was so little traffic. Once again, in Oklahoma, it felt like time stood still.
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| jobro912 |
On September 10 I had major surgery for Ruptured/Perforated colon and got an ileostomy. So, as I woke up the following day, there were airplanes crashing into buildings on TV. I thought that I had maybe pushed the Morphine button one too many times, but no, it was real. The entire Texas Med Center was on high alert...it was a very strange, lonely feeling. No visitors...son staying with friends, and in school.
I think the biggest impact has been in seeing more military flights in our area...I live on Galveston Bay at the entrance to the Port of Houston. In my town we have Bayer, Exxon/Mobile, and Chevron...Big Plants. Whenever I see a military plane, or helicopter, I am pretty certain we are on alert. YUCK!!
John |
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| phamton |
I was teaching my reading class of twelve G/T 3rd graders. My husband called me on my cellphone (which never rings while I am at school as my husband and kids are the only one with the number.) I knew it had to be an emergency to have it ring during reading class. My husband then told me what happened. I turned on the tv to CNN with the sound off. Then I put my kids on the carpet in a circle and talked about how we were safe. These kids are not my regular homeroom kids. I taught a special reading group for 90 minutes every morning for the brightest students in 3rd grade. These kids were smart and insightful. I talked about how I was in school when Kennedy was shot and how I was teaching 1st grade when the Challenger exploded. We talked about how we would all remember where we were when we heard the news about the WTC.
One of these 8 year olds said, that he felt we were safe because we were in an unimportant city and said but if he were the President of the USA and living here in our town that we might be in more danger. Another student piped up and said "If you were President, we'd all be in trouble!" and then laughed. It lightened the somber mood a bit.
Bev
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| Tink *~*~* |
At the time that it was happening, I made a series of journal entries. I'll dig them up and post them here. Not quite the same as a trip report, just a little bit of history from one New yorker's perspective. Be right back... |
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| shelle |
on sept 11 I was in my classroom( I was an infant teaacher) One of my coworker husbands called to say that a plane crashed into the WTC and we all thought it was a joke. I went into my classroom and turned on the radio to find out that it was indeed true and then shock came over all of us. I then has to leave work and go to traffic court as i was driving it was very eary out and the roads that were usually busy were hardly busy at all and when i arrive in court the arraingment of a kid who was drunk and killed to people was going on and their were reporters everywhere and they were all making speculations of things that were happening, I think the worst was the report that nuc-chemicals were released in Philadelphia hence the fact that we are 20 mins outside Phila and an hour and 1/2 from nyc.when i arrived back at work most of the kids had been picked up by noon and we couldn't use our phone lines and parents were panicking.
March 2002 my fiance and i flew out of newark and flying out we always looked at the towers and it was weird not looking at the tours and the night we returned home was the first night that they were lighting the lights at ground zero.
Peace to all!
shelle |
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| Robin |
My clock radio went off between 7:30 and 8AM Pacific time and they were talking about the Trade Center on the radio. It was so surreal, that not even sure if I'm awake, if it's real feeling. I went into the living room and turned on the news, and just stood there and realized what had happened. I was crying and shaking and in disbelief. I don't know if I even bothered to sit down. Finally I called the office and said I'd be late. I was shaking so bad, and crying so hard I couldn't have driven even if I wanted to. Finally I went to call back to say I wasn't coming in, when my friend called from the office and said everyone was being sent home.
My brother and his family live in NJ, and my Dad lives in Queens near the Nassau border. I 'knew' those close to me were safe, so I didn't call back home for a few days. Leave the phone line available for someone who needed it. I did email my brother just to let them know I was ok in LA.
Disjointed memories kept coming back to me that day, they still do. I was born in Queens, and lived there until Sept '96. In 1973 I went on a walk-a-thon with a friend, and coming back uptown I saw the Trade Center for the first time. It wasn't open yet, I remember stopped at the police barracades in front of it and looking up at the towers. Trying to look all the way up to the top I got dizzy and almost lost my balance. I fell in love with the towers that day.
In 1980 I worked a few blocks north of the Trade Center, my best friend worked in 2WTC (the south tower). I'd meet her for lunch and we'd go to the employee cafeteria. Somewhere in my apt are the fuzzy black and white pictures I look from the 30 something floor.
When I worked down there, I'd take the train back one stop to back Chambers (under the Trade Center) so I could get a seat for the long ride home. I remember going to a minitures convention in what was then the Vista hotel. I've shopped the stores of the concourse. I don't know how many times I've walked over the Trade Center to get the train home.
The Yahoo group for a fan club I belonged to, had posts by folks letting what was going on with them, and pleas to those living in NYC to check in and let us know if they were ok.
I spent most of the day IM'ing a friend in Canada, and another in NJ. When CCN had something 'new' one of them put the computers microphone to the TV so we could hear. Without family out here, I don't know how I would have made it through the day without these friends.
Robin |
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| pilferk |
I was sitting at my desk, working on a database, when a co-worker, who had been listening to the radio, ran down the hall and told me what happened. I immediately called my wife to get more details. She filled me in on what was going on, and as we spoke, the 2nd plane hit. I immediately let her go, and headed downstairs to the ONLY TV in the area. The room was pretty crowded, since most of our building's participants had gathered around it.
I work in a large, and world famous, healthcare facility in Southern Connecticut as a Sr. Systems Analyst/Software Developer. Within minutes after the 2nd plane hit, we (meaning the Analysts, Desktop Support, and all the "techies") launched into action. We had been told that since they expected the Metro hospitals to be jammed, we could see some patients who were not deemed "critically injured". We immediately began setting up a command center. I couldn't believe how quickly, and efficiently, we were able to turn a conference room into a bustling command center.
Many of us stayed late that night, just to ensure there would be adequate support should we see any patients. We had an initial spurt of about 25 people, but never really saw any significant numbers. We had a few trickle in over the next few days, as well, but never anything significant. By 7:30 PM, many of us returned to our families, who we had been in contact with throughout the day. We went home to cry with, and hug, our loved ones.
It's a day I'll never forget. |
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| ronski |
I wasn't sure if I would be able to reply to this thread, but here goes...A year ago this morning I was working a little OT trying to save some extra money for an upcoming trip to WDW. I work as a plant engineer in a small hospital, and was doing some painting in a closed down wing. We had gone down to the cafeteria for our morning break, and when we sat down, a couple of doctors at the next table asked if we had heard that a plane had struck one of the towers. I left the cafe and went back up to the room I had been working in and flipped on the tv just in time to see the second plane hit. As the morning went on, this was followed by the pentagon hit and the crash in Pennsylvania. I remember feeling an insatiable urge to hold my baby daughter so I left work and picked her up early from daycare. I felt so angry, anger for innocence lost, anger for parents, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers lost, anger for a senseless act of violence comitted in the name of God. And today, on this anniversary, I am still angry, but I will hold my infant son close, and say a prayer for those who will never again hold their sons or daughters... |
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| Dab |
I was IMing with an engineer at Tinker AFB when the first plane hit. I told him and he kept telling me to watch and let him know more. We thought as probably everyone else did that a plane had gone off course until I said OMG, that plane is going in too! He said "what?" At first it was confusing because I thought it was a replay of the first plane until I realized it wasn't. He kept telling me to watch so he could tell everyone in the office what was going on. Then the Pentagon and the PA flight. A few minutes later a siren sounded in his office and they all had to get off their computers and phones.
I too as Sam live close to Tinker AFB, my husband, daughter and myself (well I did until 6 months ago) work at Tinker. Not seeing or hearing planes was very eerie. Then when planes did fly over you began to look up and wonder if it was a plane from the base. I worked near base housing and it was hard to see the little kids coming back crying when their dad (or mom) got deployed.
Just a side note: NATO was stationed here at Tinker and they were some of the nicest people I have ever encountered. They told us numerous times that they never thought in a million years they would ever be sent to the US to help us.
Just heard the Star Spangled Banner on CSPAN....very emotional song right now. |
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| Cara |
I was getting my daughter ready for our first day at Mom and Me class. Our usual ritual in the morning is her running into our room...turning on playhouse disney for a half hour (to give mom just 30 more minutes of kind-of sleep). My husband got up to shower, he had a meeting at 10:00. We didn't know..we didn't have a regular channel on. Then I got the phone call from my mom telling me to turn on the news..something has happened in New York...as we were on the phone and watching it on TV , the second plane hit. Then the Pentagon...then the last plane went down. We just stared in disbelief.
I remember being so scared for a long time. My brother works at the Stock Exchange in Chicago...it is very close to the Sears Tower and every day I fear that something will happen there.
I remember lying in bed at night listening to silence. Airplanes are plentiful in the sky being close to Ohare. One day in particular stands out for me. I was in the shower one day when i heard and felt a horrible boom. It woke my daughter out of her nap...the house shook. It was maybe two weeks after the 11th. It happened twice. I immediately tried calling my mom..it was busy...i ran outside..all the neighbors were gathered...no-one knew what it was...you couldn't even get through to 911 or police. Finally the radio provided the answer. A plane was being escorted by two fighter jets to Ohare airport..a passenger was being detained. The booms were sonic booms from the planes breaking the sound barried. It was terrifying at the time. I still hate the sound of airplanes coming over my house. Something that I never noticed too much before that day. I didn't go into Chicago for a long time after that..not until May. I know we can't live in fear. I'm trying not to. Sorry it's so long...thanks for reading.
God Bless everyone. God Bless the USA. |
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| dizneemom |
It's odd...the things that you remember about that day.
It was the first Tuesday of the new school year. Of all the days of the week, Tuesday has always been my favorite because I get the kids and DH out of the house and can get down to "business" in peace.
I remember walking my kids to the bus stop and thanking God for yet another day of gorgeous weather. The cloudless sky, the mild temperature...a beautiful day.
How ironic that the three people who I was so eager to get out the door that morning turned out to be the same people that I longed to hug and hold when the news broke. They did not close the schools here that day, nor were they closed the following day.
Not a day goes by now, that I do not tell my kids that I love them before they go out the door. I still love Tuesdays and I still thank God for beautiful weather. If anything came from this, I pray more and live in the moment when I can. Flags fly in my yard more often and I've gained a new respect for the generation that lived through Pearl Harbor and the Second World War.
God Bless our rescue workers, armed service personnel and all who serve their comunities.
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