9/11: We Remember

This incident was something that changed my life forever..

I and my mom had a big fight and I was packing my bags to get out of the house... As I was approaching the door, the news channel started flashing the images and news of the incident and I stood still...

My mom was there too and we both stood in silence and she started crying...

That moment I realized how precious life is and how precious family is....

My prayers are there with all those people who are dearer to god...

My son was 2 months old at the time, and my husband was, ironically enough, actually working in the Pentagon building (not full time, but that day he was supposed to be there). He was in the car on his way to work, listening to the news (we live in Delaware so it's a long drive) when he heard about the 1st tower being hit. He immediately called me and I turned on CNN in time to see the second tower hit. I then recall clearly asking him "do you think you should come home? Could something happen in Washington too?" and him reassuring me that no, it would be fine...and then of course we all know what happened next. Needless to say he did not make it to work that day, for which I am extremely grateful--and also grateful he had passed up the job he'd been offered about a year prior which would have had him actually working in the WTC.

I was in work listening to the whole thing unfold around us. I live in NJ and work for a demolition company. We were doing a job across from NY, and our supervisor saw the first plane hit (it flew right over his head). We started getting calls from our workers all in that area, to turn on the news and let them know what is going on. We were on the phone with the supervisor as the second plane hit. It was a very nerve wracking day to say the least. Our boss sent us home early when we started to hear military planes go over the office constantly. My other boss was a first responder to the scene, sad, sad day.

I was home alone in Michigan. My husband was half way across the U.S. in Seattle - he had just taken possession of an airplane and was out there learning how to fly it of all things (which he couldn't do when the no-fly went out), one of my sisters had just moved to LA and my Mother who went out there with her, was scheduled to fly out of LA at 8am PST that day, our 21 year old cat died the day before and the other sister and I decided to get together and have a funeral. She also had a bachelorette party to attend that evening.

In my family no one was where they normally would have been. We were spread out all over the place. It was very strange and lonely.

I don't watch TV in the morning because I just get sucked into the couch for the day - so it was unusual that I woke up early and was literally pulled to the TV. I remember sitting in front of the TV thinking "Why am I here?" then all of a sudden the news of the first crash and the vision of the second. It was then that I knew.

I was living in Sweden at the time. My husband was at work and my 2 year old was sleeping. I was watching Oprah. A rolling bar came across the screen in Swedish and I remember being annoyed that something was interrupting my Oprah time. I barely read it. Another roling bar came on and I decided to check out the news. We only had CNN at that time to so I switched channels about 15 minutes before the second plane hit.

I did not take the TV off of CNN for 4 days. My shock and horror was tangible. I was on the phone with my family just to have contact with other Americans. When I finally left the house my daughter and I went to McDonalds and the lady that cleaned the tables came over to tell me how sorry she was for all of America. I just sat in McDonalds and cried.

I would sit and watch my daughter and try and imagine if the two of us had been on one of the planes.

I remember I had woken up my husband before I left to work early that morning to tell him happy 1 month anniversary. I didn't normally wake him before I left, but that day I wanted to talk to him before I left at 5:45 AM. After I had been at work for a while someone said there was a plane crash, so we all went to the conference room to watch the news and saw the horrible events unfold. I guess it strikes and shocks me that I started that day happy.

I was at our first MOPS meeting of the year. My mom called and gave me the news after the second plane hit, and I had to make the announcement to the ladies at our group. It was so difficult because many of the moms had husbands deployed in submarines and had no idea where they were located. We stopped our meeting and prayed, and basically spent the morning being there for each other because some of the women were unable to get back onto the Naval Weapons Station because they didn't have their ID because when they left that morning it was an open base and suddenly it was a closed base.

It took us several hours to find my uncle who was supposed to be in a meeting in the towers. His plane from San Francisco the night before had wheel issues and he had been delayed so his meeting had been pushed back until mid-morning.

Another close friend who worked in the towers was running late for work and missed the ferry. He watched from the middle of the river.

However my brother lost a very dear friend who I had only met once. He had worked with him in youth ministry. His name was Todd Beamer.

I remember I had just graduate from high school and would be leaving for college soon. I was at home folding laundry while watching TV and saw the news. I was absolutely in shock. What the people on the planes and in the towers went through... It's just unimaginable.

I found out later that one of my sister's classmates lost her dad in the attacks. He was on the plane that hit in Pennsylvania. And I remember seeing news reports that some people in other countries were actually laughing about the attacks. It made me so mad.

I don't really watch the news much (my husband and I don't have a TV), but every once in a while I'll hear someone go on about how we should deal with terrorists peaceably. That we're wrong to go to war with them. Maybe that's possible when your enemies are after your land or resources or whatever. But how could you possibly compromise with someone who simply wants you wiped from the face of the earth?

~Kate
Which Proverbs 14:1 Woman?
http://proverbs14-1.blogspot.com

I was at work when I first heard about it. Initially, I dismissed it as a joke, but then I heard about the second plane. By then, the news had spread. Then we heard about the Pentagon.

It took a few minutes to realize that my sister works there, and I went cold.

Couldn't reach her. Called the rest of my siblings. Watched television. Worried.

My sister called later that night. Her cell phone battery was dead, and in all the chaos, she couldn't call.

She was down the hall from the blast, and if it weren't for a friend going to the doctor that day, she would have been in the courtyard.

She lost friends and co-workers, and it was difficult to witness some of what she went through without being able to help much.

I was en route making deliveries for work listening to Howard stern. They got the news and turned the tv on...I heard their live reaction to the 2nd plane hitting. I remember Howard saying it was terrorist and that we were being attacked. I drove the whole day listening to the radio and calling back and forth to work and family and crying off and on...

I was on my way to school (it is funny how you remember where you were when things happen that are so shocking) I was driving over 494 when the reports of the first plane hiting the first building. I was at school wanting for the teacher to show up and we had turned the TV on as the second plane it. It was that day that my almost 2 year old started talking about going into the army. He still talks about going into the army today. We ended up know someone that was suppose to be on one of those planes. He got bumped from the flight and ended up getting on the next flight. It is one of those days that I will never forget. I just think of all those children that lost there parents that day.

I was living in Colorado, and at the time I was coordinator for a Catholic mission in Mexico. On Sept 10, two of our missionaries were in a serious car accident and I had made plans to get on a plane on Sept 11 to fly down. I never was able to get there, but thank heavens they both ended up making a full recovery.

One of my most vivid memories at the time was laying in bed one night and all of a sudden hearing a plane fly over - it was the National Guard patrolling. It scared the beejeesus out of me because I knew no planes were supposed to be in the air.

thinking about that day still gives me chills.

I'd had trouble sleeping the night before so I stayed up all night watching infomercials - I was so sick of infomercials I was relieved when the news came back on. but not for long. I was in Seattle so it was pretty early our time when it happened.

I remember the news caster actually thought the second plane was a replay of the first - for a moment and then he figured out that it was a second plan, said "this is an attack" and it was just silent for several minutes while they replayed the two planes over and over again.

I was 2000 miles away from my family and I've never felt so alone as I did that day.

My daughter is a special ed teacher. I was priviledged to be providing child care to her children that day.....they were 3 and 5. We didn't let them see any of the TV coverage. I am shocked that teachers would allow young children to see this tragety without the support and sensoring of their parents. A very good friend of ours is a New York City Policeman who lost many friends that day. I am torn between wishing there were more rememberences today and knowing that the families who lost loved ones are reminded everyday.....God Bless, Pam, South Bend

I was in England at that time. I was working in an office in London, when whispers went around the office that there had been a terrible plane crash in New York into the World Trade Center.

It was almost 2pm in the afternoon there.

We didn't have any TVs in the office but someone in another department was getting the news online from a stream of some kind.

It was when we heard that a second plane had crashed that the thought went instantly from it being a terrible accident to one of a deliberate act.

I called my wife, who was working for Credit Suisse First Boston, in London's docklands at the time, and who was very near to the 800 feet tall Canary Wharf Tower. It's one of the tallest office buildings in Europe, and I was mentally drawing a parallel to the World Trade Center.

The IRA had already bombed the area in 1996.

We met up, as we usually did, after work, and on the train ride home, no-one was really talking about anything else.

When we arrived home, around 6.30pm, we put the TV on, and watched the news channels over and over until the early hours of the morning.

I remember the atmosphere in England being generally one of shock, horror and total disbelief.

It made me think of things I didn't want to think - trying to imagine what those people in the Twin Towers went through; and thinking of what I would like to do to the perpetrators - if they had survived - I guess we all have an evil streak inside somewhere - my thoughts were definitely not humane at that time.

I know first hand what it is like to try and find out about friends and family involved in a tragedy; my ex in-laws perished in a ferry disaster in Belgium in 1987, and we called the emergency help line number for FOUR days before we even got through.

The world of course goes on but for some it stopped forever on that sunny morning in New York City, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and for many it will never quite be the same world again.