9/11/2001

I may be one of the few people who received the news in print, which made it even more surreal.

Arizona is 3 hours behind NY at that time of year, and we don't put on the t.v. in the mornings. So I got up, went to my computer to check emails, and got a breaking news email from Arizona Central. For a moment, I couldn't comprehend the ordinary meaning of "collapsed." "Surely," I thought, "that word must have a different meaning I'm not aware of. The tower can't possibly have collapsed."

So we turned on the t.v. And then I drove my 9 year old son to school - he was oddly quiet -- and we listened to the collapse of the second tower on the radio.

At his school, administrators were out in force, all with walkie talkies and cell phones in their hands.

At work we sat in the lunch room and watched coverage. I still recall my jaw dropping to the floor when they showed Islamists cheering in the streets.

A sad, surreal day.
 
I was in my algebra class my junior year when another teacher came into the classroom to tell us to turn on the news. I was shocked and horrified, and immediately went to the superintendent's office where my mom works to give her a big hug. We didn't have classes for the rest of the day, just went to the classroom's and watched the news coverage. It was just awful.
 
I'm not from America, but I was 16 at the time and I remember it was a school night. I was just getting ready for bed when my mum called out that a plane had crashed into the WTC. I remember after hearing that I was wide awake and didn't feel like sleeping yet, so I sat in front of the TV and just watched the news. It was so surreal just watching the news and seeing the 2nd plane crash into the 2nd tower. That's when it dawned on me that people were probably still in that building. It didn't feel real, but the worst part was watching the towers suddenly come crashing down, and then all the footage afterwards of all that thick dust and smoke that blanketed the down town area, and all those dazed people wandering around in the chaos. That's when it really hit home just what had happened.

Another surreal aspect was I had been reading this fiction novel about a team of Anti-Terrorist specialists at the time (The Specialists by Chet Cunningham) and it talked about Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. I remember saying "I bet Usama Bin Laden is behind this" in front of my mum and sisters and then a few minutes later they brought some kind of expert who began saying that most likely Usama was responsible.
 
Oh, and I would have loved to have discussed this atrocity with my mother, but I had lost her two weeks earlier, and was still in heavy mourning, which made this whole thing even more surreal.
 
Z
zobothehobo
Oh that's awful. I'm so sorry for your loss.
Gum Gnome33
Gum Gnome33
I'm so sorry
I was in school, not very far from where it happened.

Can't believe it's been 10 years. I had a whole lot more to say when I started typing this post but somehow it doesn't seem to matter. I think everyone here has said it already.
 
I just arrived at my school at the time and some guy/or teacher said a plane just crashed into the WTC. So ofcourse everybody in the area ran to look towards Lower Manhattan at the WTC and saw all the smoke, etc. Then we all watched the second plane flying towards the buildings and hit the 2nd building. Obviously we knew it wasn't an accident from this point and it was an attack. So everybody started going crazy with panic, screaming, crying, etc. I started to joke around cause thats how I handled those situations at the time I guess.

Then we all turned on the television to watch the news and see what was going on but it was pretty obvious from this point with all the people clearly jumping out of the buildings without the tv. Then an announcement was made that we had to evacutate the area so some madness ensued since people had family in the WTC. But overall it was handled pretty well and then I spoke to some of my family that was called to the site.

The buildings then went down one by one and my family consisting of paramedics, police, and truck drivers were still there helping and trying to dig for survivors. All of my family members survived luckily although they have issues with health, mental but we did lose a few friends. That was pretty much the day.
 
K
kittenpoker
thank you for sharing that.
I know I'm a little late to the game here, but I think remembering 9/11 shoule be all the time, not just on the date. But 10 years... wow.

I wrote this blog post yesterday about my thoughts on 9/11... it's such a difficult thing to deal with because of all the uncertainty that went along with it 10 years ago. I just hope we can honor the memories of all those who lost their lives that day, and every day since then so we can live freely today.
 
Thank you everyone for sharing your memories of that tragic moment here!

I'm hesitant to share my experience because I really really really don't want it to be misconstrued....

I was working in one of those big office buildings in downtown boston.... someone came in for an interview, and I greeted her (I was the receptionist) and offered her coffee and stuff and started making small talk and she was really discombobulated... she asked me if I had heard about what was happening in new york. she told me a plane had hit a building (it was all very vague - she didn't even know which building) and I remember thinking, "wow, that's a really bad pilot", then more and more came to light.... we all gathered in the conference room and watched and as it became more and more clear that it a deliberate attack the whole city basically shut down, and everyone went home.

I remember though, going home.... on my way to work which was just a few short hours before, it was like, usual...you know? no one saw each other, we were all in our little bubbles of self and of hurry and it was all like pushing past each other....each on our own way.... no one really seeing anyone else....

and then, coming home it was like, everyone's eyes were wide open and hearts were open too and strangers were hugging and crying and.... really looking at and seeing each other.

And it's so painful that it seems to take heartbreak to crack open our hearts....

and I'm not saying it was a good thing what happened. NOT AT ALL!!!! It was awful!!!!! I remember really thinking about the people who jumped from windows and being very struck by that....by trying to imagine what it would be like to have to make that choice.... It's beyond words. NY State of Mind's post really brought that back for me. It's so awful!

I just think the tenderness, the community spirit, the love that I saw after was beautiful.....

And I hope sometimes it doesn't have to take such a tragedy to pop our little personal bubbles we create for ourselves.
 
I've seen this on tumblr, and remembered there is a thread here about it, so I decided to share.

tumblr_lrel2x08Xb1qlm1au.jpg
 
I remember it so well. I was at boarding school, we had just come in from rugging the horses late that night and only the eldest boarders were still up. They were watching it on tv, and I remember asking if it was a movie. But the boys were shit stirrers so I wouldnt believe them when they said it was real. It wasnt until an hour or so later that it sunk in.

My stepdad was supposed to be flying out from Boston that day, so I was terrified he was in one of the planes. We found out the next day that he was ok and it happened before he had got to the airport. We watched the footage all day at school, everyone was in shock.

My thoughts are with those who died, survived or have been affected by this tragedy.
 
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