9/11/01 Where were you?

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I was driving into work when the first plane hit. I turned on the same morning show I always listen to on the commute expect to hear the usual music and shenanigans. Apparently it just happened a couple minutes prior because they described it rather plainly. They didn't provide any detail descriptions or anything, just that a plane ran into one of the tower. I was thinking that it was a small prop plane because I heard that that had happened to the Empire State Building decades ago. I had NO idea that it was a jet, let alone a large commercial one! So I kinda-sorta listened to the story and drive into the office as per usual. At my then place of employment, it was a very closed-in environment with entrances on every parking decks level directly to long hallways and 90% of the people had their own office. As such, it was normal for me to park and get right to my office without seeing anybody. I knew something was wrong because I saw people in the hall clustered in small groups. Curiousity got the better of me and I went around the corner to the co-worker who was responsible for hiring me. He told me that it was a large plane and what gossip he had heard thus far. That's when another person popped by and said a 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower so it was obviously a deliberate act. There weren't any TVs nearby and radio reception was horrible in that building, so we tried to get web updates but of course Internet was bogged down. No work was getting done as we were all in the hallways comparing notes.
After a while I heard my phone ring so I ran back around the corner to my office. It was my Mom and she said that the Pentagon was hit. One of my sisters was retired AF and worked in the Pentagon and Mom couldn't reach her office or cell! I ran all the way down the hall to my manager's office! I barely told him what's what and he told me to leave before I could even ask! I ran to my car and zipped to my Mom's house, only about a 5-10min drive from work. She was hysterical watching the news and flipping between all local and national news channels. We used her landline and both of our cell phones to keep trying to reach my sister at every known number we had for her. I had finally calmed Mom down explaining that circuits were tied up and she'll call us and soon as she can because we could get the word out to everyone else (e.g. her sons, etc.) As we finally took a break from calling, the first tower fell and Mom went hysterical all over again! The rest of the morning and afternoon was a blur of horrific videos, information, rumors, etc. Mom is the matriarch of the family so everybody calls her. I fielded dozens of calls from friends and family trying to find out what we knew. Finally late that afternoon, we finally received a call from my sister! Between power outages and busy circuits, she pretty much had to walk 5 miles before she finally found a phone to successfully dial out... a landline at a restaurant. She told us that she was OK and we assured her that we would spread the word since there was a long line of people needing to use the phone she was at. The next hour or two found my Mom and I calling everybody and letting them know she was OK and that she'd talk more later. Once things settled down, I found out that she was indeed in the Pentagon AND on the side that was hit, BUT she was one ring further inside from where the damage extended! She heard it, felt it, and saw the fireball and smoke, but she was completely unharmed and evacuated as per normal procedure. A few months later, she happily transferred to a different department that worked off-site from the Pentagon!
I personally don't know anybody else that was in the Pentagon or Twin Towers, but to use LinkedIn's lingo, I have many 2nd and 3rd degree contacts that were but they all survived. Several months later when we were doing our remote DR testing in Philadelphia, there were several companies that were in the WTC that used the same place as their backup datacenter (DC). So much so that some of our testing for the next couple of years was degraded because of scarce resources because so many companies were running 24/7 in a backup DC that was designed for sporadic outages not dozens and dozens of companies losing their DCs at the same time. Needless to say, the normal frustration and high-stress of our DR testing was completely set aside because we were in the same space with people for whom it was very real and not a test.

on my way to the 7th grade

I was at school. They didn't allow us to go out for recess that day.

i was at home
i was shocked that it happened and i stayed glued to the tv that day
the states is my neighbous and i don't like seeing any one get hurt

I was in fourth grade in computer class. All I can remember is three teachers staning and staring up at the TV talking about something. I had no idea what was going on. Then I finally went home and turned on the TV and sat on the couch by myself. No one was home and I was worried for my parents even though we were in NJ. I just didn't know what was happening so I was scared.

My feelings about 9/11 though, came much later. I am older now and I can understand it now. I have no family tied to it but I still get very sad on 9/11 or even when I think about it. The worst is even listening to recordings from that day. I feel horribly sorry that people had to lose their loved ones in such a way, filled with hate. It's terrible.

I was in 8th grade. I live in Indiana and during that time we were taking ISTEP testing (state testing and what not). I didn't find out until after lunch!! They made us do our testing, like nothing had happened. After lunch, I was in my English class and the teacher says, "Our country was attacked this morning. And we are in a state of emergency." She turned on the TV and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "This can't be real!" Then I felt angry that they didn't tell us sooner and just let us believe everything was fine!!

I was in bed 8.5 months preggo with my first child. After watching the second plane hit the second tower I went into Pre labor. Luckily the contractions stopped.

I was preggo @ the time too! Altho, not quite that far along (I was 6.5 months along). I was @ work - i worked @ a mercantile, which is a fancy word for a store that carries lumber, appliances, shoes, clothes, etc.... We had an employee meeting that morning.

Aferwards, I was helping the Radio Shack guy set up some displays and turn on the TV's, etc....that's when we saw the 2nd plane hit.

After that we sold more ammo/shotguns/than ever before. I watched minimal news coverage after the first day because I would start having contractions and some other awful sensations. So for several weeks my son and I watched every Disney movie known to man....I think we watched the Emperor's New Groove like 100,000 times before my daughter was born.

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I was in grade 1 and had no idea what was going on I just remember hearing my mom talk to my friends mom about a plane crashing into a building in America.

I am in tears as I type Tony.

I remember my husband asking me to turn on the TV. We were in shock watching the TV. We were both crying and asking why.

The kids were still in bed. I home-schooled both of them. My morning hugs lasted a bit that day.

We live in a Navy town and a part of the base houses nuclear subs. Things were chaotic and yet quite organized in our town. There was a lot of tears, hugs and support during that time. There always has been.

My husband and my father were in the Navy. I have brothers that were in the Air Force and the Army.

I'm crying again.... Our youngest will be 19 in a few months. He will be joining the Marines. It's bittersweet ya know. We're proud of our boy, really....I'm just a little scared.

Working. Thought it was some kind of joke when I heard a mother and son talking about it.

I had just woken up here on the west coast of Canada for another day of "the early shift." Any other week I would have seen it in the news later. But I heard something on the radio as I was drifting out of my dream state about a plane hitting the WTC. What the?! I wasn't sure if I was consciously hearing this but I figured if something like that were happening, CNN would be covering it.

I flipped on the tube about 30 seconds before the 2nd plane hit. I was completely stunned. I watched the towers fall. I was very, very, late to work. But I didn't care. And apparently nobody else did either. We don't live or work in any related industry such as EMS, finance, army, etc., but the human connection kind of jumped back to where it should ALWAYS be, for a day or two. I really don't think it affected any of my friends as much as it did me. But my now-wife is from Wisconsin and, well, it wasn't an easy day for her so maybe that's why. I dunno.

In any case it sucked. And it sucked even more that Dubya went to war and killed hundreds of times more civilians unapologetically. And it's still going on every single day. It's so sad that this one infamous day has ended up changing our world in so many negative ways. Mostly by the choices of a small few. That's not the way to honour the dead. So, so, sad.

I watch the memorials as I can. My heart is always tugged and my thoughts always go out to everyone that was directly affected by the events of that day 11 years ago.

I was actually in a sporting goods store, buying arrows for deer hunting. I started watching the tv there about 30 seconds before the first tower fell.

I wound up buying quite a bit of rifle ammo as well :-}