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I was at home in VA Beach that morning, as I was having a conference with my son's teacher (nothing bad, just a progress report). My husband's mom called from her work in Jeffersonville, IN to tell me that a plane just hit the Towers. I couldn't believe it-I had visited DC and NYC in April of '95, my senior year of high school, and the Towers was one of our visits. We turned the TV on and watched in shock as the second plane hit.

Not sure what was worse: watching this horror unfold, or listening to Peter Jennings try to explain what he just saw and being rendered speechless.

Then my attention turned to my husband: he was at work at nearby NAS Norfolk, he's a submarine sonar technician. I was worried that they would be sending all the boats out to sea to make the base less of a target. Then I heard that all the bases in our area were at Threatcon Delta, which made matters worse. Delta is the highest form of alert, meaning war is imminent and the bases are locked down-no one gets on, no one gets off.

But wait there's more! < /sarcasm>

My mom had left just three days prior for a 14 day tour of London, Paris and Rome. She was able to call the day after and let us know she was ok. She was just outside of Stonehenge when the tour bus director heard the news and told them. They didn't believe him until they got back to the hotel and saw the news coverage. She was able to come home on time, thank goodness.

As for my husband, he was able to come home later that evening. I had to drive him to work the next morning since he had duty and what usually is a 30-45min drive took us almost 2 hrs, and that's with me dropping him off at the Exchange across the street!

Less than a month after 9/11, he left on a SCHEDULED 6 month deployment. Had a few minor crises (I had to replace the battery AND windshield wipers on ocar, moved from our apartment to base housing with the help of the Navy, you know the usual...) but we pulled through and now he's home for a while...I hope.

Thank you, Severa. I love reading the "Where Were You" posts. I remember that my niece was in the air, over the Atlantic Ocean, flying home from a vacation, and the pilot was instructed to turn the aircraft around and return to Paris - they were given no information as to why, not knowing if their plane was being hijacked or anything.

I was just watching the morning news shows and couldn't believe my eyes when they showed the SECOND plane hitting the Trade Center, THEN the THIRD plane at the Pentagon, and THEN a FOURTH plane crashing in that field. It couldn't happen here in the U.S.