09/11/2001

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Where were you?

I was at my oldests sons first dentist appointment. He is almost 14 now. We were waiting in the waiting area when the first news reports came in. They took my son back to get his teeth examined and I stepped outside for a smoke. A lady watching TV in her conversion van yelled out that another plane had hit. Without saying a word to her (she was a complete stranger) I helped myself to a seat in her van and we both watched speachless.

After a few minutes she took a phone call. She said "Oh my god... can you imagine how many fire fighters they are going to need?" Turns out she was talking to her husband who is a firefighter here in Jacksonville. As the first tower collapsed she broke into tears with her husband on the phone saying "Oh god baby, do you know how many fire fighters must have just died?" Then she began weaping... my son was done so I had to excuse myself.

As we left the dentist the entire dental office staff was in the waiting area watching the tv. I stopped at a gas station to buy a pack of smokes and it was like the whole world was put on hold. Everyone at the gas station was standing around listening to updates blasting from their car radios. As I walked into the gas station the middle eastern guy behind the counter yelled "we are being attacked!" they are saying more plains are being hijacked right now! Another plane just took out the pentagon and there is another on the way that our jets are going to have to shoot down! Hurry up because I am probably closing and going home."

I went to my parents house where as a family we all just sat and watched the news all day. Having grown up in New Jersey I tried to contact several of my old friends up there but most of the time the phone didn't work cause all lines were busy.

[mommanessy247]

i was at my parents house cuz my mom was helping me with watching my first born daughter, then just over a month old while i did some laundry.
my dad was watching the news & i went to go ask him something & he shushed me quite seriously so of course that got my attention. i looked at the tv just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower.
my words were "oh sh** dad! did you see that?! did that really just happen?! wait whats going on with the other skyscraper right next to that one?" (up until that day i never knew those towers were there).
when my dad said a plane flew into it too i just about had to pick my jaw up off the floor. i was thinking & must've said out loud "oh my god. all those people on the planes..." cuz my dad said " & all the people in those buildings..." then as the seriousness of the situation for everyone there at ground zero hit me, my body slumped down into the couch & we watched the news in continued silence. my basket of laundry went unwashed that day.
i yelled "no!" when i saw someone jump from one of the buildings & just broke down crying.
when the towers finally fell my sorrow for all the people in them tripled & i just started praying.
my peace was shattered that day, as was everyone elses, i'm sure. thats the day i started losing faith in humanity altogether because i just couldnt get my mind around how & why someone would ever come to the conclusion that so many people needed to die. i still struggle with that.
i have a higher respect for firefighters & police & now at the end of every conversation with them i always say "thank you for your dedication & god bless."
now every time i hear a fire or police siren i pray "lord please keep them safe as they answer that call."
i've even joined myself in a prayer that some random citizen was having with a group of firefighters in the middle of a grocery store. they were joined together group hug style & i stopped my cart & draped my arms over the shoulders of a couple of the firemen & finished the prayer with them. every one of them had a tear in their eye as they thanked that woman for saying the prayer for them.
since moving here to south carolina, we dont hear many sirens unless we're in a large city but when we were still in california living in a city we heard 'em multiple times every night so my days & nights were filled with that prayer.

god bless all those who answer our calls for help.

[JulieInNJ]

I lost my former manager that day. She was in flight 93 that went down in Shanksville, PA. My father and cousin both worked in Manhattan and I remember my panic when I couldn't get through to them on the phone. Thank god they were both okay. 10 years later, it's still as surreal as the day it happened.

All gave some.
Some gave all.
Never forget.

[mechnut450]

I was home getting ready to leave to cut grass earn my snake money. I end up waking up my mother and sisiter telling them to be ready. I am/ was a active firefighter at the time it happen, I know several of us started to arrange to head north when the tower fell ( need less to say spent 3 days at the ready for if a call came.) I never did cut grass that week. I just wish my back and legs would let me stay ctive firefighter these days ( dang Cerberal palsy )

[Nektu]

I was at work. Listening to the radio, local morning show, and thought it was a joke when they announced it. But the more they talked about it I knew it wasn't a joke. I went into the break room and watched as the second plane hit, and then they fell. I thought the first was an accident, but knew after the second one that it wasn't. I spent the rest of the day in a haze, couldn't concentrate on anything.

[jbean7916]

I was a senior that year, sitting in Intro to Art. We left the tv on after morning announcements so we watched as it all unfolded. I remember shoving a freshman boy next to me when he snickered. I live by a large ammunition plant and we were scared we would see something here. I cried for days. I also wrote this poem:

My daddy is a firefighter
No, not one that was lost.
My daddy is still waiting
To save you at any cost.

He'll risk his life for you
He'll try and do his share
Unless you really need him
You'll never know hes there.

Next time you hear the sirens,
I hope you stop and think
Those men are someones daddies,
Whose lives are on the brink.


sent from my EVO

[razrbak]

I had worked 2nd shift the night before, awoke and turned on the tv shortly after the second impact... the day the world changed.
So proud of our great country, how we rallied together.
GOD BLESS THE USA!

[Clementine_3]

I was home sick when a co-worker called me to tell me to turn the TV on, it was shortly after the first plane hit. I, like everyone else, watched in horror as the second plane hit.
The company I work for had offices in the WTC towers so I knew a lot of folks in there. Most made it out but 13 did not.
The next many days at my office were spent manning phone lines that had been set up and trying to call/get in touch with people who were unaccounted for. Listening to them tell what they went through was something I can't even put in to words, there are really no words to use. The stories still haunt me, and I wasn't even there.
My friends there were changed forever, they are not the same people that went to work that morning. You can still see it in their eyes, everything they went through and all they saw and did.

[PolishPython]

I was in my sophomore Biology class in highschool

[SilverDemon]

I was in my Precalculus class in high school (I was a junior). I had finished my work in that class and was grading some papers for the teacher (I doubled as his assistant for the class, since I had the best grades out of any of his classes), which I tend to zone out during. I looked up and everyone was gone, and it wasn't time for the bell to have rung yet. I checked the class next door, where a few classes were packed in as everyone watched the news.

An hour or so after the second plane hit, my mom picked me and my sisters up from school.