Where were you on that fateful day?

I had just walked into our office when the first plane hit a tower....the images on the TV were unbelievable. Needless to say, we sent everyone home for the day since phone lines would be busy! Tears filled my eyes and my first thoughts were I wanted to have my husband and children under the same roof so we could love on each other. Prayers out to the families that lost loved ones in a senseless attack on America.

Oh that day . . . it's as gut wrenching today as it was 10 years ago. I can't imagine the horror those people suffered. I did not see any of it until I got home from work that day. We had no tv's in the office, so we heard it unfold on the radio. Absolute devastation and tragedy.

I was at work, as a school cashier, when I learned of the tragedy. The first tower had been hit, and we were thinking "how could this happen?' Then the second tower was struck. Soon after, parents started to rush in and pick up thier children. I, too, wanted to go home and be where it felt safe, with my husband and adult sons. This is also the same date my mom, aunt, and godmother passed away, many years before.

To coachmaritova:
I'm sure the generosity of the donations you gave, your mom's medical supplies and clothes were a blessing to the people in need.

I was at school. In primary school. They got tvs out and let us watch it, but I don't really think we understood what was happening.

I was just finishing a workout in my basement. I was living in Minnesota at the time. I was listening to radio when the first plane hit. Then switched to the TV and watched all the other events unfold. I remember the confusion and the sureal disbelief. After leaving the house. I remember thinking whats next ??? There was several gas stations in town that jacked their price up $3 per gal. (later they go in trouble!)

i was in 10th grade, in social studies class when my teacher stopped everything and turned on the television in time to watch the 2nd tower fall...we were devastated. i was in north carolina at the time, so a lot of my classmates had relatives in new york. both of my parents were active duty military at the time and i remember being terrified at the idea of both of them getting deployed at the same time to go fight. it felt like that whole moment was in slow motion, watching all the smoke, the people jumping from the building, and just the visual grief of the people on the television..i excused myself to the bathroom, leaned against the wall and crumpled to the floor crying my eyes out..

I was in my early 20s, working a dead-end job at a mortgage place whose office headquarters were across the river in New Jersey. Since they were sent home, we were sent home. But for those hours before, my coworkers were walking in to the news that the 1st plane had crashed into the North Tower, and stood around my desk listening to my radio. Later, the trickle of coworkers became the huddle around my desk. No one could work.

I was still very naive and had no idea what terrorism was. I could tell you about gang fights,but not terrorism. My coworkers knew people. They frantically paced, tried to call someone, came to my desk for an update or to just have someone to stand next to. Everyone had that look of worry on their faces, that face that shows somewhere inside is a brain processing something inconceivable.

I was scared and just couldn't figure out what to do with my emotions. After we were sent home, I went downstairs and cried in my car for a few minutes, drove past an eerily closed airport, picked my children up from preschool, and went home.

9/11 was a large contributor to why I changed. I imagined there were people inside the towers like myself who hated their jobs and their lives. And the last thing they did that day was wake up miserable with no idea what they were doing with their lives and die in the place they couldn't stand. In order for me to process what had happened, I had to make something positive come from it. So I made changes then. It took me this long, but I finished college, I look and feel how I want to look and feel, I did things I never thought I would do in my life, I take risks and live freely, and I am almost always content.

Here in the UK it was breaking news on the TV all day and we too could only watch in total disbelief. I know that the British people share your anger, sorrow and pain.

I was in 9th grade. I had just walked into my first classroom and the TV was on & the first tower had just been hit. We all sat and watched, silently, then we saw the 2nd tower get hit. There were no classes that day, we just went from classroom to classroom at the usual times & watched the news.

I was in 5th grade. We started to hear whispers of something bad going on earlier in the day. I think the teachers wanted to stop all of the rumors, and finally called us all into the cafeteria, where we gathered around a small TV on a stand to watch the news. I don't think we, as children, understood exactly what was going on. Living in a big city on the East Coast (Atlanta), there was a lot of fear that we would be hit next. We were sent back to class, but nobody knew what to do. Parents who didn't work or had nannies (at a private school, there were a lot of them) started picking up their kids in the middle of the day, and those of us whose parents weren't coming until the regular dismissal time just sat around until the day was done. When my dad and I got home, we just watched the news the whole night.

I remember most vividly watching the nightvision telecast of the US bombing in Afghanistan, and not understanding why we were attacking a country when it was individuals who did the attacks. It's hard to believe it's been ten years. Sometimes it feels like it was so far in the past, like a part of some history textbook, but other times it feels like it was just yesterday.

Sometimes I wish the US had sirens like they have in Israel. They have sirens go off for one minute on certain days to commemorate fallen soldiers and victims of the Holocaust. It's just one minute, twice a year I believe (maybe 4 times?) but you can hear them all across the country and just about everyone stops what they're doing to stand in silence for one minute, regardless of religion, race, political beliefs, etc. Traffic stops and people get out of their cars and stand on the street. It's very beautiful and I wish we had something like that today, though obviously the country is too big to have that happen.

I was in the office where sat right next to an ex-marine who was on her last week before complete release from service.

We watched as the 2nd plane hit, and the look on her face scared the heck out of me. She knew something the rest of us did not.
She said "Jeannie, hold on, we are in for some real trouble. This looks like an act of war"

"War?", I said, "On the US??" (I almost fainted)

She just walked away. I was terrifed. My son had just been dropped off at college a month before, and he was a Marine. What did this mean for him? For me? For the Nation?

There is a lot more I could say, but let me just say this: Out of an act of hatred came many, many MANY more acts of Love and Kindness.

We came together as a Nation. Other nations helped us and cried with us.

Love came about that day. I refuse to give 'them' any more of my heart.

That is how I honor those fallen brothers and sisters.

With Love.

I was on the phone with a friend, a sales rep that I worked with, discussing our plan for the day. He lives in the area of towers, and I remember our conversation stopping, and his gasp followed by Oh my God! He was watching what was happing from his living room windows. Giving me a play by play of what he was seeing. Sheer terror, for his safety, for the safety of my friends that were working in the towers for our country. Followed by absolute panic that we were under attack. I am so thankful that my friends made it out of the towers alive, when so many innocent lives were lost. I didn't sleep or turn off my television for days, I was afraid if I stopped watching for a moment, something else would happen. I praise all of the service people that were there, police, firefighters, military and so many volunteers, and all those that are still fighting for our safety and freedom. The words God Bless America never rang more true to me than they did on that day. XOXO

I was in 5th grade, math class.... another teacher came in and took our teacher in the hall. She came back and acted off the whole class, and I just remember my parents sitting in front of my television for days. I was too young to get it, I was sad that people were sad and my birthday was in two days..

That day was the day of the week that I had a late college class in the morning. My dad was knocking on my bedroom door and I thought he was trying to wake me thinking I overslept. rather, he told me through the door that America was under attack. I remember being glued to the TV, watching the two towers collapse live.