Where Were You...9/11

[Daisy4RN]

Some of you might not remember because you were too young. We as Americans came together on that fateful day 9/11 when we were brutally attacked. I have hope that we can come together, realize that we all have things in common, and work together to solve our countries problems. God Bless America and all those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Thank-you to all our military, police and first responders who sacrifice every day!!

We should never forget!

[TheMB, ASN]

I will never forget I was in 6th grade in Mr. Keefers social studies class having just returned from lunch. This was the first event that occurred where I am always able to recall exactly where I was and how I felt

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

I was in my living room watching tV, recovering from shoulder reconstruction from a prior MVA....

I could not turn tv off, maybe stayed awake some 24 hours....... I was devastated, but safe in SE Texas

[Chrispy11, ASN, RN]

I live not too far from NYC. Three people in the office I worked at back then were frantic. One lost her son. Work let out early since most were too freaked out to work. NY metro traffic which is normally bustling and impatient was dead calm and silent. All the drivers looked like they were in a trance. All but one radio station was 100% news. The one that did play music stated they understood others reasoning to forego music, but looked to comfort people with a dose of familiarity. They then played "Tuesday's Gone" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. (9/11/2001 was a beautiful clear Tuesday) I then lost it and cried the rest of the way home.

[guest52816]

It was a beautiful, cloudless day in the Blue Grass state, and I was hotwalking race horses on the back side of Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY.

An exercise rider told me that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers.

Like others, I thought it was an accident, involving a small single-engine plane.

I wasn't to concerned.

Then another exercise rider reported that the WH was under attack, and suddenly, the REM song, It's The End Of The World, As We Know It, popped into my head.

Yes, I thought I had lived long enough to finally experience the end of the world.

I was sorry I wasn't with my three cats, but thought, if I must die, at least I am with my beloved horses, in a place I love.

Later, the entire barn crammed into the small office to watch the Twin Towers fall.

Walking hots in the days that followed was eerily quiet, as Churchill Downs is in the flight path of Louisville airport. No planes flew overhead.

Visited the 9/11 museum last year. I wanted to cry the entire time I was there.

Such a waste of life.

[Leedeedee]

I was working at Barclays Bank accounting offices in England at the time. I heard just after I got back from lunch. Not everyone had the internet at their PCs then, so we were getting all the information from the few people who did have access. Every few minutes we got more information and it was worse each time. First of all, a plane has hit the World Trade Center. OK I think a Cessna has hit, how awful. Then we hear it was an airliner. Then we hear it was full of passengers. Then we hear a second one hit. We were just so shocked, there was no work at all done in that office that afternoon. I remember thinking it was people exactly like me that were killed, people in their office, doing the 9-6 grind, probably wishing they were at the beach instead, and then...

It's so weird that my nieces and nephews can't remember it because they were too young or weren't born. They just can't understand how 911 really changed the world.

I live not far from the World Trade Center now but haven't visited the memorial. I think it would just upset me.

[guest52816]

Leedeedee said:

I was working at Barclays Bank accounting offices in England at the time. I heard just after I got back from lunch. Not everyone had the internet at their PCs then, so we were getting all the information from the few people who did have access. Every few minutes we got more information and it was worse each time. First of all, a plane has hit the World Trade Center. OK I think a Cessna has hit, how awful. Then we hear it was an airliner. Then we hear it was full of passengers. Then we hear a second one hit. We were just so shocked, there was no work at all done in that office that afternoon. I remember thinking it was people exactly like me that were killed, people in their office, doing the 9-6 grind, probably wishing they were at the beach instead, and then...

It's so weird that my nieces and nephews can't remember it because they were too young or weren't born. They just can't understand how 911 really changed the world.

I live not far from the World Trade Center now but haven't visited the memorial. I think it would just upset me.

I would encourage you to visit the memorial and museum.

Visited last year, when I travelled to NYC, to catch Broadway musical, Come From Away, which is about the landing of the planes from Europe, in Gander, New Newfoundland after 9/11.

Yes, good can from evil.

And this tragedy isn't over.

First responders from that time still need support, as they are dying from 9/11 related illnesses.

[chtzu, BSN, RN]

I was in 2nd grade living in uptown NYC. I remember the teachers whispering and saying things like volcano A just erupted, looking pretty upset and shocked etc. I got picked up early by neighbor, which didn't happen often and she didn't say much on what was happening. It wasn't until I got home that I saw the towers full of smoke on TV. My grandmother took me out for a little after that, not wanting to stare at the TV too long and I just remember seeing hundreds of people walking towards uptown. I was too young to really understand what was happening. I knew something was wrong but it didn't really hit me. My mom worked downtown and I don't remember feeling overly worried. She was safe thankfully (even though she had to walk over 150 blocks to get home.) Very scary and heartbreaking with every year that passes. It's just a day that you can't forget.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

FolksBtrippin said:

Deleted. Could not bear to read it. Don't know why it has me so upset 17 years later.

I can not believe it's bern 17 years! I was a licensed child care provider. I had spent the night at my then boyfriends house and drove home at about 4am for my first client. At the coffee shop, everyone was glued to the tv. I didn't know why and didn't ask.

When I got home, my mom called me and said "They got us!" I didn't understand. I ended up glued to MSNBC. Most parents dropped off their kids for daycare, but some picked them up early.

One child had a father who lived in NY. We live on the West Coast. The little girl was crying al day about her daddy. He was fine.

When war was announced months later, I cried for the boys who would be sent off.

I remember George Bushs face while he was reading to those kids when he was told the news.

Im so glad I was able to visit the 911 memorial last year. I cried and cried. I was able to bring 2 of my kids. One wasn't born when it happened and the other was about 6.

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

Sleeping after a long evening shift,landline phone kept ringing,dragged myself up to next room to answer ,it was a family member sounding alarmed,told me what happened,turned on tv nothing ...went to tv with cable and I saw the burning building and the other plane hit,stood there frozen.Then they fell.The memory of the 1993 attack was still fresh,I was in a car in Germany.I was shocked then this time I am angry.

Every year I watch the ceremony and cry and pray.

[jaderook01, BSN, RN]

I was in my second year of teaching middle school (seventh grade social studies). I was on my planning period, when my friend (another teacher on my team) ran across the hall and told me to turn on the TV in my room. I was horrified. I literally saw the second plane crash and watched people jump from the towers on live television. They made an announcement to the students, but we were not allowed to let them watch the news because the news was showing everything and it was graphic.

[guest940422]

Tenth grade world history class (Ironic I know).

In first period they made us watch the news for the first 20 min every day. When I came into class everyone was laughing and joking about how some dumb drunk pilot accidently drove a plane into the side a skyscraper in New York (15 year olds what can I say). Our teacher was losing the fight to make us understand actual living people were inside the building we were laughing at. He couldn't get us to take it seriously. I was watching the footage live when the second plane hit the other tower.

This is apparently what it takes to get 30-some-odd narcissistic teenage millennials to shut up all at once (no one was calling us that back then but you get the idea).

The school cleared out in less than an hour. Students with a driver's license or a parent could leave without a note. I was 15 and my mom was at work in the CVICU. My teacher let me leave with the campus cop who lived down the street from me when he flatly said he was my dad.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

On September 11, 2001, I was working at a coffee shop just outside Boston. A customer walked in and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Boston has a World Trade Center, just across the harbor from the airport. The general aviation runway is very close to downtown. I assumed a Piper or Cessna had crashed.

About 30 minutes later, another customer walked in and said another plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought someone must have a vendetta against a business in Boston's World Trade Center. A few customers started talking, and I finally realized they were talking about the World Trade Center in New York. At the time, my father worked on Park Avenue, and one of my sisters was attending law school in Manhattan. I panicked for a bit.

We only had piped-in background music. Some customers appreciated it, for the escape. One of the managers bought a cheap radio at a nearby drugstore so we could listen to the news in the back. I heard all about the towers collapsing.

I had 2 jobs at the time. My night job was open, and my family was safe, so after work I went to my second job, on the outskirts of Boston. People were very subdued. I went to a bar for lunch and saw footage of the planes hitting the towers, then the towers falling.

On my bus ride home, someone asked the driver why the T was free (it had been since about noon). The driver responded "Because thousands of people were murdered today."

My neighborhood was in one of Logan Airport's southbound flight paths. There were no commercial flights for a week. The quiet was unsettling.