Where were u 9/11/01?

Yankee in TX · Sep 9, 2006

I had just gotten back from Walmart & turned on the TV while I was putting away the things I had purchased. I saw the 1st plane hit & then the 2nd and just stared at the TV in disbelief. It seemed so unreal. I had just gotten back from NYC 6 days before-my 1st trip ever...and have a picture of the towers taken when I was standing in line to go to the Statue of Liberty.

floatRN · Sep 9, 2006

I was in college. I had a class from 8-9. I was in my dorm room watching an old rerun of ER on TNT. A friend stopped by and told me to turn on a news channel. As soon as I realized what had happened, I called my mom, just to hear her voice. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. We spent the day watching the news in shock.

Sailingshoes · Sep 10, 2006

I had the day off from flying...was a :madface: Washington DC based flight attendant for UA, staying at the family farm near Shanksville (where #93 went down). What a surreal day. Bless my flying partners.

jrbl77, RN · Sep 10, 2006

i was at work waiting to go to employee health for a back injury i suffered picking a pt up off the floor the day before. i can still remember watching the tv in the lounge with a co worker and a md. we didn;t know what to think. i went home and layed on the floor and watched all day. i still have offf and on back pain, but not the horrible loss felt by so many others that day

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 10, 2006

It happened on the second day of a then-new job as a resident care manager (LTC). All three of us adults living in the house at the time---my hubby, my sister, and I---were late going in to work because we couldn't tear ourselves away from the TV as the horror literally unfolded before our eyes. My sister had awakened me around 6:30 AM (Pacific time), going "Oh, my God, come look at the TV, we're under some kind of attack---they've hijacked planes, the World Trade Center's on fire, the Pentagon's on fire, oh, God, this is unbelievable".

Dashing out to the living room, sure enough, I saw the Twin Towers with smoke and fire billowing out in a rush; a smaller picture was showing the Pentagon, and then they were talking about the possibility of even more hijacked planes (we didn't know about the crash of United 93 until a little later). Then we sat transfixed as the first tower collapsed, making an absurdly graceful and almost tidy picture as it crumbled into dust; none of us could believe our eyes. "It CAN'T be gone!!" we all said to each other. "There's no way that thing could have just collapsed like that". But indeed it had, and soon the other followed it into oblivion.

I finally arrived at work around 10 AM, only to learn that one of my residents, a survivor of Pearl Harbor, had just been sent to the ER with chest pain. He had suffered from PTSD all his adult life; now, almost 60 years later, the stress created by this second unprovoked attack on American soil had proven too much for him, and he had an MI. (He survived it and came back 'home' a week later, but the damage was done; he never was the same afterwards.) In the meantime, we all rushed around trying to calm the residents by turning off the TVs, but they came right back on, as both staff and residents were hungry for any news that might tell us what was happening, why it was happening, and when it might end.

That day, of course, is etched as indelibly in my mind as December 7, 1941 was in that of my resident (as well as others of his generation). Even if I live to be ninety and wind up with cobwebs in my attic, I will never, ever forget where I was and what I was doing "when the world stopped turning" five years ago Monday.

MuddaMia · Sep 10, 2006

MJLRN--beautifully written--and I too will never forget

dbihl, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2006

I was awakened by a call from my girlfriend who was trapped in Tower II. I was the last one to talk to her, god bless you Jennifer Fialko! I miss and LOVE you! It sure as hell (or heaven) DID NOT ruin my life, I went back to school and graduated from nursing school this May, passed my NCLEX, and just finished my preceptorship on a MEdical step-down unit!!!! (and have a beautiful firlfriend now) God bless everyone that lost someone that day and everyone else too!:)

dazedandconfused · Sep 10, 2006

Was at work on thhe ortho/neuro unit at my hospital that happened to be the first responder for the pentagon.

We transfered out as many patients as we could to get ready for anything that might come to us. Our ER saw the most patients of all, they treated and released so many that day. I felt so helpless because there was no one for us to care for. There were so many staff in the ER we were told to stay clear and let the process work.

I ended up leaving early and trying to find an open bar, not many places open that afternoon. I still cry every time I think about it

grace90, LPN, LVN · Sep 10, 2006

I was still in nursing school. I was driving to a nearby city to spend the day with my older sister when I heard the news over the radio of the planes hitting the towers. My husband was at home with our 2 yo and 5 mo girls, and our 3 yo boy was in preschool. I almost turned around and yanked him out of school and came home, but didn't. It felt like we were at war. Everywhere I went that day, a TV was on. My Biomedical Ethics class was cancelled for that evening. We went to a service at a local church. We kept the news on constantly for a few days but my 2 year old started having nightmares and crying all the time, so we turned it off. A preschool teacher told us she was too young to possibly understand, but I think she did understand something bad had happened because the crying and nightmares stopped soon after we stopped keeping the news on.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Sep 10, 2006

I never watch TV in the mornings so was just sitting reading the paper. My daughter came running in saying an airplane hit the WTC. In my mind it was like the one that hit the Empire St Bldg-small private plane. She said can she take a TV back to work. I gave her the bedroom TV and she went back to work.

Then sitting there alone I watched the horror. Mama was having cataract surgery that AM. BIL was having heart surgery. My son was at work at his home so I called him, and all I could do was cry.

Mama remembers Pearl Harbor, I remember Kennedy dying, and Reagan getting shot. But 9/11 was the most personal to me.

gonzo1, ASN, RN · Sep 10, 2006

I was in my first semester of nursing school. Came out of class and our college has a very long, wide hallway with big tvs mounted up kinda high. I never watch them but I happened to look up and saw a plane flying into a skyscraper that I didn't even know existed. I wondered why they were playing movies instead of the regular news.

After school I went home and watched for hours, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I quit watching after about 3 days and to this day I can't watch anything about 9/11 because I weep through the whole thing. Maybe because my brother in law and brother are firemen. My brother in law died yesterday, his wake will be on 9/11. Appropriate I quess.

Fuzzy · Sep 10, 2006

My brother was taking me to the airport at 6:30A Alaska time for my 7:30A flight home. On our way there we suddenly saw a large force of police and military vehicles surround the airport. When we got there, the airport was dark. All flights were cancelled. Later that day a KAL jet was escourted to the airforce base by jet fighters. It was thought that it had been hijacked and that it was being forced to crash land. Such a scary, sad, frightening day. I was there for nine extra days. I still have my tickets. The world that we knew was forever changed on that day.

Fuzzy

Remember, Monday is red day. Wear red on Monday if you are able.