Where were you on 9/11? (Vanity)

Vanity | 9-11-2012 | comservativeinpa

[ConservativeInPA]

Where were you on 9-11?

[ConservativeInPA]

I was in New Jersey, just across the river from lower Manhatten. I remember the crystal clear blue skies going to work. I was teaching an IT class that day. I didn't know about what was going on until 9:30 or so. It was at that time cell phones were going off in class and people were getting upset. I called for a break to determine what was happening. By 10 o'clock it was clear it was a terrorist attack. There were two people in my class that had family members at WTC that morning. Others were very concerned about what was happening.

I called the class in from the break and basically said the terrorists want to disturb our way of life and if we didn't continue the class that they would have won. if anyone needed to leave because of family, it was ok and I would see that they would receive a refund.

Around 1:30, a student received a call from his son that was at the WTC. His son had walked out of Manhatten and it took until 1:30 to get the call through. Ten minutes later the class heard from another student who had a son at WTC. He made it out as well. The class rejoiced.

We continued class that day, and the rest of the week. The evening of 9-11, I received a call from my sister. (understand cell phone coverage was terrible that day) My brother-in-law was in 3 WTC that day. He didn't make it out before 3 WTC collapsed.

I continued the class that week. The students continued the class. We were focused. And it took a great deal of focus to make it through that week. I drove down to Parsnipany every night to comfort my sister's family and I worried about my family back in PA.

The thing I remember most about that day was the crystal clear blue sky. I call that a 9-11 sky to this day. The worst sight of the week was driving to work and looking over the river and seeing the smoke rising from ground zero.

Later that year, I was working in the city. I was staying at the same hotel as some FEMA workers. They were counciling people that lost loved ones. After drinking entirely too much on several occasions, I heard horrific stories that have never been told in the media. One story was about a large, strong man running towards Battery Park as the first tower collapsed. A woman fell. The man picked her up by the arm and kept running with her. A piece of glass fell from the tower and sliced her lower half off. The man kept dragging her upper torso to the water front before he realized what had happened. He didn't know her, he just did what seemed right. He had great difficultly dealing with it, and was never able to connect with the woman's family.

These are a couple of my 9-11 stories. What are yours?

[bicyclerepair]

At MY FRIKKIN JOB!

Which I don’t have NOW!

[Tigerized]

I was in the shower, when my 13 year old daughter opened the door and said “Dad! Someone just flew a plane into the world trade center!”

And I said “What an a$$hole!”

And, as it turned out, I was right.

[television is just wrong]

I was having coffee and toast. I stared at the TV and could not believe what I was seeing the first tower on fire the newscaster saying it was an accident and the second plane hitting the second tower thinking this AIN’t NO ACCIDENT!

[jakerobins]

Was out doing errands for the Morning. Went to Mickey D’s to get a Breakfast Sandwich and the TV was on saying one plane had hit the world trade center. Before I had ordered and gotten my sandwich it was clearly a Terrorist attack and I was no longer hungry. I had that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach for the rest for the day.

[dsrtsage]

I was in Patagonia Chile. Was wandering among the mountains and glaciers. Didn’t have a clue. About 3pm I stopped at this itty bitty little place to have a bite to eat. They kept insisting that they had CNN, but they wouldn’t get satellite feed until 5pm. They kept insisting that they had CNN, CNN. So, I waited until 5pm, and finally saw it.

[milagro]

Wow! Thank you for that--it's hard to believe it has been 11 years since then.

It's still deep wound--and all Obama can do is rub salt in it with his stupid apologies!

[tsowellfan]

I was less than a mile from where Mohammed Atta slept, shopped at Walmart and boarded a flight to Boston.

[utax]

Johnston Atoll

[AlexW]

I happened to be back home in the USA, online with a girl/friend in Brunei, before returning back to Europe.
FOX news was on the TV in the background.
I saw the live video stream of the buildings going down.

I guess my reaction was much as Bush’s....Too shocking to comprehend at the moment.

[aposiopetic]

Either last year or a previous year, seems there was a good long thread on this. Not to mention the threads from 9/11/01 itself.

[crazydad]

Was making my daughters breakfast while wife got ready for work. A friend from my playgroup called and said are you watchin the news? I answered no, she said turn to the news. Switched on fox as the second plane hit. I stood there in absolute shock. My girls were 3 and 5 and I didn’t know how to tell them what was happening. Never forget.

[svcw]

I was asleep.
Received a call from my oldest, to hurry and turn on the TV, the US was under attack.......It was just in time to see live the second plane driven into the second building.
I was sick.
I was teary.
I went through the motions of the day.
I called my youngest and said turn on the TV.
She called back and was crying, to tell me this was the day she was going to call me to say she was pregnant with twins.
I remember that day.

[TheConservativeParty]

At home in bed. Husband says from the living room “a plane hit a sky scraper in New York City.” Soon after, he said “another plane hit!”. I scrambled out to the TV. Within a few days he was called to active duty and served the 2 years that a reservist is called to do, including time in the war zone early in the war. That morning caused him to leave his regular job and spend 2 years at the base and 6 months in Kuwait. This year I was honored to have a young veteran of the war at my home as he serviced my Dish Network equipment. He noticed a few military things in the house and soon we were talking about his lengthy service in Iraq and Afganistan. He looked so young. He was an Army Scout. He was in both war zones multiple times. I was humbled and honored to have him in my home.

[Ken H]

I got up around 10 am that day and went to Yahoo to see what the market was doing. The message there said ‘Markets closed due to collapse of the World Trade Center’. I thought, what the bloody hell does THAT mean?

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Pregnant with our second. Had a 2-year-old.

Got up that day and took out the trash. Remarked, to myself, that the sky was sooooooooo Azure Blue and that Fall was in the air. I don’t think in my lifetime....I’ve ever seen a sky so surreal.

Thanked God for such a beautiful day!

Husband getting dressed for work.

Phone rang and it was my mom. Told me to turn on the TV and what happened (the first strike). Thought it was an errant aircraft to begin with.

We watched the second strike. I was frightened.

Tried to call my sis’ who lived outside of Philly. Circuits down. Kept trying. Got through. She was panicking. Her son and a German exchange student were on a school trip and were to be at the WTC at that time.

Found out that the bus was delayed due to traffic.

She needed help relaying a message to the exchange student’s mom that he was OK.

Contacted a relative in France who was an interpreter to relay the message.

Visited my sibling at the family business. He was shaken up. Went to my mom’s.

Watched coverage.

Dawned on me that we didn’t have an American Flag (because we had only just moved from abroad).

Dressed my son in a flag t-shirt and went to Wal-Mart to buy a flag.

Unfurled it in front of our home.

[KTM rider]

I was on the way to a job driving a big concrete boom pump(heavy equipment with no radio) and stopped in a donut shop to get a coffee, the radio was playing the breaking news in the background and no one seemed to pay attention but me , I pulled up to the job and the entire jobsite was huddled around a pickup with the doors open.

the news was no where near as devastating to me as the day Obama won , I knew the american way of life had taken a huge blow that would make 911 seem like the good ol days of foriegn enemy threats

[married21]

I was home with my 2 year old, and very pregnant. My husband called and told me that if I were considering going into downtown LA or toward the airport that day, I should not do it. I said, “Why? Is there a traffic problem?” He said, “No” and explained what happened. I got stuck trying to visualize the problem. “You mean the whole building collapsed in on itself?” I said.

This whole thing felt like a sock in the stomach for a week. Then the baby came. I remember getting the most beautiful response from a friend, on hearing the news. It was really important for her to hear about our baby, because it reminded her that the whole world had not gone dark, that there was still joy and goodness in the world.

I decided to raise my son to be like the guys on Flight 93— ready and willing to take the initiative to do what’s right when the circumstances require it.

So far, so good.

[Michael.SF.]

Flagstaff, Arizona 750 miles from home. I got the last rental car from Hertz and headed west.

Spent one night with an Aunt, who lived on the route home,she was 83 and I had not seen her in 10 years.

It was bitter sweet: Visiting a wonderful woman, but shocked watching what we saw. She passed away six months later.

[Fledermaus]

I was driving to work. Didn’t have the radio on, as I usually do, taking a shower.

Every report was a “plane” hit the WTC and most conjecture was a small one.

By the time I got to the office we had a little TV and radio and we saw the second plane hit.

Knew then it was an attack.