Community Chat

[beach-mom]

My children know - 

We knew one of the pilots. 

My friend lost her husband. 

I thought it was a movie, watching while I was getting dressed. 

I will be going to a remembrance ceremony tomorrow. 

[Carmie]

My husband and I were in China.  We spent the day sight seeing, had a great dinner and returned to our hotel room.

I was in the bathroom when my DH was yelling for me to come see the TV.  He had CNN on.  Apparently the plane had hit the first tower.  I saw the second tower being hit in real time.

It was pretty scary because my family was in the USA and I wasn't.  All of the planes were grounded.  Many Americans were stuck in China and couldn't fly home. Some had run out of prescriptions meds.

It was a very sad time, but in spite of it being horrifying, I was thrilled to see Americans finally being one people.  It didn't matter your race, religion, financial status, etc. we were one people.  Too bad that part didn't last longer.

[haddon9]

We all have stories and remember what we were doing that awful day.  My friend called to tell me to put the TV on just as I was leaving to go to work.  I tried to call my DH and all lines were down in NJ.

My cousin's brother in law perished in the World Trade Center.  They  found his remains 8 months later.

 I'm getting together tomorrow with my neighbor.  Her son worked in the second tower and thank goodness he got out of the building in time.  A woman who worked with him had just returned from maternity leave and he tried to convince her to come down and leave with him but she refused.  There had been announcements that everyone should stay calm and remain where they were but many left anyway.  Sadly he never saw his coworker again.

The pilot of the plane going into the second tower lived in the town next to mine and his wife along with other spouses who lost a loved one created a memorial garden in town to remember them.

It's such a sad day.  I went to see the Memorial in NYC for the first time last summer.

[Jaspersmom]

I'm a Long Island teacher and remember that day in the same way I remember as a seventh grader hearing that Kennedy had been shot.  A colleague called me into the hallway and said a plane had hit the first tower.  She showed me her cell phone and I watched in disbelief as the top of the building burned.  Then the rest followed. When news hit that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, I believed we were facing an attack on our government and that we all might be destined to die. My immediate responsibility was to my high school students who were starting to find out what happened.  My colleagues and I did put on one of the tvs for awhile, but when we saw the kids starting to panic, we turned it off. We spent a lot of time talking to them and trying to remain calm.  Parents were calling the school (we were a special program with a smaller student population) and some of the kids wanted to call home.  Some were picked up at school.  A former student who had graduated a few years before came into the school sobbing that one of her relatives worked in the city and she couldn't get in touch with her.  She didn't know where to go, so she stopped by the school hoping we could help her.  We let her stay until she finally found out her relative was okay.  There was so much more, but please know teachers kept many kids safe and calm that day. May we never forget that dreadful event.  God bless us everyone.

[Shorty2U]

I was watching CNN while recuperating from spine surgery when the news broke. Saw the 2nd plane hit. I'll never forget it. My best friend was on her honeymoon in CA and everything got shut down at first so they were stuck in their hotel mostly, and they just flew there the day before from the east coast, and were quite shaken up (as was everyone).

PS My youngest granddaughter was born in 2004, so yes after 911. My other grandchildren were born in 2000 and 1998. (And the 2 born before obviously too young to understand what happened) And yes, they all learned about 911 in school. 

[NicksmomESQ]

    As a New Yorker I will never forget that day.I had just put my son on the school bus.He was in 4th grade. I came home, put on the Today Show & walked into the bathroom.When I came out Katie Couric was saying that a plane hit one of the Towers.She said that somehow it wandered out of its airspace & it was an accident.A little while later she said another plane hit & it was no longer an accident. My world as I knew it ended that moment.

  DH was let out of work & came rushing home. We contemplated taking our son out of class.But we decided not to scare him.My girlfriend worked at the school & if necessary she could always pull him out.

    When I met my son at the bus stop after school he asked me what happened.He said teachers were crying & parents were pulling their kids out all day. First I scooped him into my arms & we hugged.Then I took him home. I sat him down & told him what happened & answered all his questions.

    We then turned on th tv & watched the coverage together .We cried & talked about our feelings for many weeks.

     I have a cousin who worked in the Towers who got out.He walked across the bridge to Brooklyn. We didn’t know what happened to him until late that evening. We were literally flipping out until he finally got to a phone & called his wife.

    DH attended group counseling through his employer.The school had counselors on hand for weeks talking to the kids.I sought counseling at the community center.

   18 years have past.But there will always be a hole in our hearts. This happened in our backyard.We will never forget.It still hurts!! 💐

[roeroe1005]

Below is the story behind the photo.  The first firetruck on it's way to the WTC that fateful morning.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/man-shot-iconic-9-11-photo-doomed-fire-truck-article-1.2786008

[Anonymous032819]

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@roeroe1005 wrote:

Below is the story behind the photo.  The first firetruck on it's way to the WTC that fateful morning.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/man-shot-iconic-9-11-photo-doomed-fire-truck-article-1.2786008

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@roeroe1005 

Thank-you for providing the link to the story of the iconic photo.

It breaks my heart knowing that when that picture was taken, none of those brave firefighters knew that it was going to be their last time going out on a call.

Did anybody click on the photo of the one firefighter that's in the article?

It brings up photos of every firefighter who died that day.

Their image frozen in time. Never to age.

I look at their picture, and I wonder what their lives would've been like today if they had lived.

My dad's dad was a firefighter.

He served in the 1930's and 1940's.

My grandfather died in 1978.

On that morning 18 years ago, I thought (and I believe this still) that my grandfather was there to welcome his brothers Home.

It doesn't matter the Station, the City, or the Time, firefighters is a brotherhood that the passage of time can't erase.

[queendiva]

Like most all of us, I feel as if I can recall every detail of every minute of that day in my life. At the time I was living not so many miles from Ground Zero in NJ. 

I remember as a child, watching the towers being built from a vantage point on my daily walk to school 

Far too many thoughts and experiences from that day to post here.

We will never, ever forget.

[KKlim]

I lived across the Hudson and was commuting by NYC Ferry to my job in Chelsea. It was a beautiful, quiet, sunny commute crossing the Hudson before all hell broke loose. I made it to my job in Chelsea and then it all happened. NYC was under attack. I remember the office letting us go and just wandering dazed and confused w/ no access to communication w/ phones. It took me all day to find a way to get back across. Boats were picking up desperate people and motoring them across. A day I’ll never forget. Once I reached across at the NJ Ferry terminal , I remember bending down and kissing the ground. It changed me forever.,