9/11: Where were you?

I was 24 and had just graduated college. Still living at home I was laying down on the couch in the den watching the Today show half awake. I remember them stopping to say a plane had crashed into a building. But they were under the impression it was a small plane. Then when reports came it was a big plane and the smoke was coming out the went to a live view. Then the 2nd one hit as we all watched. Instantly everyone realized it was an attack.

I was in high school, 1st period English class when we heard the news. We immediately made our way to the school's TV studio were we watched on multiple TV's. Students and staff were crying, in shock and angry. It still gives me chills to this day as this event would influence a lot of events that later transpired in my life. I remember the world, but especially America much different back then, but perhaps that's only because I was still a kid. :salute:

I was working at Walmart. I was pulling down ropes and picking up equipment because my crew and we had just finished stripping and waxing the dairy section of the store. This was about 6:00 AM Arizona time so the morning shift people were starting to shuffle in and many of them had odd expressions on their faces. One of the guys on my crew started talking to one of his friends that was just walking in. He said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and we all thought that was terrible. Over the next few minutes more morning shift people were walking in and telling us variations of the same story. Some said it was a small prop plane, some said it was a commercial airliner, and one person said she heard it was a local New York news helicopter. By this time we had gathered up all our equipment and were taking it back to the maintenance room. As we walked by the employee lounge we saw all the people gathered by the TV. I stopped in the lounge along with three other members of my crew. I saw the image of the large smoking hole in the first tower and thought there was no way that hole was caused by a small prop plane - it had to be a commercial airliner. I thought I was seeing the aftermath of a horrible air tragedy until a few minutes later. I can't remember which network we were watching but I remember seeing the second plane enter the frame and a instant later it striking the second tower. There were roughly 20-30 people gathered in the employee lounge and other than the noise coming from the TV it was absolutely silent. Everyone was trying to process what they had just witnessed. It was just surreal. I didn't immediately think it was an attack, I thought there must be a problem with the computers and/or operators at the airport. Something was terribly wrong with the equipment and it was sending the wrong information to the planes. In a quick burst of thinking I then thought, "But it's clear, the pilots would see what was happening and correct the flight path. There's no way a second plane would fly direc...wait...wait...wait a damn minute...this is being done on purpose - holy :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:, this is an attack!"

I will never forget that day.