9/11, where were you and how did it affect you?

[1911ly]

I had just got out of the shower and was getting ready for work. My MIL was watching the news. It has just been announced that a plane had his the first tower. I as I drove out of the drive and pulled up to the intersection down the street I met my wife and another car at the intersection. We all must have been listening to the news. I will never forget the look on the lady's face in the other car as they had just announce the second plane had hit the other tower. I think she was listen to the same thing I was on the radio.

I turned around and followed my wife back to the house. We talked about everything that had happened. I when to work. The longs day of work ever. We followed the news as the other plane his the Pentagon and crashed in PA. We closed early and I remember being glued to the TV for the next few weeks.

 

[bcannon]

Gmas house in a hole in the middle of the family room floor in the crawl space fixing her duct work - just worked a IBEW job out of Paramus New Jersy working Jersy side of Holland Tunnel - 63 floor ISO building - there was a constant view of New York city - I'd have to say it was pretty cool for a Indiana boy - my traveling partner & went out and checked out NYC and surrounding burbs at least 4 out of 7 days a week for the entire length of job - went into the Trade Center twice a night - went up 2 times in the south tower - had a great experience for the most part -

When it happened it felt like God unplugged me - couldnt do anything but sit with my head and watch - experienced alot of negative emotions - could think of the people I met that were working in the 2 towers - some were gone - the beautiful girl that greeted us everytime we went there to get subway tickets - she was stikingly beautiful and kinder than most in NYC - thinkinkg of those people hurt and enraged me more than I expected - I could have been there if I didnt ask for a rif is was messed with me the most.

I dont think Ill ever get over it just cope with it when it comes up - unmeasureable innocence lost -

Going back is on my list

 

[drop45]

I was on my way back from ww grainger picking up parts for work when the first plane hit, got back in time to see the second one hit live, I had tears for a few minutes cause I realized that it was no accident. Had no idea they would fall like they did.

 

[mom45]

I was laid off from work a month earlier and had gotten in the habit of attending morning Mass while looking for a new job. On the way home, I heard something about a plane crash but didn't think much more about it. I was canning grape juice and listening to tapes. Hubby called and said we were at war and to fill all the vehicles with gas and as many cans as I could for the generator in case we needed it. I went and bought a bunch of gas cans and took care of that. I also went and bought as much ammo as I could find for every caliber we owned. I will never let our supply get low again...NEVER.

When I got home, I sat in stunned silence watching the coverage on TV for hours.

 

[churchmouse]

I was laid off from work a month earlier and had gotten in the habit of attending morning Mass while looking for a new job. On the way home, I heard something about a plane crash but didn't think much more about it. I was canning grape juice and listening to tapes. Hubby called and said we were at war and to fill all the vehicles with gas and as many cans as I could for the generator in case we needed it. I went and bought a bunch of gas cans and took care of that. I also went and bought as much ammo as I could find for every caliber we owned. I will never let our supply get low again...NEVER.

When I got home, I sat in stunned silence watching the coverage on TV for hours.

This event had a profound effect on how prepared we are. Food/water/fuel/ammo.

 

[HoughMade]

I blame the terrorists have having to see 2 crawls on every news and sports TV program. We had none before, and then we went up to 4 or 5 crawls in the week after....and have never gotten the bottom 15% of our TVs back.

I will never forgive them for that.

 

[churchmouse]

I blame the terrorists have having to see 2 crawls on every news and sports TV program. We had none before, and then we went up to 4 or 5 crawls in the week after....and have never gotten the bottom 15% of our TVs back.

I will never forgive them for that.

Seriously....they won that round. Life as we knew it is gone. No more free movement by commercial transport.

I ****ing hate the pop-ups and the crawls.

 

[g00n24]

I was in 10th grade taking the isteps. They didn't tell us anything about it during the entire day due to testing, so I didn't hear about it until I was leaving school. I remember feeling more wonderment, or maybe, confusion while watching what happened. I don't know why. I wasn't confused at what was happening, but maybe just how it happened. I wasn't angry until later that night or the next day. I remember seeing the images of the towers falling and not really comprehending how big of a thing that really was.

 

[Lebowski]

I was in the 8th grade, I believe I had English that period. Heard something about it in that class, I believe the teacher got a call. The next period (Math, I don't know) we were watching the news on TV in class. The rest of the school day was hit or miss as far as what we did. No one was paying attention to much of anything, at the time we were hearing things that other cities had been 'bombed' too. Keep in mind I was 14 when this happened (wow), so my view of the world at the time was still being developed.

On the bus ride home, I remember seeing gas stations with lines to the road. I couldn't believe it. Seemed like the adults around me had gone into a semi-silent panic and at the time, no one really knew what was going on or what would happen in the coming days, weeks, or months.

It's crazy to think that this happened 13 years ago. I was young enough at the time to not understand it, but old enough to never forget it.

 

[littletommy]

I remember watching it at my former employers, and thinking "what a terrible thing", then the second plane hit and we all just stood there in silence. Oddly enough, we had watched coverage of the space shuttle Challenger disaster on the same little portable TV, and I stood in the same spot, listening to radio reports when President Reagan was shot.

I listened to Howard Stern most of the day on 9/11, as there wasn't a tv in the back shop where I worked. Howard earned a lot of respect from me that day.

That night, at my oldest sons football practice, I'll never forget, shortly after practice started, someone spotted an aircraft at very high altitude in the sky, and pointed it out, and everyone, maybe 50-75 people in that park, stopped and watched it fly til it was out of sight.

 

[poptab]

First period chem class. A late student rushed in and turned on the tv. Teacher was furious until she realized...
That's the only thing about that day I remember.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Was at work coming back from the break room where I was getting a little caffeine to pick me up a bit. Walked by my buddies cube and he was white as a sheet and said that a plane just crashed into the world trade center. I asked him "like the WWII bomber that hit the Empire State Building in the fog once upon a time?" He said "no...a commercial jet liner."

I quickly went to my desk and tried to get one of the news websites up...but all were very slow given the high amount of traffic coming through. Shortly there after we heard about plane #2. We all realized this wasn't an accident, and went over to another buddy's house and watched it all unfold on TV, including the towers falling.

When I got home that night I walked into the house and told my parents and my future wife that I was enlisting. I was mad, and wanted revenge, and was still in really good shape. I still had that invincible feeling that most of us had in our early 20's. My parents encouraged me to really think that through, given I'd just finished college and just started a job in a field that I had spent a lot of $$$ to learn in college. My wife ended up talking me out of it.

To this day I have very few regrets in life, and don't at all regret the decisions that led me to have a beautiful wife, and a beautiful family that I have now. But there is a part of me that does feel some regret for not serving my country in a time that I was willing and able to do so. I've made a compromise with myself that if I couldn't serve myself, I'd do all I could to support those that have and are still serving in our military.

 

[terrehautian]

I was at Vincennes University in my dorm getting ready for some of my broadcasting classes. My room mate had gotten moved out because of alcohol so I had no tv in my room. I just happened to look into my next door room and they had the second attack on just as I was watching in from the hallway. Classes were short that day. I remember waiting in line for an hour for gas because they said it was going to $5 a gallon.

 

[Ericpwp]

At the time I was living at home, going to school in the loop (Chicago), and working at the East Monroe Parking Garage (free parking for school). My parents and a group of family were leaving for Italy that morning. I was about to have the house to myself, and planned accordingly. I drove up Lake Shore Drive going into work early that morning, looking at the perfect weather over the city I said out-loud “Not a damn thing can go wrong today”.


I was underground in the exit gates when somebody told me the first plane hit. I thought it was an idiot Cessna pilot. Then one of the bosses told me that another plane hit the other tower, and they were airliners. They setup a small TV in the office, and watched the news, but not for long. All of the high-rises in Chicago were being evacuated. The cars started lining up at the exit gates. Everyone was in a panic, and nobody had there tickets to open the gates. They were yelling “Just open the gates!” and the like. Some people were running the gates behind cars that paid. It was mayhem. The managers made sure we made everyone pay. I was on the front line of that mess. I was getting the news from the people leaving (when the towers fell).


Once we got cleared out, they told us to go home. I went over to school to see what was happening. It was closed. I saw a St. Peter’s church across the street, and went in. There were a lot of people in there just sitting and praying. It felt like a good place to be. The priest came out and said an impromptu service, and that felt really good.


My parents luckily did not get out of the county yet; they were at O’Hare when it happened. We watched the news the rest of the night.



One of my buddies was in Canada fishing. They did not find out until the backup at the border coming back a few days later.

 

[femurphy77]

I was preparing to go to work at United Airlines, woke up in time to see the second plane hit. The personal affect on me is that United laid off several thousand, I think 10k+ and I now work in a hospital.

 

[mom45]

I was preparing to go to work at United Airlines, woke up in time to see the second plane hit. The personal affect on me is that United laid off several thousand, I think 10k+ and I now work in a hospital.

Wow...that is quite a personal impact! I can't imagine working for a major airline and watching those jets hit the towers and what must have run through your mind.

 

[mtinner]

Was at work. When the plane hit the pentagon, my thoughts went to my daughter. She was living within 10 miles. I had to leave early that day because I couldn't concentrate on my work. It took forever for us to get in touch with our daughter.

 

[Suprtek]

I was at work as usual doing service calls. At the time, my wife was still a full time home-maker. She called me to talk about what was going on. Her first question to me was "Who would do something like this?". I told her I didn't know but they couldn't be good. I'm normally not one to fall prey to the mentality of fear but I told her to go the grocery immediately and buy staples. Due to my diabetes, I also sent her to the pharmacy to get some extra supplies for me. Thank goodness, those measures proved to be unnecessary. America actually came together to protect itself. It was a wonderful thing to watch all the actions of others making sure the people they cared about and even the people they didn't know were taken care of. To this day, it gives me hope that if the S really does HTF, America will survive, despite the many awful things we see happening in society all the time. When things really get bad, America comes together to survive. Evil will always exist no matter what happens, but I must believe that good will always prevail.

 

[speedracer302]

I was driving down I-69 from Michigan to Ossian Indiana for work. When I heard a plan hit the first tower, I called my wife and told her to turn on the news thinking it was a freak accident. As I continued driving the second plane hit. Then realizing that we were under attack I had a feeling that I will never forget. Both towers were still standing when I got to the plant in Ossian but the first tower fell after I arrived. I remember the whole day like it was yesterday.

I drove back to Michigan feeling crushed. As one of the previous posts, I hung a huge 12 ft American flag from my garage. We had a 2 month old baby at the time and we took her to several pro-American rallys that were organized around Detroit.

To date I get emotional as I try and explain to our kids how significant today is and what the event meant to America and the world...

God Bless America.

 

[IndyGal65]

I was in my office working and listening to Bob and Tom. I write disability decisions for judges and had a particularly difficult case that day so I turned off the radio. A little bit later, a friend called me quite upset asking if I had heard what was going on. By this time, both towers had been hit. The first tower fell while she was on the phone with me, and she totally freaked out. Shortly thereafter, the Pentagon had been hit. A friend/coworker of mine became extremely upset and left immediately. Turns out her father, who was the highest ranking military official at the Pentagon, had died in the attack. It took several days for her family to get confirmation of his death. How awful, the not knowing part.

Our office was sent home early and I was glued to the TV. I just couldnt wrap my head around what was happening. I too have had a flag flying everyday since that horrible day. The only good that came from the whole thing was the sense of unity this country had after the attacks. Every one seemed to take pride in being an American, and was kinder to one another.

We will never forget that day.