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Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,827
Registered: ‎11-15-2011

I was less than a month away from having my second child.  My oldest DD was four and was off from preschool that day.  I sent her out in the back yard as I watched coverage.

 

My father was an ironworker who was working a job across the river in NJ.  He helped build WTC #7 and then after the tragedy rebuilt it. 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,719
Registered: ‎02-22-2015

I worked for a Fortune 500 major defense company at the time in Engineering's upper management. As the first plane began flying toward the tower, word spread through the Department's entire floor and TV's were turned on. We watched in horror as it hit the tower, followed by the second plane which also flew directly into the second tower as the smoke and debris billowed out and people fled the scene. 

We didn't have anyone in NYC that day, but the scope of the danger and the impending doom was thick throughout our company and the entire space industry, which was immediately on high alert.

 

That day will be embedded in all of our memories forever and we will always memorialize those lost as we think of their loved ones.  

Money screams; wealth whispers.
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,161
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: DO YOU REMEMBER?

[ Edited ]

I was at home, getting ready to drive to my uncle's funeral which was in a small town over an hour away.  I had the Today Show on and saw the first plane hit, then the second.  In spite of what was happening, I had to continue getting ready for this family funeral.  So I was fixing breakfast when DH came in and told me about the Pentagon. 

 

With all of this going on, I had to force myself to get into my car and drive to the little church, where no one knew about the attack because they were all in the church for the visitation before the services.  Lots of old people, no cell phones.  It was surreal since I had been listening to the horror unfold on the radio as I drove there.

 

When I finally got back home that afternoon I heard from my older son who was in Chicago for a business meeting in one of the major buildings there.  So I worried about him, that there might be more attacks and he was at another major target .  He ended up stranded there for the rest of the week.

 

Our niece had just moved to NYC that weekend and her parents had flown there to help her move in.  The hotel they had just checked out of was right by the towers. They were in a plane on the runway waiting to return home when the pilot announced that all planes were grounded and they learned what had happened.  

 

My co-worker's son in law was military, stationed at the Pentagon.  He was about to retire from active duty to start their family.  We learned later that he was one of the casualties.

 

After 9/11 I finally understood my dad's reverence for Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day.

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." Jimmy Buffett
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,565
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I'll also always remember where I was. I had my ironing board sit up in front of the TV ironing. I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I saw the first plane hit the building. I was like, "Is this for real."  Well when I saw the second plane hit I knew it was fo real. I got numb all over and was in shock.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,228
Registered: ‎04-04-2014

Hi, @Shanus !  When 9/11 happened, I was living in SoCal.  That morning both my husband and I were flying on business, him to North Carolina, me to LaGuardia via Chicago from Orange County.  When we arrived at the airport, TVs were on in the bars even though the bars themselves were closed and at least one of the towers was aflame but both still standing.

 

i was on the plane to Chicago, when the flight attendant came to me and said the NY airports were closed and did I still want to go to Chicago.  Well, I didn't, so deplaned and went down to where my husband was and they were still boarding.  I went and collected my bags and eventually picked him up and we went home.

 

Our home in Huntington Beach was in the flight path of various approaches to LAX, Long Beach and Orange County airports.  It was so eerily quiet during the period that flights were grounded.

 

I was in sales and marketing at the time and had one sales rep in Nevada who was stranded and ended up having to rent a Winnebago to get home to Pennsylvania, since rental cars were sold out.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,372
Registered: ‎12-02-2013

6 AM:  arrived at my assigned conference room at Merck where a major downsizing was scheduled.   As a consultant to the contracted company, I met one-on-one with those selected for downsizing.  My location was at the far end of the main lobby.  I didn't get a break in clients until mid-morning: As I walked towards the restrooms off the lobby, I saw this huge gathering of folks who were all looking up at this immense TV screen.

 

As I neared the crowd, I got the shock of my life.  Since my next client would be arriving soon, I had to hurry to the conference room.  Greeting him with the standard " I'm so sorry to be meeting you under this condition, " he interrupted me with a huge hug and said I'm HAPPY to be here:  Otherwise, I work in the Tower building everyday.

 

I still get chills when I recall that meeting.  One of my colleagues was assigned to lead a seminar that day in NYC at the Tower...at the last minute they moved him from a lower floor to higher up floor because there would be more room.  It cost him and those conferees their lives....

 

As I lead a number of career seminars the following week, it was hard to deal with all the sadness.  There is a normal amount just from the downsizing aftermath but now we had folks who were mourning coworkers and friends.  

 

Some of the snippets of conversation that I overheard left me in tears: So and so was talking on his cell phone with his buddy who was jumping off a ledge....

 

Spiritually, I feel there was a lot of preparation underway the night before.  I couldn't sleep and actually walked through the house constantly.  I was more than prepared for the normal scheduled activities as I was a lead trainer.    
It had to be angels getting ready for the influx of souls...

 

I only listened once to the calling of the names at the memorial: it depressed me for days.  Each person named would have left behind many others who were devastated by the events.  Such a massive amount of pain !

May they have peace....Amen

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
Sir Winston Churchill
Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,222
Registered: ‎06-14-2010

I was at my school which is located directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan.  I witnessed the horrific scene and watched the Towers fall.  I was traumatized for a long time after, my school was used as a triage..  

 

I watched the ceremony today and listened to the people saying each name of those who died that day and the tears flowed as if it were yesterday.  Also the list of people who have died from side affects of being at ground zero is now more than the number of those who died in the Towers.  I will never forget .

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,523
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: DO YOU REMEMBER?

[ Edited ]

I wasn't going to read any of this but I wanted to read what others went through. Somehow it was like being together.

 

I always think of them, and the survivors and families, and those who died later who worked at ground zero. Like a horrible nightmare that no one of us could ever imagine. 

 

I was just getting to the elementary school where I had the "special needs" students. I saw a group of teachers gathered in one of the smaller offices, so I went to see. It was unusual for teachers to gather and spend time watching tv right before school! 

We saw a plane hit one of the towers. I thought what is happening, did a plane crash into the building?!

Then we all saw the 2nd tower hit. There was compete silence. Then I think we all knew this was no accident.

 

Later learning about the Pentagon and the plane that went down in PA- and hearing of Todd Beamer having said, "Let's roll!"

 

As other teachers here have said we were told not to tell the children. That their parents should be the ones to let them know.

We went to class. Many parents started to come pick their children up. 

One teacher's husband was working in NYC. I saw the Principal come talk to her quietly. She quickly left and waited for news as we all did. I think her husband was ok.

I called my cousin who worked in NYC and my aunt to see if they were ok. They were.

 

I sometimes try to think of what I would have done if there, and then all the sadness and horror of that day I remember. We all will always remember. 

Then I think of the families again. If those of us who didn't lose anyone

feel this so much, I can't imagine what they must still go through.

 

I do believe in heaven and like to think of all of them there, just like all those from Sandy Hook and all those who we have lost. Our loving pets too. Forever in our hearts!Heart

 

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,638
Registered: ‎10-05-2010

I was in the shower and I could hear my phone ringing. I was thinking who's calling me before 9:00. Well, my phone rang nonstop until after midnight that day.  My husband worked in Tower 2. I was on the phone with a friend and I just remember yelling over and over, "I can't remember if he works in the one with the antenna or without the antenna." Then the second plane hit and it didn't matter anymore.  

 

Turns out he left his office around 8:30 to go to a meeting at a nearby building, but I didn't find that out for several hours and much anguish later.

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,455
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Typical morning working at an office in the midwest. A TV was on in the lunchroom, so we'd periodically check it out.

 

Can't imagine what it was like for anyone in NYC that day.