What were you doing on 09/11/2001?

[bcguy]

It is often a question asked amongst people where they were on a very historic day in American history.

I remember July 20, 1969 This was the day the command module landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong said those famous words " one small step for man.....one giant leap...for man kind"

This was a glorius day for mankind.

Flash forward 30 years and many wars and triumphs.

September 11th

I was half awake half asleep when the alarm radio turned on. Being groggy, I listened to the disk jockey say "a plane has hit the world trade center" I interpreted it as "a small commuter plane has hit a large building in new york" I was half out of it..then continued to listen with the disk jockeys talking in a low somber tone. I was a bit mad and said to my self " I dont want to listen to this Orson Wells crap!..I want to hear the real news!" I then turned on the tv..and saw the immense smoke from the world trade center. Most every channel I turned on..same news then knew...this was very serious! But was nervous.. was more attacks going to happen...and from whom!!! I called my dad and said "Dad, America is under attack. He said huu? I said turn on the tv! he said which channel. I said "select ANY channel!"

That day was the ugliest day in American history. I went to work and everyone was quiet. One technician walked in and was happy and chipper and obviously did not know the news. I told him that America is under attack on the east coast. I explained that the world trade centers were hit by jet liners, and collapsed. He could not believe it. He was in those towers about two years ago.

Months passed and our company almost folded. Americans were scared to buy anything non essential. So that was when the company lay offs occurred and I lost my job.

Edited September 12, 2009 by bcguy

[Palerider]

I was at work listening to the radio when it all went down.

[annewandering]

. Turned on tv and was so shocked. We sat in front of the tv all day in shock. When we heard the two planes were missing our hearts just dropped. We knew they were headed somewhere and it was going to be bad.

There were parts I just couldnt watch. People jumping out of buildings. It makes me sick to my stomach even today. A friend of mine online was terrified because her aunt and cousins worked in the building. I think one survived.

I remember when Bush went there and he spoke with tears running down his eyes. I never liked his politics but I never doubted he cared after that. What a mess to drop on his new presidency.

[Bini]

I was driving in my car and heard it on the radio.

[talisyn]

My daughter was very little then and we were watching teletubbies. Well you can watch only so much of that so I would turn it to the news every so often and saw that a plane had hit the first tower. I thought 'gee that's too bad', watched for a bit, and changed it back to teletubbies. After that was over I turned it back to the news, mere moments after the second plane hit. That's when I woke my sisters up and told them something bad was happening.

Remember how safe the world was after the Berlin wall fell? Well, safe as far as total world destruction. I remember looking at my baby and realizing she's probably never going to be that safe ever again.

[xoomer]

I was homeless sleeping in a Labor Ready parking lot... when It went down.

By 4:30 that afternoon, I was enlisting in the Marine Corp, I now know more things about that day then I ever wanted to know...

[havejoy]

I was on vacation in Jamaica with my husband. We had slept in and were having a late breakfast in the dining room when we were told. It took us 5 days to get back into the US.

[Jbs2763]

I was on the NY State Thruway, driving a semi.. Stopped at the TA in Johnstown, NY and watched it go down in a room full of strangers on the driver lounge TV.

[pam]

I was working at an insurance company and the phones went dead. Not literally but no calls coming in. Then we started hearing the news. The window I could see out faced the flight pattern of planes coming into SLC. It was strange seeing no planes flying by for a couple of days.

[Palerider]

One of my former Missionary Companions was workign in D.C. He was on his way to work shortly after the plane hit the Pentagon and was coming over the bridge. He was on his way to work in the Senate Hart Building.

[Churchmouse]

I had just arrived at work (school) and the janitor out front asked "What do you think of all that going on". I didn't know what he was talking about. Turned on the TV.

[Guest Alana]

I was asleep and my house mate started screaming at me that something bad was happening on TV. I remember thinking "I'm sleeping for 10 more minutes, 5 more if it's the end of the world." Then the second plane hit and she started screaming again. I didn't get the 10 minutes of sleep.

[glow_inthe_dark_girl]

I was on high school... I barely understood the news cause I didn't speak english at the time..

[marshac]

I was in Italy visiting the Roman Forum- upon returning to the hotel, the woman at the front desk franticly ushered me to a TV which had CNN on. For a few hours I watched the TV before needing to get a bite to eat. While out, my brother and I talked as little as possible so that reporters (you could see them looking for US tourists) wouldn't bother us.

The next day, Rome was at a higher level of alert than before- police stood on street corners with assault weapons. Later on in the trip, we made our way to London, eventually flying home via heathrow which was a complete mess. Everyone probably remembers that air traffic was grounded which resulted in huge backups. As a result, there was lots of shouting at nearly every ticketing counter. Fortunately we had seats, so we didn't have to join the angry masses. Everybody and everything was searched by hand prior to getting on the plane, and once on, the BBC was not shown at all during the flight for unspoken yet understood reasons. Even though this country seems to screw a lot of things up, and seems to be going down the wrong path on a lot of issues, it still felt good to be home.