Where Were You on Sept 11th? About This Page:

[mrsmaup]

I know this question has probably been asked here a million times, but I find I still need to remind myself periodically so I never forget.

I was in the shower. Sounds so lame dosent it? We were at my FIL house in Davison MI. We had a busy week left. Visits w/family and friends all over Mi; Mackinac Island trip and then the big trip. We were going to the big house to see MI play football.

My husband called to me to hurry and get out of the shower because a plane had just hit the world trade center. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time, I was a little irritated w/him. I had broken my leg a month before and had surgery. I could not walk and it was very difficult to function getting in and out of the shower, getting dressed, etc. WHO did he think he was talking to? He knew full well that I could not do ANYTHING quickly right about then.

He was very insistent, so I hurried as best I could and made it to the family room. We were discussing what must have happened to the pilot(heart attack, etc) to have the plane crash like that on such a beautiful day.

Not long after that, we watched the second plane hit and I said "there must be something wrong w/air traffic control. This is HORRIBLE!! They need to fix it". My husband did not say anything. He got up and went to the back room and got our suitcase out.

I asked him what he was doing and he just looked at me like I had 3 heads. "honey, do you understand what is happening?" I dont think I did really, or maybe I just refused to accept it.

Our cell phone started ringing right after that. My husband was being recalled back to the base. WHY? Another plane slammed into the Pentagon. I knew then and there. Its a sickening feeling isnt it?

My husband went up to the kitchen to be sure that Nickelodean had not gone off teh air, so the children would not be seeing that. He told them that there had been an accident w/some planes(he works w/planes) and that daddy had to get back to the base to help fix the problem(they were 10 and almost 7 at the time). He told them that he needed them to work very hard on being quiet and staying in the kitchen while mommy packed.

Troy called his dad, but couldnt get ahold of him, so he called his mom at work and told her we would be gone in 45 min and that he would call when we got home.

I remember still not really getting what was going on and asking him why we had to leave so fast?

He said "KRISTIE. Do you understand what is going on? We are at WAR. I have to get back ASAP. I want you all back safe on base. We need to hurry up and get the hell over the bridge(the mackinac bridge) before they close it down.

I fell down on the couch. I got it now. We had been attacked. There were thousands of people dead and who knew at the time how many other planes or bombs, etc were waiting to be exploded. We were going to war. We had to get back to the base so my husband could GO TO WAR!!! I was on a non weight bearing cast and was due to have surgery that month. He couldnt leave me, what was I going to do? I could not drive, etc.

I snapped out of it shortly after. What was done was done. We WERE at war and that was it. My husband needed me to get it together for his sake and my children would need their momma. I immedietly started to pray w/Troy over those peopel and their families and over the president(who at the time nobody knew for sure was safe) and for our country and what was to come and I started hopping around throwing things in our suitcases and getting the kids ready to go while my husband was on the phone letting his commander know when we would be leaving and about how long it would take.

We got gas and it was SILENT. I will never forget that. Not a word was spoken at that gas station.

We got to the mackinac bridge adn there were coast guard patrols under the bridge and state patrol officers looking in every car.

We got McDonalds after we got into the UP for the kids and I will never forget this young teenage drive through clerk crying. My husband touched her hand and told her it would be okay. She couldnt have been more than 16, yet she was still there doing her job, even though she was obviously terrified. I knew then that no matter what, we would all make it through. If this girl was brave enough to stay at McDonalds, then I knew we would all be brave enough as a country to make it through this.


We made it to WI and finally my husband had to stop and sleep for a few hours. We walked into the hotel lobby and there was SILENCE again.

We set up the portable tv and sandwiches from a delli for the kids while we watched on the tv turned against the wall so the kids could not see. We had not seen any of the aftermath, just heard it on the radio and we were terrified. My husband is a large man. 6 foot 1 and 240lbs. He was shaking and crying, terrified, angry, heartbroken, you name it..

Finally we had enough and we got dr doolittle on pay per view to try and take all of our minds off the fear. Dr Doolittle is not something we would normally let our children watch, but what is a little crude language after 9-11?

We got up at abotu 4am the next morning and as we made our way back to the base in Nd, we noticed gas in one station at 4.00 per gallon. We kept filling up everytime we found a station, just to be sure we would be able to get gas, regardless of the price.

The kids had been scared, but not really sure of what was going on, other than there had been an accident, UNTIL we got to the base. It was like driving up to a nazi prison camp. There were spotlights shinningin every car, peacekeepers(Air Force tanks) w/little boys really popping out of the top w/guns, police dogs and bomb sniffing dogs, mirrors checking under every car, etc. My son started crying. He was so afraid. They had grown up on military bases, so he had always seen the gate guards w/guns, but never like this. We got home and I just wanted to crawl into a ball and cry when I saw my husband drage out his chem warfare gear and his mobility bag and set them in the garage next to the truck....... Our 10 year old knew something odd, more than an accident was going on. We told her and her brother to the best of our ability w/o freaking them out too much, but since our hosue faced the front gate, all they had to do was look out their bedroom windows and see that all was not well anymore. We cried, and prayed all night, finally falling asleep about 3am....

[disneyknut]

Oh gosh.. I can probably tell you almost hour for hour what I was doing on that day..
After getting my DS's off to school, my DH & I sat down to put together PTA folders ( DH was PTA President at the time) & for once, my TV-aholic DH didn't have the TV on.. Around 9:45 he turned on the TV & we both looked at each other stunned & after watching TV we realized this was a terror attack & immediately thought of our children.. We live fairly close to a nuclear plant & without knowing the terrorist plan we became concerned & also DH wanted to go up to the school to help out..
When we got in the school it was a ZOO... parents were calling & coming in to pick up their children every several seconds... I decided that I would stay & work ( I'm a cafeteria aide at the school) & DH offered to help the secretary & principal in getting the parents/kids together..
At lunch the kids knew 'something' bad had happened as the secretary kept coming on the PA System announcing another child to come to the office to go home or my DH was coming in to get another child..
My oldest son was very worried & kept asking me what was wrong & I told him that something bad had happened & I was taking him & his brother home after lunch...
Several of the kids were scared & kept asking what was wrong to the point of hysterics so I asked our principal to talk to the kids ( thinking he would just say something bad happened) well, he went on a 10 minute tirade on terrorism etc that REALLY scared the kids..
After lunch I took my kids & we went home.. as soon as we walked in the front door my oldest son burst into tears & said "Buba's dead, isn't she?" I assured him that his great-grandma was alive & well & even called her ( oddly, she would be gone from us not 7 months later [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] )
I spoke to my boys honestly & truthfully & allowed them to watch as much TV & ask as many questions as they wanted..
It was a pretty scary day & I rememver thinking that we were due to be on a plane in a month after not flying for a long time.. ~~My cousin was supposed to be a passenger on Flight 487 that went down here in Pittsburgh & by a miracle ( he insists my deceased Mom was with him) he missed that flight & came home from a completely different city.. & it kinda scared me off planes for a while.
We did make that trip to WDW to show that the terrorist couldn't get us down!! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[MegglesMom]

Wow, what an experience you had. I was actually just talking this over with my DH.
I was a flight attendant (my dream come true job) with a commuter airline based out of Boston. On the 10th, I was called in to do two quick round trips to Washington. No big deal, so I thought, I was scheduled to be off the next couple of days anyhow.
When we got to D.C. there were delays and more delays. We ended up cancelling one of the round trips and being one of the last planes out of D.C. that night. I had no idea how lucky I was to make it out.
The next morning I was sleeping in, having got home at about 1:30am. The phone rang, and it was my father, asking me if I knew what had happened. I said no, and turned on the tv in time to see the second plane crash. From then on that day, I couldn't stop crying. Everyone I knew was calling me, making sure I was safe on the ground.
Not long after that day, I was laid off from that airline. I did get to fly a couple of flights but they were eerily empty. Hopefully after DD is older I'd be able to go back.

[statelady01]

I worked at one of our hospitals here in the outpatient surgery center- my office was behind the reception desk- separated by just a half wall so I could hear what was going on in the lobby fairly well.

I was just typing away when I heard some gasps and screams and I just ran out there- as usually some people do that when someone faints from pre-sugery jitters (happens from time to time)- One of the registration clerks pointed at the tv and it was after the first plane had crashed- then they showed the second and it was horrific- people were just crying because it was just awful- as we were watching the second plane approach- I just said "That plane is flying with purpose" and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I went back and sat down and then the news started saying there were two planes in the traffic control system that were unaccounted for. Several people cancelled their surgeries on the spot- as they had relatives in NYC and Washington.

I kept working, crying, working, crying, working, crying all day. Then I had to explain to my oldest DS what happened as he had heard it at school- trying to do that with a 6 year old is pretty tough.

I hope our country continues to heal and I don't think those people lost that day and their families will ever be out of my thoughts.

[iloverags2]

I was on an Amtrak train headed into Washington D.C. (from Chicago). I finally got a cell phone signal sometime around 10ish a.m. (we still hadn't gotten word yet on the train yet of what had happened). It was the first time I talked with my DH that morning and he said, "it's just awful what happened to the WTC." I had no clue, so DH filled me in on the phone. Since I was in a sleeping car, I spoke with a few other travelers about it. Soon afterwards, the train stopped and we weren't allowed to continue on for hours. (We were somewhere in West Virginia/Pennsylvania at the time.) My husband told me not to go all the way to D.C. once we started moving again. He wanted to know what stops we would make before then (he was worried about more attacks and me being stuck in D.C.). My sister does quite a bit of traveling with her company so I called her to see if she was familiar with any of the towns we would make stops in. Luckily she was (Rockville, MD), and had stayed at a Courtyard there several times. She immediately got on the phone with them and made a reservation for me. By noon, my husband was in his car from Jacksonville and drove up to MD to pick me up from the hotel. (I think he made the drive in 12 hours...he just couldn't drive fast enough to come and get me, he says.)

[darthminnie]

This is something that is on every ones mind as the eve of the anniversary is here....I enjoy reading your stories, as it is a bit comforting...


Here is mine.........

On Sept. 9, 2001, I held the hand of my Grandfather as he took his last breath. He was sourounded by his family, but we watched him die, and that in itself was mind blowing...

My Grandfather was a WW2 Sub veteran, so we planned a military funeral.

Sept. 11, all of the family had flown in from all over the US. I was in my living room trying to get the image of my grandfathers last moment, when my husband called me...

He told me to turn on the TV, he was listening to the radio, and was reported that oen plane had crashed into the WTC. At that moment, I had an image of a a small 4 seater plane...

I turned on the TV........in time to see the second plane hit.

He hung up and told me he would be home in a couple of minutes...being self employed sometimes has it's advantages....

I then called my Mom, we sat on the phone, while watching TV. My brain could not accept what was happening. I felt numb.....

Oh, I forgot to tell you, my son's Dad decided to try and comit suicide the night before....luckily, he did not succeed, but I just could not handle this.....I wanted to crawl up and make the world go away.....

while I was on the phone with my Mom, the first tower fell, it just did not make any sense...

That is when I called the Red Cross to volunteer my services as a grief counseler.

We all felt powerless...being in Connecticut, I felt like getting into my car and driving to New York. But I dd not.

We had my Grandfathers calling hours that night. I had to sing, Amazing Grace.......the outpouring of emotion was amazing. There are a group of WW2 sub vets that came in to salute my Grandfather, and that was so beautiful.

After the wake, I invited my best friend over the house, we sat and drank wine while watching and crying over the TV. We needed to so something. I do not know if it was the wine or not...but we thought that we would get into our mini-vans, and drive to New York to bring the rescue workers coffee...ok, it was the wine, but we had to do something.

We decided to put together a town vigil. We thought that we could get 150 people to show up.

We arranged for the local firemen, police officers, politicians, a DJ and some singers, and the Red cross was there to take donations....

we would have been happy if 150 people showed up.......


3000 people came.

That vigil helped me breath again, and helped me realize that people are good. People do care, and there is far more GOOD people out there than bad.

The thing that sticks out the most, was when a boy of around 12 came up to me at the end of the vigil, dressed in army fatigues on his bike...he stopped , handed me a dollar...and told me to donate it to the 'people'.

[darthminnie]

This is something that is on every ones mind as the eve of the anniversary is here....I enjoy reading your stories, as it is a bit comforting...


Here is mine.........

On Sept. 9, 2001, I held the hand of my Grandfather as he took his last breath. He was sourounded by his family, but we watched him die, and that in itself was mind blowing...

My Grandfather was a WW2 Sub veteran, so we planned a military funeral.

Sept. 11, all of the family had flown in from all over the US. I was in my living room trying to get the image of my grandfathers last moment, when my husband called me...

He told me to turn on the TV, he was listening to the radio, and was reported that oen plane had crashed into the WTC. At that moment, I had an image of a a small 4 seater plane...

I turned on the TV........in time to see the second plane hit.

He hung up and told me he would be home in a couple of minutes...being self employed sometimes has it's advantages....

I then called my Mom, we sat on the phone, while watching TV. My brain could not accept what was happening. I felt numb.....

Oh, I forgot to tell you, my son's Dad decided to try and comit suicide the night before....luckily, he did not succeed, but I just could not handle this.....I wanted to crawl up and make the world go away.....

while I was on the phone with my Mom, the first tower fell, it just did not make any sense...

That is when I called the Red Cross to volunteer my services as a grief counseler.

We all felt powerless...being in Connecticut, I felt like getting into my car and driving to New York. But I dd not.

We had my Grandfathers calling hours that night. I had to sing, Amazing Grace.......the outpouring of emotion was amazing. There are a group of WW2 sub vets that came in to salute my Grandfather, and that was so beautiful.

After the wake, I invited my best friend over the house, we sat and drank wine while watching and crying over the TV. We needed to so something. I do not know if it was the wine or not...but we thought that we would get into our mini-vans, and drive to New York to bring the rescue workers coffee...ok, it was the wine, but we had to do something.

We decided to put together a town vigil. We thought that we could get 150 people to show up.

We arranged for the local firemen, police officers, politicians, a DJ and some singers, and the Red cross was there to take donations....

we would have been happy if 150 people showed up.......


3000 people came.

That vigil helped me breath again, and helped me realize that people are good. People do care, and there is far more GOOD people out there than bad.

The thing that sticks out the most, was when a boy of around 12 came up to me at the end of the vigil, dressed in army fatigues on his bike...he stopped , handed me a dollar...and told me to donate it to the 'people'.

[Janet 46]

That day was my then 3 year old daughter's first day of pre-school, so we were pretty excited about her new adventure. She was supposed to be at school at 11:30 am, so she was watching Dora the Explorer and I was doing some work on the computer, when my DH called and told me that a plane had hit the WTC. I went to the kitchen and turned on the TV and saw the second plane hit. I called my DH and told him of the 2nd plane. Then, my MIL called to ask if I was watching and while we were on the phone, we heard of the plane hitting the Pentagon. She became upset and told me that my BIL's wife was working at the Pentagon that week. When the towers collapsed, the TV station went dead. We got our signal from the antenna at the top of the WTC, so we no longer had ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox. I switched to the satellite dish and was able to pick up CNN.

The news people kept getting conflicting reports, and I couldn't watch anymore, so I grabbed my daughter and we went to the grocery store. I don't know why. I just had to get out of the house and away from the images on TV. Unfortunately, I live just 20 miles from Manhattan and from various parts of town, we could always see the twin towers. Now, all I could see was black smoke.

At 11:30, I went to the pre-school to drop off my daughter. Once she was settled, I lost it. I started sobbing and crying and I couldn't stop. I told anyone who would listen that I was worried about my SIL at the Pentagon, but it was more than that. It was a gut wrenching fear that there would be more attacks and we were helpless to stop any of it.

[LilMarcieMouse]

I was in bed trying to sleep a little late I had the day off and had to go to the dentist. I heard my sister fromher room yell a plane hit the World Trade Center, I shot out off bed and into her room.By that time the 2nd one had hit. We then moved out to the living room. To watch. I remeber I showered and got ready to go. I know I saw the buildings colapse but I can't remember if it was befor my opointment or not. It was an errie day Hardly anyone was at the dentist and they had all there T.V.'s on the new.(they have T.V.'s for the paients to watch.) I didn't know how long it would take so I told my mom I would walk to K-Mart and call her. Noone was in the parking lot. It was so wierd. I work for K-Mart and didn't want to go in there so I went to the next store over and it was deserted. It's a nick nack place. She had the news on the radio. It's defenetly something I will never forget. [img]graemlins/pout.gif[/img]

[elbug10]

I was in bed that morning, dozing with the television on, as I often do. (I think the background noise is comforting, somehow, and helps me sleep). Anyway, the Today show was on, and I remember hearing them say that a plane had hit the WTC. I was still asleep, but what I was hearing on tv became part of my dream, somehow, and I dreamed that I was ON the plane that hit the WTC, that I was both on the plane, and inside the building at the same time, watching the plane come toward me. Weird, I know. Well, the dream was so disturbing to me that I woke up, only to discover that it was no dream, and that a second plane had hit. Then, I was fully awake and watching when they announced that a helecopter had hit the Pentagon, and as they were correcting that, that it had been a third passenger jet, they switched to a live shot of NYC as the first tower fell. I remember Peter Jennings (I had switched channels by then), saying "what are we looking at?" and the reporter answering "the tower is GONE, Peter". That's when it finally hit me how bad this was.

I had to go to work (at a warehouse club) that afternoon, and I remember how eerily quiet it was, and how all anyone could talk about was the attacks, and if there had been any more news. I couldn't seem to get enough news, and was glued to the tv as much as possible. I felt for the families who had lost loved ones, as my own mother had died unexpectedly about a year before that. I remember them interviewing one WTC worker who said all she wanted to do was get down the stairs and get home to be held in her mother's arms. That was when I finally cried. I said "I hope that's where she is tonight".

God Bless America [img]graemlins/usa.gif[/img]

[chezp]

I was driving home from work. I was nearly home (about an hour's journey) and I hadn't had the radio on - I was listening to music. I switched over to hear something (a presenter I liked, not news specifically) and heard them talking about the awful events in America. I had to keep listening to hear what had happened and then I just burst into tears as I was driving.

I was the Head of News at a local radio station, so phoned my journalists to see how they were doing covering the story. They were just in shock, but still doing their job. I think we were all in shock really. The enormity of events probably didn't hit us until a couple of days later.

[AKLRULZ]

9/11/01 was probably the most gorgeous day of that year here in Virginia - the kind of day you want to call in sick or play hookey from school. I was still working in Corporate America and had early client meetings so after dropping the kiddos off at the bus stop I headed into the office earlier than normal to facilitate my client.

Shortly before 9AM one of my clients arrived at my office and asked if I had the news on - he'd heard a small plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers - I remember thinking how awful but I kind of blew it off because that day was to be extremely busy. I had my entire management team flying into Richmond from a variety of locations and they were due in throughout the morning.

I got my client settled and when I returned to my office my partner was mentioning something about the World Trade Center being hit by a plane. I called my mom who was watching the Today show in shock, as the second plane had just hit with cameras focusing on - she was pretty upset. At this moment I had the first eerie feeling something wasn't right. I asked where my father was (he is involved in National Security terrorist issues). Mom said she thought he had meetings at the Pentagon and she was going to try to call him.

Of course then the news of the Pentagon being struck and planes targeting other places began to come through and sheer panic enveloped me until we were able to ascertain that my father was not due at the Pentagon but rather on Capitol Hill. We got through to his mobile phone and he was being escorted by Military Police out of DC into Northern Virginia. I will never forget how he sounded as he told me about seeing the Pentagon only an hour or so after the impact.

We closed our downtown office and moved the staff to our suburb location or sent them home and our management team were diverted to the closest airport their plane was near. I got in touch with my wife and our schools here remained open so we left the kids there rather than bringing them home like we originally wanted to - we just wanted to bunker down.

Once I was home we told the kids that something terrible had happened and we touched base with family and friends. Our church had an impromptu service and the house was just packed with people coming together.

It's a day I'll never forget.

[Colexis Mom]

I was at work. DH was home, as he was actually working second shift that week, and DD was home sick so he was up with her. He called me after the first plane hit, I said "you must be joking", he said no. At that point they weren't sure if it was a piper or an airliner. I immediately pulled up the web at work and saw the headlines. I went around telling people that a plane had just struck the tower. Then the calls for other co-workers families who were at home started coming in. We tried pulling up the web for more info, but it was just locked since there was so much traffic. Downstairs from our office is the fitness center, which has a TV, so a bunch of us went down there and watched what was happening. It was surreal, how could this be happening.

I was able to leave work around lunch since DH had to go to work and I had to stay with DD. On my way home from work, I had to stop and go food shopping as we had been away that weekend. When I got into the parking lot and saw that the flag was at half mast, I lost it. I kept the TV on in the bedroom all day just watching. Thank goodness DD was only 2 at the time, and she had no idea what any of this meant.

It was hard to get to sleep, as DH was not there, and it was very quiet. We live about 30 minutes from BDL, and usually around 9 PM the flight path usually changes and you can hear the planes going over the house, but it was so quiet that night. It was also hard being here in CT so close to everything that happened, and to see how it affected people so close to us. Plus, having grown up outside of Boston, it affected me that way as well.

[Chrissi]

We watched GMA as they cut to the 1st crash and as we stood in front of the tv talking about how it must have been a little cessna, off course, DH said "no way did a Cessna do that much damage" and the second plane hit while we watched. I turned to DH, said something like "there's no way that was an accident." We made a quick call to some friends in Manhattan to make sure they knew what was going on and to pack a bag and head for the nearest bus. We arranged to pick them up at the bus stop that afternoon. Three days later, they arrived.

[GoofyMom]

Being Canadian, I have a different and yet similar story. 1 woman from Winnipeg was murdered in the WTC attack. She was visiting her brother who worked there.

I was making school lunches for my kids, listening to the radio. They announced a small plane had hit a building of the World Trade Centre in New York. I didn't know what the WTC was, but I thought, "gee, that's too bad. Somebody at Air Traffic Control must have made a terrible mistake, or the pilot must have had a heart attack." Shortly after, they said a second plane had hit the WTC. Even though I still had no clue what the WTC was, that's when I knew whatever was happening wasn't an accident and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, although I didn't understand the enormity of it all. I yelled for DS to turn on CNN and we watched the footage. The kids went off to school and I continued to watch CNN. The Pentagon being hit and the plane crashing in PA still didn't sink in to me about what was happening and I sure didn't understand why it was happening.

I think that movies and tv violence desensitized me a bit, because even when I was watching the towers fall, it still didn't hit me about how serious this was. After seeing it about 15 times I finally realized that there were still living people in those towers trying their best to make it out alive, but as soon as the floors collapsed that they were squashed like bugs. (sorry for being so graphic, but that's what it took to make me realize) That's when I started crying.

DH was away on a business trip working at the airport at Whitehorse, Yukon and I wanted him home but with the airspace closed there was no chance of that. He phoned and said for me not to worry -- he was ok but had been evacuated from the airport. I asked why and he told me that another passenger jet had sent in a hijacking distress signal and they were landing at that airport. It struck me then that we didn't know whether this was a global thing or not. Even in the sticks in Canada we found out we could be vulnerable too. And the world changed forever. [img]graemlins/pout.gif[/img]