Where Were You?

[Gwen]

i was talking in chat with some folks and we were talking about how it's september 11. we talked about where we where when we heard and how we reacted.

i caught a bit of it on the news but had to get ready for an enrichment meeting we had that morning and didn't realize the gravity of the situation. we talked about it some in the meeting but it didn't really hit me what all had happend or what it all meant till later that afternoon. but when it did set in i think there was a bit of shock cause watching various news channels was all i did for the next few days.

one thing that got me to thinking in chat was about how ppl from other countries reacted, for some reason i never thought about it. but in chat i had the opportunity to hear about that...the non american reaction.

so i'd like to hear from yall where you were and how you responded, even those not in the usa. a personal global perspective if you want to call it that.

please, do not turn this into a debate on the war, or your feelings about the war. this is more in memory of the tragady of that day and how it changed or didn't change you. thanks.

[Josie]

I was in the fitness center working on the tredmill, I believe, when it came on. But soon everyone was gathered around the small tv on the shelf watching in unbelief.

It was a horrifying day and almost unbelieveable to the eye and mind.

Josie

[Dr T]

home watching the news I was floored. I was astonished and thinking, "This is happening on our soil?"

[Annabelli]

On 9/11, one child was home sick from school and had turned the TV on earlier and was watching a news program on NBC. Apparently they have cameras covering the city and broke in with the first plane hitting the World Trade Center and said "It looks like a plane just hit the World Trade Center." Then they showed a ferry that was caught up in the rippling waters from the trauma of the explosion.

When my child was able to draw my attention away from my cooking, I was thinking that the broadcast was some sort of re-enactment of the 90's bombing. And then we watched the 2nd plane crash into the building. Of course like everyone, we then followed the events that followed.

My other child was in school and they did not make an annoucement. It was just another normal school day. When the school children left the building, parents picking up their children were screaming. My child was a bus rider. The bus driver made the children ride with their heads down over their knees with their hands over their necks all the way to their stop. All the while, she told them about the days events.

When the bus would make a stop, neighbors who did not have children and parents who did, were running out to the bus and screaming that the US was under attack.

I wish the school had made an announcement at the end of the day. My child arrived home concerned and confused.

Later in the evening my child said "We had a good school day. The teachers were really nice to us." He drew back on that comfort that he was given at school as did I and my other child. And that is how we made it through 9/11.

[Canuck Mormon]

I remember waking up and turning on the radio. There was an upbeat song on. Then the DJ's came on and said that they didn't feel like singing along because of "what is happening to our US neighbours". With that statement I sat up in bed and turned on the TV to CNN and was astonished. I remember holding my son that day and wondering, "could it happen here?". I was glued to any news channel for the next few days. I still try and watch anything about it.

[Acez]

Well it was September the 12th here. I remember waking up and getting ready for school. Switching on the TV and seeing what I saw on it. I rushed into my parents room and told them to switch on the TV. That whole day at school, we didn't do much. Alot of sadness and sorrow.

Acez

[StrawberryFields]

I remember Sept.11th, 2001 like it was yesterday. I was out of town on business with my husband. We were in Chicago and staying at the Swiss Hotel on an upper floor. My husband and I watched the same thing in horror; we were scheduled to fly home later that day. We called our children who were home in Utah they were a senior, a sophomore, and an 8th grader. The group of people we were with quickly secured two buses to get us home which took days to do so. Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley I was wet from tears. I will never forget how relieved I was to be with my family after those days without them and the uncertainty I felt..

Here is a link to where they are now at Ground Zero.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20714734/site/newsweek/?GT=10357

[Elphaba]

I remember Sept.11th, 2001 like it was yesterday. I was out of town on business with my husband. We were in Chicago and staying at the Swiss Hotel on an upper floor. My husband and I watched the same thing in horror; we were scheduled to fly home later that day. We called our children who were home in Utah they were a senior, a sophomore, and an 8th grader. The group of people we were with quickly secured two buses to get us home which took days to do so. Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley I was wet from tears. I will never forget how relieved I was to be with my family after those days without them and the uncertainty I felt..

Here is a link to where they are now at Ground Zero.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20714734/site/newsweek/?GT=10357

I was getting ready for work and the first plane had hit. Most of the commentary was that it was probably an accident. Then the second plane hit. I didn't know what to do. I was in denial. I didn't believe it was true. . . I still thought it was an accident. I wouldn't turn on my television. All the way to work I listened to the radio, but didn't believe them that it was a terrorist attack. It was very weird.

Then at work everyone was around a large television set, watching the second plane hit over and over, and it finally sank in. Then we all watched in real tme as the towers came down, and the estimates were 10,000 people. They sent us all home, but it took me a few minutes to be able to stand up.

Later I was alone in my apartment watching the pictures over and over and over, in shock, trying to imagine 10,000 people.

Strawberry, that link was eerie to me for some reason. Isn't that weird?

Did you notice the new towers are mostly in Dubai and Asian countries?

Elphaba

[StrawberryFields]

Elphaba,

As I remember things about that day the whole thing seems eerie...

My husband and I had just been to a dinner on the top floor of the John Hancock Building the night before they hit. Being from out of town and in a hotel we felt the need to get out and walk while we waited for the buses to arrive. We walked the streets of the Magnificent Mile where we had been just the day before; where people were hustling and bustling but that morning the streets were quiet. There were only a few food places open and people who were out had blank looks.

When my son was in the hurricane last week I thought about what he might be feeling.... I thought about 9-11-01 for us. All my son wanted was to be home.... all we wanted when that day came was to be with our family.

[prisonchaplain]

We were in our first home, in Miami, FL, with no kids (vs. 3)--and yes...shocked. Two weeks later I'm at work (in the federal jail). I get a call from the back gate..."Chaplain, are you expecting anything from Saudi Arabia?"

Instead of the expected "no" I say, "You know I think I might..."

"Get down here right now!!!"

Well...the Qurans weren't from Saudi Arabia, they were from the Saudi Arabian embassy--gifts they had offered to send some six months earlier.

Funny now...but no one was laughing that day.

[Elphaba]

We were in our first home, in Miami, FL, with no kids (vs. 3)--and yes...shocked. Two weeks later I'm at work (in the federal jail). I get a call from the back gate..."Chaplain, are you expecting anything from Saudi Arabia?"

Instead of the expected "no" I say, "You know I think I might..."

"Get down here right now!!!"

Well...the Qurans weren't from Saudi Arabia, they were from the Saudi Arabian embassy--gifts they had offered to send some six months earlier.

Funny now...but no one was laughing that day.

PC,

Did you use them?

Elphie

[prisonchaplain]

All but one--our intelligence officer said he needed it for his office.

[onyx]

i was talking in chat with some folks and we were talking about how it's september 11. we talked about where we where when we heard and how we reacted.

i caught a bit of it on the news but had to get ready for an enrichment meeting we had that morning and didn't realize the gravity of the situation. we talked about it some in the meeting but it didn't really hit me what all had happend or what it all meant till later that afternoon. but when it did set in i think there was a bit of shock cause watching various news channels was all i did for the next few days.

one thing that got me to thinking in chat was about how ppl from other countries reacted, for some reason i never thought about it. but in chat i had the opportunity to hear about that...the non american reaction.

so i'd like to hear from yall where you were and how you responded, even those not in the usa. a personal global perspective if you want to call it that.

please, do not turn this into a debate on the war, or your feelings about the war. this is more in memory of the tragady of that day and how it changed or didn't change you. thanks.

Hi ALmom,

Here in Sydney Australia we were sleeping when the actual event occurred.

We woke to the news on all of our radio and TV networks.

Every usual program was wiped and only coverage of the event was being aired.

We were all in shock!

We have friends in New York.

Immediately tried to contact them....of course in vain.

It was many days before we got through to them.

We were actully booked to arrive in New York the following week.

My husband had a work convention to attend.

Sydney as a city went into mourning.

That may seem hard to believe...but it's true.

Even the youngest of children knew about it and were affected in some way.

Onyx

[miztrniceguy]

i was on vacation. at the time, i lived in wyoming, but was in calif on a road trip. i left oakland about 5am with a friend, drove hwy 1 south ventura, then went eastward to valencia...destination-Magic Mountain. had the radio off the whole way until arriving in valencia. learned when checking in the hotel. before going to my room, where i watched on tv and learned the magnitude of the horrific event, my first call was to MM to make sure they were going to be open. i remember that i was going to be real angry if they weren't.after all, i had driven well over 1000 miles to get there. they were.

looking back...cant beleive that was my first thought

1 yr and 2 days later was my wedding day

[pam]

I was at work. I worked for an insurance company at the time. One of my coworkers said that a plane had hit one of the towers. We thought just a freak accident. Then we hear about the 2nd plane. Our office manager immediately brought out 3 tv's and turned them on different stations for the news. It was strange. You could tell that everyone across the country was glued to the news. Normally we would have taken about 50 calls an hour. Maybe 10 calls came in that entire day. Then to hear about the Pentagon and the plane crashing into the field in PA. It was just too unbelievable. The next 2-3 days was extremely odd. My desk faced the flight pattern for the SLC airport. It was very strange to not see ONE plane in the sky.

[Brother Dorsey]

I was woken up by my 5 month old son, I changed and fed him, I was rocking him to sleep and also playing gin (cards) online when the person whom I was playing with (from the east coast) typed in "a plane just hit the World Trade Center", I said what? He told me to turn on CNN. So I laid my son in his bed, turned on the TV and there it was....needless to say the sound woke my wife and she got a little mad until I told her why. We stayed glued to the set, she got in the shower and the other plane hit...I rushed in the bath and told her...she thought I was kidding. I woke the other kids and told them what was happening...as a family we watched it unfold, the kids went to school, I went to work...work was quiet that day, we had a little TV set up in our break room and we watched as often as we could. The world mourned that day...that day we were not just Americans, Canadians, British, Australians etc., we were brothers and sisters.

[Jbs2763]

I was on Interestate 90, aka the New York Thruway, listeing to local country radio in Albany, NY. I was in shock, I got off the highway at Johnsville, NY, the TA truckstop, went in and watched the towers fall. I was in a room with sevaral people....was the lonliest day of my life. I sat there and contined to watch for a while....then i got in my truck and got back on the road. I stopped for my 8 hr break on the pike, then went in and watched President Bush's press conference in the mcdonalds...... It was in erie night, becuase i didnt see any highway patrol in Ohio. I konw that is an odd thing to remember....but that's what i do

Travis Tritt was on the radio

[siouxz72]

I was at work. I used to work on a small quality response team for a computer company and worked the 6am-2:30pm. A gentlemen down the row from me (just happened to be in my stake) stood up and said...hey everyone a plane just crashed in to the wtc. I got off the phone as quick as I could so I could find out what happened. I thought it was just an accident. Then minutes later the other plane hit. I called home to let my husband know. He was getting the kids ready for school so they turned on the tv to see if there was anything on about it. We were living in California so it was still pretty early in the day. I just remember the shock. I was talking to Michael and we were just shocked. The people falling and then the building falling...it was all just too much. Nobody could fathom that we had actually been attacked. That's my main memory and feeling from that day... the utter shock and disbelief.... it was pure craziness.

[Jbs2763]

I was on Interestate 90, aka the New York Thruway, listeing to local country radio in Albany, NY. I was in shock, I got off the highway at Johnsville, NY, the TA truckstop, went in and watched the towers fall. I was in a room with sevaral people....was the lonliest day of my life. I sat there and contined to watch for a while....then i got in my truck and got back on the road. I stopped for my 8 hr break on the pike, then went in and watched President Bush's press conference in the mcdonalds...... It was in erie night, becuase i didnt see any highway patrol in Ohio. I konw that is an odd thing to remember....but that's what i do

Travis Tritt was on the radio

Also, on Sept. 10,2001 I watched the sunrise over the twin towers

[jaguarangel]

My thoughts were just like Elphie's. Thought that it had to be an accident. Those things just don't happen in the US! Mom had called and said to turn on the news. I watched all day, riveted to the set, having a hard time believing that this was real.

Was studying medical terminology at the time, during the newscasts.

[Snow]

Where was I?

Looked in a grain silo - rolling up old gym socks and lacing them with Janitor-In-A-Drum. Man - I thought I'd never come down.

[Winnie G]

On September 11th I was working from home when a childhood friend of my daughters MSN me and said “It’s awful what’s happening in NY” I said what’s happening? She told me to turn on the TV. Just as I tuned in the second plane hit. I know life as we know it changed.

With in a few moments the phone rang and my husband said “I need you to put my kit (army) on the back porch I won’t have time to talk to you, I love you”.

I did what he asked in a fog not watching for him to pick it up. Like every one else I sat in front of the TV until late in the afternoon. I then shut it off and started to make dinner. One of my older sons turned it back on came in to the kitchen and told me to come back in and watch there was something on TV. I told him no he yelled at me that this could change what his father was doing did I not want to watch?

I told him I was doing what his father would want me to do make dinner!

It was not till that Sunday when I walked in to the chapel and saw two flags on the stand US and Canadian. I felt my knees weaken I spent the meeting under my husbands arm.

I wept.

I still cant watch news from that day, and planes never looked the same since.

[Aphrodite]

I was at home with my Dad as we both had the flu. As he was watching a film, I went into the other room to put 'Neighbours' on as it was 1.40. Instead of Neighbours there was a picture of a building with smoke coming out of it. I was like, what? I shouted to my Dad to put on BBC1 as I didnt really get what was happening. As I listened I thought, this is weird, how can a plane just hit a building like that? So me and my Dad sat watching it and then we saw the second plane hit and we knew then it was terrorists. As Winnie said, I remember thinking, this is a turning point in our world and history, life wont be quite the same again. Watching those towers collapse just broke my heart, my Dad and I sat in tears. The next day the papers were only on the WTC, from front to back, no sport or anything. Looking at those pictures of people falling from the buildings and jumping, made me cry even more, we cant comprehend such a dreadful situation-burn to death or jump. I stood up for the two minutes silence the following day, alone in my front room, and I cried for all those people. It was just so terrible. I'll never forget that day.

I watched Farenheit 9/11 on Monday, my husband has been trying to get me to watch it for ages. I was shocked and disgusted at Bush's connections with Al-Qaeda and his actions over 9/11. My husband and I both wondered, who on earth would have chosen to vote him back in for a second term???? The man's got blood on his hands, in my eyes he's no better than a murderer. It was truly shocking.

[shanstress70]

I was at work when it happened, listening to the radio when the DJ announced what had happened. I thought it was an accident... never even thought about it being intentional till the second plane hit. This happened one year before my child was born. I kept toying with the idea of going home, but my husband was working and I didn't want to be alone, so I stayed at work all day. However, I went to a prayer session at a local Lutheran church (I was LDS at the time) that was right down the road from my office. It helped to be around people and in church, even though I'm not a big church person, or outwardly religious in any way. I watched the coverage CONSTANTLY for the next week or so and was really depressed, as I'm sure many people were. It was strange living close to the airport and never seeing any planes.

[pushka]

I was on holiday with my family and a friend's family, in a caravan site near Filey, North Yorkshire, UK.

We were just watching the TV before getting ready to go out for the day, when we saw the coverage. Until that day, I didn't even know the WTC existed! I was so shocked and saddened, and found it difficult to believe the number of people who were killed. I still find it difficult to comprehend.

We all discussed the likelihood of repercussions from the attacks...would somebody be silly and set off the Nuclear Weapons, causing other countries to follow suit...the camp site was quite near to the American Military Site, Menwith Hill, near Harrogate and we were envisioning all sorts of terrible situations occurring. Eventually we had to stop talking about it as the kids were getting really scared and we all felt so depressed.

I recently watched 2 programmes about that day...one was a film reenacting the events following the attacks, and how some of the rescuers survived for days under the rubble...it was eye opening seeing what those guys went through...so sad. The 2nd programme was called The Man Who Predicted 9/11...that was a very informative and touching documentary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menwith_Hill

The link above is for Menwith Hill...the reason we were so afraid of an immediate counter attack...