Memories of 9/11

[Jesuslove]

As tomorrow approaches, I wanted to remember those Americans lost on 9/11/01 in NYC, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. And I wanted to share my story and hear other's personal 9/11 stories.

For me, I was in work the morning of 9/11. As many of you know, I work for a quasi-government agency. I was called into a meeting and when I came out, I watched tv, and all hell had broken loose. I watched the tv in shock. Work let everyone go home early, as people were quite upset, and fearful.

I was supposed to work a half day on 9/11, as I had a 5:00 pm flight out of Newark NJ airport to Paris France. Obviously, I never made it, nor did I go to the airport. I was sad for all that happened, but I was feeling sorry for myself that day. I was in the process of adopting a Romanian orphan, and I was supposed to attend a court hearing on Monday 9/17/01. I never made it, and eventually the case was dismissed, much to my dismay. I had met the child, Cristian, and to this day am sad that the child remains in Romania. It wasn't meant to be. I later adopted a child (my son) from Guatemala.

One of my closest friends was in WTC tower 1 on 9/11. She got out unharmed, but very emotionally shaken. She witnessed people jumping. She was an emotional mess for months after 9/11. We reminisced about our experiences yesterday.

In addition, a guy I attended college with lost his brother in WTC tower 2. And a young lady from my hometown disappeared on 9/11. She called her family to tell them she got out of tower 2, but she was never seen or heard from again.

[Yippy]

Oh, Steve, I'm so sorry for your friends & the people you know who have suffered so.

We were just at Ground Zero last week and found it absolutely awe-inspiring. I wanted to ask all the locals who were rushing about business as usual how they were faring and how 9/11 affected them. We couldn't believe how close all the buildings are and how many people would have been affected in that area. What was really interesting was that, although we were in NYC with the noise & hustle & bustle, there was a hush right at Ground Zero. All the people in that area were quiet & thoughtful. I couldn't believe I was standing where people were running for their lives and fell to their deaths...where we saw the tons of soot covering cars & people & buildings.

I remember my husband calling me just after 6am that morning telling me to turn on my TV. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I took the kids to school, which was also where I worked at the time, and saw the second plane hit while watching it on TV in the teacher's lounge. We were all in shock and had a very hard time of it.

Regardless of all the conspiraciy theories, I don't think we should forget that it was a beautiful morning and people were going about there business like WE ALL DO EVERYDAY when this tragedy of humongous proportions happened and that there were actually people dancing in the streets celebrating in other countries after it happened. There is something terribly wrong about all that. It was a declaration of a very different kind of war, which I know happens in other places all the time.

[Jesuslove]

I don't think we should forget that it was a beautiful morning...

Living in NJ, that's the one thing I will never forget. I woke up the morning of 9/11 and looked outside. Although a bit on the cool side, the skies were bright blue and sunny. It was the perfect day weatherwise.

[middletree]

My experience is unique in that my twins were born as the attacks were being carried out. This made my memory of that event different from most in two ways:

1. I remember it as something less than a terrible day.
2. I didn't get to watch any TV coverage and never saw those images that I hear people talking about: people jumping out of buildings, etc.

Interesting tidbits:

1. My other son was born Feb 29, 2004. He gets a birthday every 4 years.
2. I was scheduled to go see "The Passion" that day(it had come out a few days before), and didn't get to. So I missed arguably the two most gut-wrenching onscreen things that people have watched in recent memory, because of births of my kids.
I did see "The Passion" at home by myself on DVD a year or so later, but it didn't affect me that much. I wish I could have experienced it in the theater, as I have heard stories.
3. My father-in-law died last year on 9-11, which was my twins' birthday. When my wife and I told my 5-yr-old son that his grandfather had died a couple of hours before, he said "But who's going to be my grandpa?" Talk about gut-wrenching.

[LifeDvtd]

I was in 11th grade that year,and was in school when it happened, living in the same town that the President was visiting that day. I had some personal experiences throughout that past year,that all came to a head on that day,of all days. I was sitting in my school library, and our librarian had the tv on,since the President was going to be speaking from a different local school. I remember seeing the 2nd plane hit the tower, and my first reaction was bewilderment. I couldn't believe it was happening. I was just so scared. As our country was being attacked, I along with my parents, talked with our principle about stuff that had happened to me that day(the previous yr, I had on a daily basis things thrown at me,ect. and it began that morning once again). Now, both series of events are always tied together in my mind.

[Tony Trout]

I was checking emails that morning when I saw an email come into my inbox 'bout the attacks...

It's truly a day that I'll never forget.....

[Evanescence]

I took the day off to buy the new Dream Theater- Scenes from New York (LIVE)

My ex-wife, whom at the time we still talked, called me early in the morning. I turned on the TV in tiem to see the 2nd plane hit. Then all hell broke loose.

I was very distraught and angry. I also was disturbed as I knew it would mean the beginning of a New Age in the world. That everything would change.

Mostly though, I felt overwhelming despair for the victims and their families....

[DareDevil]

I was in Rome that day. We were a larger group and just on our way back from a museum when one of the other guys came to me and a few others. He said that one of the Italians on the train had a small radio with him and that it was talking about how a plane had just hit the World Trade Centre! We could not believe him at first, but after a short moment we began to understand that he wasn't making a cruel joke.

The worst part though was the fact that the best friend of one of the girls in our group was just making an internship INSIDE of the World Trade Centre! I suppose it is needless to say that she had a nervous breakdown. :( Fortunately, it turned out that her friend had a day off that day, but she was really in a bad state until then.

[WeaselInYerFoot]

I was going to my managerial accounting class when I saw groups of people in front of all the TVs down the hallways. I had only seen on the screen, the CNN ticker and one of the towers burning. I overheard people talking about a plane crashing into the building, and which point I thought it was a small plane, maybe a private jet and thought "wow, that's gotta suck. What are the chances of that happening". I went into the classroom, and started reviewing for a test we had that day. Then everyone else started coming in, and that's when I heard everything. How it had been a terrorist attack, and that it was a commercial plane that was hijacked.

Then someone else got off their cellphone and said that the other tower had just been hit. That's when my heart stopped. The teacher showed up and told us "look, I'll understand if you wish to leave and pick up your children or whatever. I won't blame you if you do, but this test is required and there's not much I can do about it". Needless to say, I didn't do very good. How to run a business was the last thing on my mind.

Strange thing is that, even though I was mad about it all that week. I was even more pissed when I got my test back. my grade percentage was in the 20's. Obviously, that doesn't even come close to the tragedies of that day in NY. It shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. But I was mad because I felt like the terrorists had won. That day was supposed to be like any other day. Go to school, go to work, to go sleep. But the entire nation was affected one way or another. From NY to the middle of nowhere Missouri. I wasn't mad about the grade, I was mad at what had caused it. I was mad that this attempt at terrorizing a whole nation worked. I almost wish that the world had moved on, that the attacks hadn't even appeared on the news. But at the same time, that would be impossible to do, at least for those of us with a conscience. Because it would also demean the value of those who died in the attacks. Ignoring the attacks and acting like it didn't affect us would have been worse from a moral standpoint than to just let the terrorists have their day. To disrupt an entire nation. I decided that the lives of families who lost someone on 9/11 were worth more than my dignity, or the honor of a nation.

[freakysoccer]

As tomorrow approaches, I wanted to remember those Americans lost on 9/11/01 in NYC, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. And I wanted to share my story and hear other's personal 9/11 stories.

For me, I was in work the morning of 9/11. As many of you know, I work for a quasi-government agency. I was called into a meeting and when I came out, I watched tv, and all hell had broken loose. I watched the tv in shock. Work let everyone go home early, as people were quite upset, and fearful.

I was supposed to work a half day on 9/11, as I had a 5:00 pm flight out of Newark NJ airport to Paris France. Obviously, I never made it, nor did I go to the airport. I was sad for all that happened, but I was feeling sorry for myself that day. I was in the process of adopting a Romanian orphan, and I was supposed to attend a court hearing on Monday 9/17/01. I never made it, and eventually the case was dismissed, much to my dismay. I had met the child, Cristian, and to this day am sad that the child remains in Romania. It wasn't meant to be. I later adopted a child (my son) from Guatemala.

One of my closest friends was in WTC tower 1 on 9/11. She got out unharmed, but very emotionally shaken. She witnessed people jumping. She was an emotional mess for months after 9/11. We reminisced about our experiences yesterday.

In addition, a guy I attended college with lost his brother in WTC tower 2. And a young lady from my hometown disappeared on 9/11. She called her family to tell them she got out of tower 2, but she was never seen or heard from again.

not to be immature but did ya notice that this was your 911 post...

anyway i was sitting in my 6 grade class and we were watching the news to see what exactly happened, then after watching for a few minutes, i saw something come from the right hand corner of the screen and in a matter of a second the second tower had been hit. i heard the explosion and saw all of the smoke and fire and debree. then i watched in horror as things fell from the sky, the camera man followed these things to the ground, they ended up being people jumping from the floors above where the planes had hit. after that our teacher explained exactly what the signifigance of the world trade centers were. then i saw the first tower fall, i knew that many had lost their lives and was saddened. i still carry those images to this day, that is why i feel so pationately for those families who lost loved ones, and for the troops who are keeping something of this callaber from happening again.. i still pray for anyone affiliated with 9/11 or our military.