where were you 7 years ago

[Linda W]

I agree it is horrible. Every time they talk about it on tv, they show the planes crashing. In this one documentary last week, they kept showing the people jumping.

I feel sorry for the families that have to keep seeing the planes crash over and over and over again.


Linda

 

[princesss]

Okay, I just realized my last post didn''t come out as clearly as I''d like it to, so I want to rephrase.

Yes, we need to remember what happened, and that it was terrible enough that jumping was a better option. We don''t need to see it over and over. IMHO we should focus on remembering the people that died for their lives, not their deaths.

 

[Linda W]

Date: 9/11/2008 3:22:57 PM
Author: princesss
Okay, I just realized my last post didn''t come out as clearly as I''d like it to, so I want to rephrase.


Yes, we need to remember what happened, and that it was terrible enough that jumping was a better option. We don''t need to see it over and over. IMHO we should focus on remembering the people that died for their lives, not their deaths.

Princess: Agreed 100%

Linda

 

[Mrs.Guz]

I worked in Boston not far from Logan Airport where the 2 planes took off.

Our company told us to leave and we were all panicing hurrying to the train stations. The entire time everyone was looking up at the sky! It was so terrifying!

 

[kcoursolle]

I was in college and I walked down for breakfast to the cafeteria and knew something was up when there were about 100 people squeezed in around the tv staring and silent. I came in right about when the second plane hit.

 

[choro72]

It was a Tuesday. I lived in LA, and I had a driving lesson scheduled. My mom woke me up with a phone call from Japan, and the first thing she yelled at me was "WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING THE NEWS!?" I turned on the TV. I woke my ex, and went off for my driving lesson. I went directly to school, and they required ID checks for everyone. Classes were canceled that morning, but we had afternoon lectures.

My uncle and aunt used to live behind the Rockefeller Center at that time. My relatives, especially my cousins, were freaking out and tried to contact them. Phone lines didn't go through so we were sending 100 emails at once. I didn't get any of the emails until 3 days later. By that time I had already known that they were alright.

In October, I went to Hawaii for my cousin's wedding. LAX still didn't allow us to drive in by ourselves, so I had to take the shuttle bus. It was surreal.
The wedding was October 7, 2001, and if anyone don't remember, it's the day that the United States bombed Afghanistan. My uncle, the groom's father, the same one that lived in New York, is a news writer. He had to take the first flight out missing my cousin's wedding.
My cousin never quite forgave him for it until his sister's wedding a year later. My uncle made a speech saying that he was glad that he was given the chance to attend his daughter's wedding, because missing his son's wedding had been haunting him.

That December I went to Japan for a visit, and the flight cost $500 less than what it usually did, and it was empty. Nobody didn't want to travel by air at that time.

 

[Erin]

I was working for the office of the building in the 7th tallest building in Chicago - not terribly far from Sears. I was still on the El train during the first attack - late for work - but I heard murmurs of it on the train because people were getting the news texted to their pagers. Once I entered my office, no one was there. Confused I wandered down to the conference center where about 50 people had convened around the television. I bet it was at least 20 minutes after the second plane hit that someone finally reacted with - we have to evacuate this building. I mean, we were the property manager and we had to snap ourselves out of it and react. I remember the whole business district shutting down and evacuating. The lines for the trains went for blocks. People were concerned about the plane headed for Chicago and if terrorist had more than NY and DC in mind, Chicago was a very likely target. My parents couldn't reach me until 2:00 that day. I remember I just wanted to go home and resented having to stay there for my job. We had to plan how security was going to be from that day on when letting people into the building.

The other thing I'll never forget is the constant sound of planes from O'Hare, Midway and Miggs (right on Lake Michigan.) And then all of the sudden that ringing in your ear that you never even noticed you'd grown accustomed to was gone. People weren't laughing and joking and shouting on the street anymore, cars rarely honked, planes weren't flying, and everything felt sober. Then in an instant, enough to send chills up your spine, planes would fly overhead - leaving the Great Lakes Naval base just a few miles up shore. I don't know which was stranger. The deafening silence of the sky, or the roar they made once the planes returned.

Deejay, were you downtown for all of the memorial services on Daley Plaza? The bagpipes; The flags hanging over the sides of buildings; the singing.
The bagpipes broke my heart...

 

[JSM]

Date: 9/11/2008 3:29:38 PM
Author: Starset Princess



Deejay, were you downtown for all of the memorial services on Daley Plaza? The bagpipes; The flags hanging over the sides of buildings; the singing.

The bagpipes broke my heart...

Was it a Friday following? I think I walked there with my colleagues. A lot of it is a blur but I remember flags everywhere and singing "God Bless America" surrounded by hundreds of people.

 

[Erin]

Date: 9/11/2008 3:38:06 PM
Author: jsm

Date: 9/11/2008 3:29:38 PM
Author: Starset Princess



Deejay, were you downtown for all of the memorial services on Daley Plaza? The bagpipes; The flags hanging over the sides of buildings; the singing.

The bagpipes broke my heart...

Was it a Friday following? I think I walked there with my colleagues. A lot of it is a blur but I remember flags everywhere and singing ''God Bless America'' surrounded by hundreds of people.

Yes it was that Friday.

 

[kittybean]

It was my senior year in high school, and I was at home getting ready for my first class (it was a late-arrival first class). I had just gotten out of the shower when my parents called me downstairs to see what was happening. We watched in horror as the events unfolded, and we immediately called relatives in NY and DC to make sure they were okay. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lost family and friends in the attack.

 

[icekid]

I was in college too... woke up around 9 am for my into to art history class, and quickly heard from my then boyfriend about what was going on. I was in the central time zone, so I believe all of the planes had already crashed but there was still one unaccounted for at the time. Numbness and disbelief... omnipresent feelings that day. All of my roommates had already gone off to class, so decided to do the same since it felt weird to sit in our apartment alone. I''d guess about half of my classmates showed up and we just discussed everything that was happening, and sent love to our many classmates with family back east. Everything about that day still feels so surreal.

 

[MoonWater]

My goddaughter was born late July ''01 and I had agreed to babysit every morning to afternoon for her mom while she worked. Every day she (the baby) and I had the same routine. I walked to her mom''s place, her mom would leave, she would fall asleep, and I would take a nap with her. Well for some odd reason, on 9/11 this kid was wide awake. Her mom was still running around getting ready so I said, "Well, if you''re up, let''s watch some tv." The first tower had already been hit so I''m staring at a screen full of smoke and flames. I stared and said..."Why do they have such a violent film on this early in the morning." It seriously didn''t process immediately. Once it dawned on me I just went into shock. I called my goddaughter''s mom over and we were just looking. There was still a lot of confusion and we still had no idea what happened. Then I saw the second plane hit and just...well...I can''t even come up with words.

Needless to say, no one went to work that day. We watched the news all day and all night long. I don''t think either of us got an hour of sleep that night.

I watched the memorial services today and I just broke down and cried when they were reading the names. I was fortunate not to have any family or friends hurt but it still feels like it just happened yesterday. Seven years later and I''m still in shock when I stop to think about it.

 

[iwannaprettyone]

I was in an astronomy class and a professor came in and said classes where cancelled due to an accident. We turned on the tv and saw the 2nd plane crash.

It was terrible.

 

[WishfulThinking]

[Ohhh, I feel young

]

I was in chorus class the first day of my freshman year in high school. I was so scared to be at a new school and only the first day, and then all of a sudden some kid comes running in shrieking that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center building. I feel so guilty looking back on it, but I honestly rolled my eyes; after all, who could be so freaking stupid as to accidentally hit such a huge building? That was obviously before I had any other information about it. Wow, I was so young then. Eek. As the day went on everything felt like it was in slow motion: they let us out of school early, we waited for our parents to come get us as CNN played in the background. I got to call my mom. We confirmed that my cousin who works in the WTC was okay [thankfully he was]. It was horrible. I still remember every second of it.

There''s something about these large-scale, tragic events that happen throughout one''s lifetime that really has a defining aspect. I''m definitely a different person because I''ve lived through 9/11. Hurricane Katrina was another defining moment for my class. It occurred the day before my first day of college.

 

[katamari]

I was on vacation in the Netherlands at the time. We were actually pulled into a store office by one of the employees who said, "You are Americans, right? You should see this." They let us sit in the office for hours and just watch their television. It was about dinner time there and I remember watching and just feeling terrible.

The Dutch were so wonderful about it. Everyone we met wanted to talk to us about it. We had bought a bouquet and some candles to take to the U.S. consulate the next day and there were hundreds of Dutch who had brought bouquets and were paying their respects. I thought this was really cool, because I just don't feel like we would do that in the United States if something happened like that to the Netherlands.

I am glad that I got to experience it from another perspective, but I do always wish I knew what it was like to be here and see the domestic reaction. Such a terrible and historic event. It truly is heart wrenching.

 

[oobiecoo]

I walked into my 10th grade history class and the TV was on. Miraculously we still had our TVs in most of the classes... the company who provided them had been threatening to take them back for a while (since we didn''t watch their educational channel anymore or something). I just sat down and stared in shock. I believe it was in between the 1st and 2nd planes hitting and not many facts were known yet. At about 15 years old... I was so scared that we were at war. It was comforting being at school around friends and knowledgeable teachers. If I had watched the news at home alone for the first time then I think I would have been even more traumatized.

I didn''t know anyone in the towers but have met people who had good friends or family members who lost their lives and my heart just goes out to them....

 

[mimzy]

i was sitting in my chemistry class my junior year of high school watching a film. the principal came over the loudspeaker and just said that something had happened in new york and that classes were going to continue as usual for the day but that they would allow people to go home if they had a parent call. we didn''t have any idea what was going on so my teacher switched the tv to the news which we watched for the last few minutes of the class. i had real estate next, and the tv was already on when i got there and we watched the 2nd tower get hit. after that was lunch, but i just snuck my food into another classroom and watched the news for the rest of the day. for the next few weeks, actually. it was very surreal...not believing that it was more than an accident, crying with people that i had barely spoken to before.

 

[cbs102]

I always find it interesting to hear about the younger kids that were in school.. not college when this all happened. i have a brother that was in 6th grade in North Jersey on 9/11/01. The school did not tell the children what was going on.. and the school day went on as usual. just before the last bell rang there was announcement made that all children were to go straight home. Most of these kids parents worked in the city so i am sure that is why they did this.

a few days later i came home from college and a fighter jet flew over the house and my little brother flew to the grown, covered his head, and started shaking and crying. seeing that made the anger set in.. no little boy should react to a plane like that.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 9/11/2008 4:33:47 PM
Author: cbs102
I always find it interesting to hear about the younger kids that were in school.. not college when this all happened. i have a brother that was in 6th grade in North Jersey on 9/11/01. The school did not tell the children what was going on.. and the school day went on as usual. just before the last bell rang there was announcement made that all children were to go straight home. Most of these kids parents worked in the city so i am sure that is why they did this.

a few days later i came home from college and a fighter jet flew over the house and my little brother flew to the grown, covered his head, and started shaking and crying. seeing that made the anger set in.. no little boy should react to a plane like that.

CBS, I remember the fighter jets too. We live relatively close to Camp David, so the fighter jets would be doing their rounds and we could hear them fly over our house every night. It was very creepy to hear that, but also sort of comforting if that makes any sense. I''m sorry they scared your brother, though.

 

[bee*]

I had just flown back from NY the day before and was shopping for college books. My mam rang and the phone was breaking up a bit and she just kept saying, thank god you''re home. I was so confused as I was trying to tell her that I wasn''t at home but she couldn''t hear me properly. It was only when I drove home that I heard what happened. Can''t believe it''s 7 years ago. My heart still breaks when I see those pictures.

 

[blondebunny]

I remember it like it was yesterday..

The bell rang to leave our first period class, so i headed to my locker (in the lunchroom-dont ask) and we have TVs in the lunchroom, and all of a sudden they all came out and we were like what the heck is going on... and then we saw the first plane hit..

So I ran to my next class- which happened to be my American History class, and sat and watched the news the ENTIRE class period just in disbelief of what happened...

My poor teacher was crying his eyes out...

Oh and I was in the 11th grade... so sad...

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 9/11/2008 3:38:06 PM
Author: jsm

Date: 9/11/2008 3:29:38 PM
Author: Starset Princess



Deejay, were you downtown for all of the memorial services on Daley Plaza? The bagpipes; The flags hanging over the sides of buildings; the singing.

The bagpipes broke my heart...

Was it a Friday following? I think I walked there with my colleagues. A lot of it is a blur but I remember flags everywhere and singing ''God Bless America'' surrounded by hundreds of people.

I actually didn''t know about this until it was over, so I missed it.


BTW, were either of you impacted the following week by the rumor that a plane had been higjacked out of the Milwaukee airport and was haeaded for the Sears Tower and we had to evacuate AGAIN? I remember them saying based on the speed of the plane and the distance it would hit the tower in X minutes and we all knew it took more than X minutes to get out of that building based on our experience from the week before. It was a mob scene... made worse by knowing what could happen this time.

 

[Erin]

Date: 9/11/2008 5:16:31 PM
Author: Dee*Jay



I actually didn't know about this until it was over, so I missed it.


BTW, were either of you impacted the following week by the rumor that a plane had been higjacked out of the Milwaukee airport and was haeaded for the Sears Tower and we had to evacuate AGAIN? I remember them saying based on the speed of the plane and the distance it would hit the tower in X minutes and we all knew it took more than X minutes to get out of that building based on our experience from the week before. It was a mob scene... made worse by knowing what could happen this time.

Oh my, I totally forgot about that!!! I think we heard about a hijacked plane and that Sears was evacuating out of precaution and we let our tenants decide whether or not they wanted to. Of course our tenants like Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Smith Barney were the first ones out the door.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 9/11/2008 6:06:36 PM
Author: Starset Princess

Date: 9/11/2008 5:16:31 PM
Author: Dee*Jay




I actually didn''t know about this until it was over, so I missed it.


BTW, were either of you impacted the following week by the rumor that a plane had been higjacked out of the Milwaukee airport and was haeaded for the Sears Tower and we had to evacuate AGAIN? I remember them saying based on the speed of the plane and the distance it would hit the tower in X minutes and we all knew it took more than X minutes to get out of that building based on our experience from the week before. It was a mob scene... made worse by knowing what could happen this time.

Oh my, I totally forgot about that!!! I think we heard about a hijacked plane and that Sears was evacuating out of precaution and we let our tenants decide whether or not they wanted to. Of course our tenants like Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Smith Barney were the first ones out the door.

I don''t want this to come up on a search engine, but since you are naming financial institutions let''s just say I worked for one with the initials GS and we weren''t taking any chances either!

 

[beau13]

It was the day of my 8th wedding anniversary, I looked through travel brochures to see where me and hubby would like to go for a trip (our anniversary gift to each other). I just got off the phone with a family member, and I remember telling her something bad always happens that day (9-1-1) and hoped today was a great day! About an hour later, this same family member called me to tell me to turn on the TV, and see what was going on. WOW..was I ever right with my prediction..something REALLY bad happened that day. Needless to say, my husband and I had no desire to travel somewhere hot & sunny that year!

 

[Hera]

I was on my way to the airport for a flight to Ohio when my boss called me and told that I wasn''t going anywhere. My husband and I stayed at home and watched the news from then on out.

 

[Dancing Fire]

i turn on CNBC and i was in shock.

 

[elle_chris]

Thanks Linda

We actually avoid watching the same shows every year about it. I also don''t get why show the people jumping. We all know what happened. I guess it makes for dramatic TV and people still want to see it.

I heard the bagpipes this afternoon. Looked out my window but couldn''t see them. So many people were outside though.
Ran downstairs to the dry cleaners and past my garage- saw a line of people waiting to get their cars. Most were holding flowers and were going home after the tribute. You just knew that they had lost loved ones. Came back upstairs and it kinda hit me.
It''s been a surreal day for sure.

 

[deegee]

I was at work. I work for state government, and there had been a report that there was a plane on radar flying around above us that had not grounded (as all other planes had). We''re also in what is called the "chemical valley" with chemical plants producing bad stuff. The governor felt it was best to evacuate, so the entire Capitol Complex, where I worked, was evacuated in a very short period of time. We were old later that the plane was Airforce 1 - I don''t know if that is true or not. That was the most terrifying day of my life. And for some reason I remember going outside and pulling weeds in the landscaping.

My husband and I are watching a documentary right now. Thankfully they aren''t showing people jumping. As much as I want to forget that day, I don''t want to forget that day. I''ll never forget being in New York later the next year and seeing the display at Grand Central Station of the signs people had posted looking for their loved ones, and walking around St. Paul''s Chapel and seeing all the memorials, stuffed animals, flowers... We made the trip to NY with a friend of ours who was born and raised there. She had been home several times afterwards, but our trip was the first time she had been to the site after the towers collapsed.

 

[jewelerman]

I was getting ready for work when a friend contacted me about the twin towers...I went to the mall I worked at and started to un-secure the store when management told me that all valuables had to be removed from the cases and windows(they were afraid of looting if the building was attacked) and that everything must be vaulted because they wernt sure that what was happening in New York would not happen in our city as well.They gave us 20 minutes to secure the whole jewelry store...we were literally rolling up thousands of dollars worth of pearls,chains and tennis bracelets in towels and securing them any where we could when the safe was full...we had armed security walk us to our cars. It was a really strange morning and one that I wont forget.