Remembering 9/11

[Dexter Morgan]

 Tommorrow marks the sixth anniversary of  9/11. Do you remember what you were doing that day? It's forever a part of history. That day and the people that died that day, will never be forgotten. It's a time for reflection and remembering. I'd like to hear from anybody, what they were doing, and what they remember about 9/11.

[Locutus]

I remember what I was doing.  I was getting ready to go to work and got so riveted to the TV that I didn't go in until lunch.  I had just arrived back to Fort Lauderdale from Phoenix very late on the evening of the 10th, and only because I changed my flight from the 11th because we finished up early.  Had I not taken a flight earlier, I would have been in the air when the airspace was shut down and who knows where I would have ended up. 

I'm still amazed at the actions of the heros aboard United 96 who took action and perhaps saved countless lives on the ground.  It's a day I will remember until the day I die. 

[Dexter Morgan]

I remember what I was doing.  I was getting ready to go to work and got so riveted to the TV that I didn't go in until lunch.  I had just arrived back to Fort Lauderdale from Phoenix very late on the evening of the 10th, and only because I changed my flight from the 11th because we finished up early.  Had I not taken a flight earlier, I would have been in the air when the airspace was shut down and who knows where I would have ended up. 

I'm still amazed at the actions of the heros aboard United 96 who took action and perhaps saved countless lives on the ground.  It's a day I will remember until the day I die. 

It looks like you were really lucky. I'll never forget waking up that morning and turning on the tv. I didn't even know what was going on. I called my Mom and said "Whats going on?" and she said we were under attack. They said they were fearful Chicago could get hit, and my husband was working in Chicago. The horror was unreal. They kept playing the footage of the World Trade Center being hit over and over, that is seared into my brain. I remember feeling sick, when they showed people jumping out of the windows. I just sat and cried, I could not believe this was happening. What a dark and horrible day for America.   

[kimmi]

I was teaching reading to third graders.  My principal came on the loud speaker and told all teachers to go to their emails for a bulletin.  All it said was "We are under attack.  Please do not turn on your TV's"  I freaked because he didn't clarify who "we" was.  I started emailing my mom, fiance, friends, anyone to find out what the heck was going on.  I did pull up the news on my laptop but the kids couldn't see it.  It was very hard to keep composure that day.   

[Dexter Morgan]

I was teaching reading to third graders.  My principal came on the loud speaker and told all teachers to go to their emails for a bulletin.  All it said was "We are under attack.  Please do not turn on your TV's"  I freaked because he didn't clarify who "we" was.  I started emailing my mom, fiance, friends, anyone to find out what the heck was going on.  I did pull up the news on my laptop but the kids couldn't see it.  It was very hard to keep composure that day.   

I can only imagine.    It was horrific on every level. The shock was unreal. I never imagined, something of that magnitude, would happen to America. It sent everything in to panic mode. We lived a block away from a gas station, and cars were lined down both sides of the hard road, because people were afraid we'd have a gas shortage. My neighbor flipped out, and threw all of his gas cans,and lawn mowers in his truck, and squealed out to the gas station. Came back and drove 4 junk cars to get gas LOL!!! He looked like a wild man. They did run out of gas 2 hours in, but they had more by 8:00am. It was an insane time. 

[Sandy Eggo]

I was at work and listening to the radio as usual. They mentioned that a plane flew into the world trade center and I thought, "Idiot, how stupid do you have to be not to be able to see a building that size?", then the second plane hit. The radio had not announced it as an attack at that time, but when I heard about the 2nd plane...I just knew. It was shortly after that the we were alerted at work that we were under attack and we had to implement security procedures.

My concern was with my kids. I didn't know what they would do with the kids. I was concerned about all of our safety because we lived and worked on the East coast, not far from DC and w/in very close proximity to several Federal agencies. I just knew my kids were terrified and all I could think about was being with them. My boss told me to leave. She knew I wasn't any good to anyone anyway. However, the roads were blocked. The military and local police had us completely shut down. By nature, I'm a very calm and rational person and even more so in an emergency situation (it never pays to panic), but I was as close to a panic attack that day ... not knowing how to reach my children.

They loaded the kids up and took them to community centers to be picked up. They had military police on the school buses w/bomb dogs. From what I could see the school handled the issue well, but the arrival of the military totally freaked the kids out. Little did I know, as I sat in a traffic jam, trying to get to them...my son was holding my daughter, they still didn't know what happened, but knew it was bad and was worried they'd never see their parents again.

It was a happy reunion, but then I had to not only explain to them what happened, but try to explain why. I remember thinking how difficult it was to remain neutral and not blame/hate an entire race of people, because I normally don't think that way and I don't want my kids to think that way, but the fact that these people were here and living with us and NO one knew their intent...bothered me.

[kimmi]

Living near the military base (Ft. Bragg) made it a little more sureal for me.  When the no flight thing went into effect, we still had military planes.  There was fear of attack at the bases.  I also live not too far from a nuclear power plant.  I remember people saying that they had divers in the lake to make sure people weren't trying to breach the plant under water.  It was so weird! It was just so weird and movie like.  I will never forget how quiet it was with no commercial planes in the sky.  Weird that they do make some of the noise you hear daily. 

[pariann]

I don't have anything so dramatic to relate. I was home as usual (because then I was a married stay at home mom) chattng on the computer with my good friend Bonnie...and my ex called from work, told me that we were being attacked and to watch the tv then hung up.  I have tv on my computer so I fired it up, and put the program window up in the corner and continued my conversation with Bonnie.  Suddenly the 2nd plane hit the tower and my jaw dropped....I asked her if she saw that.  It was unreal. I too was riveted the rest of the morning.

The weirdest thing though.  I archive ALL my chats on yahoo, and for some reason I have 9/10/01 and 9/12/01, but I DO NOT have 9/11/01.  I wonder if Yahoo somehow managed to delete all conversations that were held that day and archived.  It's a mystery to me. 

[tallulahdahling]

I was getting ready for a job interview watching CNN and seeing the first tower ablaze.  At first I didn't know if it was appropriate to freak out since I was already freaking about the interview.

I was ready to go and hubby was in the shower so I told him goodbye and said, Oh, by the way, the World Trade Center is on fire.

I was off to the interview and when arrived found all of the staff and bosses glued to the tv--the second plane had hit the north tower during my drive.

We all watched the news coverage for about three hours and the bosses looked at me and said, "Well, I guess you want the job--here are the keys--we're going to get drunk--don't forget the lock the deadbolt."

And that is how I began my career in radio in this lousy town.

Got a call from the mall--THE ONLY MALL-- in this town that they were closing at noon.  That was my first news announcement.  The phones wouldn't stop ringing.  It was mostly for support. Poor folks just wanted someone to talk to.

I didn't get home til 8pm that nite.

[Bo D]

I was on my way to work when the first plane hit. I was on the DC beltway at Pennsylvania Avenue. At first the radio was reporting it as a commuter plane. I was almost at work when the second plane hit and when I ran into the building, almost everybody was crowded into the conference room watching TV.

As we watched we heard shouting from down the hallway. One of our technicians called and was screaming about a plane hitting the Pentagon. He was in the parking lot there. (We do a lot of work at the Pentagon and the Government provides us with an office there.)

The plane hit the section of the building where our office was. It took us what seemed like forever to locate all of our four employees assigned to that office, but they were safe in other parts of the Pentagon.

Then I began to worry about my wife. She works in DC only two blocks from the White House. I started trying to call her but by that time the telephone system was overwhelmed. Strangely enough, I was able to get an e-mail through to her. I begged her to get out of the city as soon as possible. Many of the direct routes were jammed according to radio reports as the only way out was to head north, the opposite direction from our home. I pleaded with her to go anyway, just get out.

When I was assured that she was on the road (every now and then we could get the cell phones to work) I went to work helping to track down and account for our field technicians. When all were finally accounted for, I went to my office, shut the door, and prayed.

Sometime around 4:00, I decided to try and make it home. When I went outside, the first thing that struck me was an odd silence. There were no planes anywhere.

[Dexter Morgan]

Wow, these stories are stunning guys. Allot of you were soo close to this.  Bo D you were practically in it, I'm soo glad that you, and your wife made it out ok. What a horrible thing to go through. PIYA, I can only imagine the fear you had for your children's safety. I remember thinking OMG!!! I'm going to die without my husband. I was worried about nuclear attacks for some reason, because initially they didn't know who was responsible. All I could think was we were going to be hit, with the big one. I hope nothing like that ever happens again. I feel like it could very easily happen again.