September 11th memories

I was home and actually woke early that morning, a rarity when I'm home. It was a gorgeous NY morning, still summer, I was thinking of biking to the beach. Flipping channels I caught the 1st tower in flames, hearing the confused accounts of the newsmen. Many didn't seem to want to believe it was a jet airliner but if you know those buildings, their size, then you'd know that nothing else could've caused that much damage. Maybe like many, I knew this wasn't an accident even before the second plane came on screen while I was talking to my father. We had both worked across the street of the WTC at One Liberty until recently. Maybe every cynical NYer expected the terrorism to come someday after the 93 attack, after the tunnel and bridge bombing plot was discovered out in Brooklyn. Funny, but I don't remember what we said after that but I know I hung up and started calling others. Friends, family everyone I knew who worked in the city and I couldn't get a hold of anyone except those outside of the city. Tears and sudden rememberances of who else might be in harm's way, including two firms I used to deal with actually located in the towers. My friend, a NYC motorcycle cop, my old co-workers still across the street. I was even thinking of the guys who used to park my car at the WTC lot and the one by the tiny Greek church near West St. And the firehouse that was right up the street as I walked to my building. And then the towers collapsed and I never expected that. Maybe the upper burning portions threatening those on the street but not the whole structures. But the pictures I think that got me the most, the images you don't often see replayed, were those of the clouds of debris and dust that engulfed lower Manhattan as if from some bizarre sci-fi movie -- were there more buildings falling like dominos in that cloud??? And what was in that cloud? That night, ninety miles away from NYC, we could see the glow and the pillar of smoke, and we could smell it. Sirens from emergency vehicles were going the whole day. Highways were closed as were portions of the LIRR. A friend had to walk from midtown to Brooklyn, catch a ride from a stranger who took her to a running train station and she got home almost 10 hours after setting out from work. But she got home. And even though there weren't supposed to be any aircraft in the air, we kept hearing helecopters flying overhead, probably police and Coast Guard, and fighter jets from the Air Reserve base out east.

I woke up, got dressed, ate, got into my car and drove to work. The radio in my car did not work at the time so I was clueless as I got there at 11:30 AM mountain time. I sell TV's so the first thing i saw was a replay of the first plane hitting the wtc on 50 tv's at once, then they showed the second then the buildings falling, all at once. Seeing it on 50 TV's as my first exposure to the whole thing was about as surreal as anything I have ever experienced. We had no customers that day, we sold nothing, we just watched CNN all week, we are all commision sales people but for a week we felt as though money meant nothing, customers only interrupted CNN. Nothing, and I mean nothing has ever meant more to me then money before.

We came to work here at the store a little before 11 a.m. EST, and found a notice about what was happening on an industry forum. Deb and I spent most of the rest of the day sitting in the front of the store listening to the radio.

I don't think we really believed it until we went home and saw the pictures.

yours,

I woke up after the attacks, but before the buildings fell. I work overnights, and was swapping my sleep cycle to return to work. All day long I tried to sleep, but couldn't focus on it.

The EN boards were my main source of cutting edge information. Triple H was faster than CNN and more accurate than FOX news. I was filled with anger at many things; I wept for my fellow citizens; my heart swelled with pride at the heroes in Flight 43 and the rescue workers.

I went to work that night. Everyone was somber and angry. By unspoken consent, there was almost no jocularity as is our norm. We speculated about the coming war -- we knew one was coming. I shook the hands of my co-workers in the National Guard. None have been called up even now.

What I remember most was the empty skies. Only for a brief time did we see planes. Jets scrambled everywhere when Air Force One landed nearby, but other than that, the sky was an ironic blue, clear... one of the few beautiful days that fall.

Greg

I was dozing with my girlfriend on a bed in the apartment she lived in with her mother and little sister. Suddenly her best friend called and said a plane had crasched into one of the WTC buildings in New York (I think this was about 15 minutes after the first crash).

"Whoa", I thought. "That's really bad.". We rushed out to the living room to turn on the TV

As we stepped out of the door to her room, her friend called her again. I can remember my girlfriend (now my ex) shouting "What!? Another plane?".

I had just grabbed the remote to turn on the TV set when he called her a third time. This time she yelled "ANOTHER one? The PENTAGON?".

After that, we sat for nearly three hours in front of the TV, watching CNN. I saw both towers collapse live. It wasn't a pretty sight.

The only other thing I can remember about that day was that one of the commercial TV channels here in Sweden (TV3) didn't interrupt their regular programs. As the towers collapsed and thousands died, they happily kept showing "Days of our Lives". Believe it or not.

-S

It was past midnight here in Oz when it happened. I was actually online at the time, and someone posted a message that a plane had hit the WTC.

I switched off the computer and went to bed. In my tired state, it simply didn't occur to me that by "plane", he meant "airliner", and what had happened wasn't some kid straying off course in a light plane, but the worst terrorist attack since the war.

Sleeping through history, that's me.

I was here, at my desk in the University, trying to work and reading this board, when somebody posted the first thread. No info website worked, French news didn't say anything, so I informed all the Electronics Department, I passed around all the info you (specially, I rembember TripleH) posted. You were my eyes and ears in such a sad day, and the eyes and ears of many people you don't even know in this far corner of French Brittany.

I had gotten up late, and was just trying to formulate a believable excuse for not atténding a friend's party on saturday, when I turned on the TV - right when the second plane hit the tower.
I remember the German newsman being shocked to silence for several moments, and I sat there, mouth agape.

Then I called my mother, my father, my grandparents, and most of my friends... I had sort of a communication bureau in my apartment, where people would call in with their news and thoughts, talk to each other via conference call, and so on.

I remember thinking that this was the start of WWIII.

I remember not being able to think of anything else for two days, being in a state of shock for two whole days, while the pictures were broadcast over and over.

I remember going to the old boards, giving information of German news reactions, and reading other posts.

I remember everything else becoming unimportant even though it was far away.

I remember thinking of a close friend who was at an actor's workshop in NYC.
I remember hoping for a friend who works as attourney and was scheduled to fly on the Pennsylvania flight.
Both were unharmed.

I remember our music video channel sending only black screen with messages of condolence.

I remember changing my website's home to give a prayer to all involved. (see it here - minus the pictures)

I remember not being laughed at for my faith by my friends (they usually at least roll their eyes, especially since my belief isn't closely tied to a religion).

I remember when reality stopped for two days.

Berandor

Hmm... I was reading a magazine, when the phone rings. It's a friend of mine, who immediately says "Are you watching TV?"

"No."

"Turn on channel 5"

"What?"

"Turn on the TV. I wait on the phone".

...after a few minutes, I'm back on the phone and saying "My god".

Then, we both went back to our respective TVs. I watched the scenes until the speakers began repeating themselves, then went looking for more news on the Internet.

After some more time, the aforementioned friend comes to my home; he says: "Have you kept watching TV?"

"No, I've seen all the available footage and heard all available details..."

"...so you don't know that the Pentagon and White House have blown up too?" (hey, they were the first moments, things were confused for everyone)

That was too much. "It's not true."

"It is."

We went to the TV again and watched it until evening, making all sort of comments and speculations.

I was working in my home office and came downstairs for something to drink. Heather told me that she heard on the radio that a plane had hit the WTC, but no details.

I commented that "it was probably a small one; that happened to the Empire State Building once, I think." I had a picture in my head of some idiot in a Cessna trying to fly between the towers and hitting one of them.

Later, I turned on my own radio for some music and heard a second plane, another jetliner, had hit the other tower and I knew it was terrorists. I came downstairs, and we turned on the TV and watched it most of the day. I didn't work much the rest of the week.