Where were you on 9/11?

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

On 9/11 as I was leaving the hairdresser's a lady was walking in saying that a plane had hit the World Trade Center - I thought it was some kind of accident but when I turned on the radio I heard that we, America, was being attacked.  I felt like the air had disappeared - I could barely breath, my hands started to shake.  I had been heading into my real estate office but I turned around and drove a few miles away to the nearest T.V. - at my dad's house.  By the time I walked in the second plane had already crashed into the other tower.  The scenes on the TV were horrific - I was scared for our country and I was angry at those that could do such a thing.  Shocking to watch as they played the videos over and over.  People jumping from the towers was the worst part - I fell to my knees sobbing.  The Pentagon, the airplane over PA - it just kept getting worse.  As the first building collapsed - I could only pray to God.  All those people, their families - unimaginable.  As the days went by there were hero's emerging from the tragedy, some goodness in the face of all that evil.  10 years later the thing I mourn the most is the loss of innocence, the loss of trust in people, the lost of a sense of security that I will never have again in my lifetime.  I travel frequently and I'm reminded every time I go through the airport.   I stood last week at the World Trade Center site - along with machine gun toting police. 

[Rose Ann and Amante]

I was grocery shopping at Sam's Club and suddenly people were running in and grabbing stuff. I remember think Is there a sale on those. Suddenly my husband called and told me the news. I was in a trance I grabbed the rest of what i needed rushed to my children's school  and was ANGRY that the school was in lockdown and they were not letting us the parent in. I called a friend who worked for the DOD and he went in and got my boys I rushed them home and stayed in the house. That next day I found out I was pregnant and began crying, because I was unsure of what kind of world my babies would have. My Father said and I will never forget. "They will live in a country were they see the unity of persons of all varieties pulling together and being one." It looses some in translation, but I took comfort in that.

[shelly]

Your father was right, Rose Ann!  We too had a lock down, but it caused more anxiety that to just let the parents have their children!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Rose Ann, What a wonderful father you have to see the good in what transpired. We all need that perspective in life.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

My sister was also pregnant with her first and I thought I was SO happy for her, but who would want to bring a baby into this world now? It was probably the opposite of what I should have thought since the attacks people seem to think more about what's important. I tell my mom that I should have never thought that and was praying that she would have a healthy baby, I felt guilty like I cursed her. He came out as the normal all american boy! He was my 1st of 4 nephews.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was having my morning coffee before work and turned on the TV. The first tower had just been hit. I watched as the second one was hit. I can't remember what was going through my mind. I think I was just numb and couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. Nobody knew anything yet.

Two things stand out in my mind from that morning. One was the weather. It was the most glorious Fall day. The sky was such a clear, brilliant shade of blue, it almost hurt your eyes to look at it, and it was sunny, but cool. Perfect weather, the kind we rarely get here in Chicago. Ever since, a glorious brilliant September morning like that gives me just the tiniest little chill for a moment when I first walk outside. I suppose it always will.

The other thing that will stay with me from that morning is the call I got from my mother. She was crying.

Now, my mother was a very tough cookie. She was very cold, unemotional, kind of like the Mary Tyler Moore character in Ordinary People. Appearances were everything. You didn't step out your door without every hair in place, all of your make-up on, perfectly dressed, you were cordial but quiet and never effusive, and you kept a cool, controlled demeanor, no matter what. No matter what kind of heartbreak or pain you were experiencing, you kept it to yourself. Discounting the deaths of immediate family members, I could count on one hand the number of times I ever saw or heard my mother cry.

September 11, 2001 was one of those times.

"We were attacked", she kept repeating, "It's war. It's war"

My mother was 13 years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I suppose she must have felt the same way that day, reliving it.

I lost my mom four years ago, and every time I think of 9/11, I think of her, and I mourn.

 

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Karen - your mother was a wise lady.  I'm sorry for your loss.

[shelly]

Funny that you mention how beautiful a day it was Karen.  I DO remember that - it was the weirdest thing... the sky was so blue and clear, and then all we did was look to the west and you could see how gray the sky looked... I remember shutting all of the windows so we wouldn't inhale anything that traveled east.

[Leslie and Halas]

I remember that, too.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, and it was just so hard to comprehend that something so dark and evil could be happening on such a pretty day.  It just made it seem so surreal, like it wasn't really happening.  After the first plane, I just kept waiting to hear that it was just some bizarre accident.  and then the second plane hit, and everyone realized there was nothing accidental about it.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I was in Home room in middle school. A teacher came in, talked to my teacher, and they both started crying. They turned on the t.v. and we all watched the footage. I didn't understand it at all. I thought it was just some accidental plane crash. Even after I heard it was an act of terrorism, I didn't understand. I just didn't know what that meant or what it was. In the following days/weeks/months I learned the full implications. I always wonder what I would have thought on 9/11 if I had been fully aware of the situation...

[Donna K & Quincy]

Right now I am watching a news report of a planned terrorist attack on the US and it is sending chills down my spine. On 9/11, I was at work and watched the horror unfold on the television. Although in distance we are far from NY, the effects were certainly felt at home when all those flights started landing at our local airport a very short time later.

[Phoebe's Mom]

I was holding my 5 month old daughter and trying to occupy my two little boys all the while crying inconsolably, watching it all unfold on TV.  I called my husband to tell him that the towers had fallen and he simply refused to believe it, insisting that I had heard the information incorrectly.  He was deeply in denial.  We are native New Yorkers and he could not  believe that something this horrific could bring his city to its knees--though momentarily before we rallied and showed the world what we are truly made of.  My girlfriend who lives in NJ lost 6 of her neighbors who had worked for the firm into which the first plane crashed.  Today, our school lined its entrance and walkways with over 2900 flags, one for each of the victims of 9/11.  It was awe-inspiring.  Ten years may have passed, but we will never forget.

[shelly]

On 9/11 i was in school teaching.  the principal personally came to each of our classrooms to tell us what had happened.  She asked us if had any family members who worked in Manhatten and asked if anyone needed to try and make contact with them (not knowing the severity at the time).  Thankfully, I did NOT, but do personally know many who did...people were trying to call loved ones all over.  I called my babysitter and asked her to go pick up my older son (she had my youngest with her)  from school and bring him home to her house.  It was very scary for those next hours at work.  Parents were rushing in to pick up kids, teachers covered each other's classes so we could call home.  Finally it was the end of the day, and we could go home.  I remember shaking on the drive home.  As horrible as it was, I could not tear myself away from the television that night.  All over town and all over everywhere really... there were flags flying, candles burning, people gathering,  USA signs being put up,  and the feeling of  patriotism filled the atmosphere!  As bad as it was... I remember that feeling.... it was strange to me, that out of something so horrific, we all came together as Americans!  People were so nice to each other for such a long time after.  It truly was unbelievable.  I still can not listen to the Star Spangled Banner without tearing up - even to this day!  There is a spot on the parkway on Long Island where you would drive over a small hill and be able to see the Twin Towers.  Whenever I drive over that hill, I say a silent prayer for those who lost their lives and their families!