This is not meant to be a controversial thread but being that tomorrow is a solemn anniversary of a terrible tradgedy I thought I would ask where were you and what were you doing that fateful day at home, at work, at school and how did you find out?

I had no one I knew in the planes or the towers that day but had lived in Manhattan for 13 years and had just moved to Chicago a year prior.

So I was living in Chicago at the time but I was in the Catskills at a corporate retreat doing yoga next to the President of sales of ABC News. She was immediately pulled out when the first plane hit and we all knew right then that something was up by the look on her face as she was pulled from the room and something was whispered in her ear. Someone then cam ein and explained what was going on and we watched the second plane hit the towers and then they crumbled.

No one was allowed to leave the compound because there were reservoirs around the place and the sheriffs department brought in people to guard the water because they were worried about an attack on the citys water supply. Cell phones were not working up where we were and there was only one land line that the compound shared with another business which made it hard for the people with us to get any news about their loved ones which was tough for those with family in the towers.

After three days they allowed us to leave and I drove back silently to Chicago with three other people.

I had to fly at the beginning of the next week back to Newark Airport. The airport was eerie and everyone was on edge.

When we got on the plane there was an arab young man that just looked sick and as soon as we took off he jumped up and ran to the restroom. Needless to say his sudden jumping and running alarmed everyone and the stewards waited outside the restroom. Poor thing was just very sick but everyone on my plane was ready to go into action. I felt bad for him that day it had to be tough.

God Bless all of the victims, the rescuers and their families from that day and all of our brave men and women in the military for what do you for our country and defending freedom.

I will be lighting my candle in about an hour and a half, I burn a candle every year, under my flag that is flying, all the time, the morning of this horrific event, I was running late to work, and on the way to work heard on the news radio about a unidentifiable airplane crashed into the tower, so figure ok eventually a plane is gonna hit these tall buildings.

by time I got to work the second plane had hit, I knew it was deliberate, and as I entered work I told them to turn the radio to the news station they all told me to shut up then I kind of spoke in a loud voice new york is being attacked, could hear a pin drop, so they changed the station and we all got our routes together fast per orders and hit the streets. needless to say all radios were at news stations.

about maybe an hour or so into my route I was doing that day, one of the customers I talk to a lot came out tears in his eyes and said the buildings are trashed they are gone. ok well I was one who did not have a radio(which changed after 9/11) so I had no idea but what a few customers said here and there and what they were saying I could not comprehend, mean while my mom and deb went and got all 5 kids out of school,

which seem to be what all parents were doing around here because there were rumors of them attacking Chicago area, all of this I was unknown to me cause i did not have a cell phone or radio. finally finish and had noticed how quiet it was, there were no planes... and my area of delivery was somewhat close to Ohare airport..

it was an eerie silence. finally get to my moms house cause I had a message at work, to swing by there and get deb and kids. well I walked in to my moms house and saw on here tv the second plane going into the building like a hot knife in butter and my knees buckled and I hit the floor never in my wildest thoughts did i think it was like this,

I figured they hit the building and fell to the street,then they showed the buildings pancaking down to the ground I was in tears, I had no idea of the complexity of the situation, god help all those souls, now and forever may he also bless those left behind, from this horrid act of ignorance


oh god I forgot about something the pentagon deb has a cousin who works there and it was 3 days after b4 anyone knew if they were alive, him and his girl had gone hiking and camping with out cells and such, nature lovers, and it wasnt until they got in a local store in a small town they saw a paper and freaked and made a ton of calls from there, deb was going nuts, him and her grew up together, she was a very elated person a few days later when I came home from work, telling me her cousin was alive

I was getting ready for work, it was almost time to leave when the phone rang.

Our son had joined the Air Force recently and he was just finishing basic training in Texas. He was on the phone, and told me about the attack. I started to panic, because not being all that familiar with how things work in the military, I started thinking they'd immediately put him into a battle zone. I started grieving for the lives lost, I was in a state of shock. I went to work and worried so much about our son, thinking that the air force base could be attacked soon.

It was such a horrific time for me and so many others, especially those who lost loved ones and lived close by to the areas that were attacked.

We're flying our flag tomorrow, and tonight I'll say a special prayer for all those affected by the attack.

I was at work and someone came in and told us one of the Towers had been hit. A few of our offices were in those bldgs. and our boss was in NYC that day.

The 2nd plane hit and I felt a strange feeling come over me and stopped all work. They rolled in a TV into a meeting room and we watched the horrific collapse helpless and angry.

We were sent home later. My Mom called me at home. She said her worst shock in her past was Pearl Harbor. This was mine.

Our boss came back the next day shocked but safe. One of our retired boss's 20-something son died there - they never recovered his body.

Well we had already moved to MI from Boston.....and I was up watching tv when I saw the news flash but only seeing fire at top of one tower...so I figured without knowing...oh no the tower has a fire on top....went to wake hubby...who grew up in Boston and had gone to NY plenty of times...

woke him saying hun, you gotta come see, the one tower is on fire....as we started back to watch that is when we started hearing about a plane...as we just were wondering what the heck...we seen the second come thru....we both teared up.....

when we realized the airplanes came out of our old airport we used to fly in and out of so much....it felt wierd...


I dont know anyone personally, but do know a girl that was a nanny in boston with me...she at the time was a nanny in NY....and at the school, she brought her kids she watched, went to....there was a child that both parents I guess were in one of those airplanes...so it hit the school hard. It hit so many hard I imagine...what a sad day!!

I think of all affected....the families with losses...and how much it must hit them...as death is hard to deal with anyhow....but also the mix of such a big worldwide way....sorry if that didnt make sense...

hugss to you all and hugss to those affected, sarah

Unfortunately. because I live in Brooklyn, NY, I know too well and up close about 9/11. I have friends who lost children that day. They have never recovered from their loss. Some became alcoholics, some never found their loved ones.

It was one big mess.


Alan and I were at our usual breakfast place. It was about 8:45.
There was a tv in the place. About 20 of the customers left their tables and we were all standing in front of he tv. We all thought that a plane hit the tower by accident.

But when the second plane hit I remember saying "Two planes?? this is no accident"

We drove home, turned on the tv and watched (as the rest of the world watched). Alan had an appointment at Coney Island Hospital that day for an accupuncture session. We phoned the hospital and said "are you still seeing people?" and we were told "come on in"

So we got in the car and drove past the parkway where we saw the large trail of smoky debris that floated up in the sky. It looked like when an atom bomb went off. We were going "oh my god, oh my god".

We got to he hospital and we were met by teams of police and guards with weapons. I said "what is going on?" and the female officer said "what do you mean what is going on, we are at Code Red, we are at war, go back home".

I never felt so helpless in all my life.

Oh, the night before, we all sat outside (like many neighbors do on summer nights, when it's warm).
We were about 20 of us. My friend came around the corner walking her door. We all ran to her and said: "come join us". She just looked dazed and said "They can' find my son, he was painting the roof of one of the towers".

We all ran to her to console her (because we didnt' know the full impact of what had happened on the first day).

Well, she lost her son and many of my neighbors lost their children because many of them were either firemen or worked at Cantor Fitzgerald.

And the next morning, on ALL our cars and window sills, there was this white powder covering everything. We all ran back in and closed our windows and stayed put that day.

We see the lights at night that they beam up to the sky, once a year.

I just wonder why they haven't built anything yet. It's been 7 years.

How sad.

Melody

I was at work when it happened. I was a mutual fund accountant, so we had CNBC on TV's across the building.

Someone came running saying that one of the towers was on fire. We were all grouped together watching from that point to when the towers fell. The surprise watching another plane hit the second tower, the disbelief as the first tower fell. I still remember the shock I felt and the tears I shed that day.

Since our building was down the road from the airport, our managers decided to let us all go home. I kept the news on the tv off, because I didn't need to see it over and over again like what happened with the challenger accident. Luckily, my hubby's work let him come home early too.

I appreciate this thread; thanks for starting it. My story is mundane really but, like many others, it's surreal. I suppose we all remember where we were that day.

I was in my car, listening to the news just after getting my b12 shot.
I distinctly remember how the sunlight looked that morning, the temperature, and exactly where I was on the road as the newscaster said "a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center". My jaw dropped. I couldn't understand it. I thought it was a terrible accident. At that moment, I didn't know it was terrorism.

By the time I got to work, less than 10 minutes later - it was becoming clear that our country had sustained an intentional 'attack' of some sort. Our entire company spent the morning waiting and wondering, incredulous and baffled. What do we do? Work as usual? (we made the effort even though we were glued to the broadcasts like most everyone else).

One of our employees was named Moniere, he was from Turkey. He made a point of walking around and talking to people - some he didn't even know very well - assuring us that not all the world hated America, that the people of Turkey and the Turkish government had great appreciation for America, and asked us not to become disheartened. He said, "You should read the international newspapers! You'll see. You're not alone!" I really appreciated the way he did that.

He's no longer with our company but I think of him often.

We had moved from NJ (close to NY) to MD (close to DC), and my neighbor called (He worked at NSA -National Security Agency - for US goverment) called to say "put on news". Torn between NY and DC (Knew people both in towers and Pentagon) put on NY station. Worried about stock brokers I knew and those who worked out of Pentagon. My friend who worked at stocks didn't work that day, my brother lost his neighbor, A man whose party I'd gone to, ran the down the stairs and got out, outside the train station, in my home town sat the cars of people who never returned. Knew no one at Pentagon, thank God. DH came home and like so many parents we raced to school to get our 9 year old twins. None of the kids knew what happeed, but watched their classmates being pulled out, they must have been so scared.

I had watched the news, saw the 2nd plane hit and the buildings crumble.A year(?) later kids' school under lockdown, a police car right outside in Drive until they got the sniper who was terrorizing us all. What childhood memories to have.

Like all of you, September 11, 2001 is a day that will forever be etched in my memory.

I had worked overtime the night before so I was still in bed. My roommate came in and woke me, telling me that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center in NY. I was kind of groggy and said something like oh.. ok... uh huh, that's not funny.

My roommate grabbed my foot pulling me out of bed yelling at me saying that they were not joking. At that point I woke up immediately ran to the living room just in time to see the plane hit the second tower.

I was mortified as a dear friend of mine was supposed to be on a flight out of Boston that day heading for vacation. I made a few phone calls but no one had heard from her. No one knew if she had made the flight or not.

I was glued to the television until I had to leave for work.

While on the way to work I heard on the radio that many firefighters, police, and employees that worked in the towers were unaccounted for. For some reason an old friend's face and name popped into my head... I recalled that he was a Port Authority Officer in NY. My heart sunk.... I called mutual friends but no one had heard from him in a while. A couple of friends came up with phone numbers for him so we all started calling. We all kept calling each other but no one had reached him. It was a while later when we discovered that he was one of the missing. He is still one of the missing.

Once I got to work, I was walking around in a daze not really knowing what I should do or even why I was there... the place was pretty empty. I then went outside with one of the supervisors to check on an outbuilding. The supervisor asked me if I would stay outside just to keep an eye on things. While sitting out there I heard a car approaching me. I looked around to see who it might be... It was my friend who was supposed to be on the flight out of Boston. She had changed her flight for a later date so she never made it to Boston. I was never so relieved.

I can still recall so much of that day... The sky was so blue. It was so quiet outside... not a plane in the sky, no clouds, even the birds weren't flying. The interstate which runs nearby was even quiet. I remember seeing peoples faces as they passed me by... most were in shock and many were crying. Our world had changed for ever in the blink of an eye and all we could really do that day was hug our loved ones and ask why.

Bless all who were lost that day and all of their loved ones who remain.

Abbie