what were you doing? How was your life affected starting at 8:46AM EST? In honor of the victims of September 11, 2001, I decided to start this thread so that we, as a nation, will NEVER FORGET and will NEVER GIVE IN! As for me, I was in San Francisco on business travel. I arrived from my DC area home on Sunday and had a very productive Sept. 10th. One of the sales guys in our San Fran office had just bought a beautiful BMW Z8 and he told me that he would let me take it for a spin the following day after work. Needless to say, that never happened. I woke up around 6AM local time on the 11th, (after the first plane had hit) and called my wife to check on her and my kids. At that time, it was still being referred to as an "accident". I was on the phone with her when the second plane hit. It's funny how your brain works, but I saw the second plane coming in and thought out loud "that plane should be there" My next immediate thought was "we're under attack". When they started talking about the Pentagon being hit, I really started to be afraid. Not for me, but for my family as I live in the Washington, DC area and my mother and siblings all live in the NY. From my moms house, you can see into Manhattan, and it's directly under the flightpath from Kennedy airport. I tried to call my mom, and of course couldn't get through. I started having trouble getting my wife also, and that really spooked me. When she finally was able to call me, she said all the water was off in the house (we found out later that was done to help fight the fires at the Pentagon). She told me her parents wanted to come and get her and take her to their house. I was skeptical about that because they live in Hampton Roads and that is the home of Norfolk Naval Base. If there was going to be an attack on a military installation, Norfolk would probably top the list. The other option was for her to go to NY with my family (and that wasn't feasible). In the end, I figured it was best for her and the kids to go to Hampton Roads, so that they wouldn't be at home by themselves. My mother in law told me later that the roads were absolutely empty heading into the Washington DC area, and that NEVER happens. Once I got the report that everyone was safe at the in-laws, I was finally able to breathe a little better and concentrate on my other "problem". While I was in San Francisco, I had another one of my employees in NY (Manhattan) at another of the company offices. I was scheduled to fly to NY to meet him on that Wednesday (the 12th). I had never been to the NY office, so I had no clue where it was in relation to the Twin Towers. After hours of trying to contact him, I finally got through about 2PM EST. He was on the other side of Manhattan and was in the process of buying sneakers so that he could go to the World Trade Center and lend a hand if possible (he had just recently retired as a Major in the Army, so I knew he was able to take care of himself). I told him to watch out for himself and get home as soon as possible. He was actually able to catch a train home the next day. I talked to my mom several times that day to find out what happened to two of my cousins who worked in the World Trade Center. No one had heard from them all day and we were all worried. Later on, we found out that one had been at her company's office in NJ that day and my other cousin had a doctor's appointment that morning and unfortunately, got to the train station just in time to see several people jumping out of the building. It was about 7PM that night that we finally heard from her. Another weight was lifted off of me. I did have one more concern though. One of my fraternity brothers and good friends works for Bank of NY in the building right next to the Twin Towers. Half of that building was destroyed as well. I was finally able to contact him the next day and find out that physically, he was okay... I was finally able to secure a flight home on Saturday. In the interim, there was a surreal feeling around San Fran. My hotel room looked directly at San Fran's airport and I spend many an hour looking at that airport. When I did get out, and people found out where I was from, I could feel the genuine concern and kindness. The oddess thing for me was I decided to go to a movie, and I was the ONLY ONE in the theater (and this was a 8PM movie). I had a 10AM flight that Saturday and we got to the the airport at 6AM. I wasn't checking any bags, but still had to stand in line. I finally got to the boarding area around 8:50AM. Over 2 1/2 hours waiting in line, and the line just kept getting longer and longer. I arrived home late that night and although I was very tired, I drove the 3 1/2 hours down to Hampton Roads. I needed to see my wife and kids and just give them a big hug and kiss. I have not flown on an airplane since that day (and I was a United Premier Executive member). I'm not scared to fly, I just decided not to "create" any trips that I didnt' really have to take. The most important thing to me is my family, and I don't want to put any undue stress on my wife if I don't have to. She always hated when I went away on business. This isn't the end of my story, but rather the beginning of the rest of my life. My focus has changed so much since that day, it's amazing even to me. So I just wanted to share my experience, and see if anyone wanted to share theirs. We all went through our own personal battles on Sept. 11th and for me at least, it helps to write things like this down. God Bless you all...WE WILL NEVER FORGET! ------------------------------------------------------- My sig says just my 2 cents..but this one is real..
I was at work when the Senior Tax Accountant came out of his office and said that a plane had just crashed into the world trade center. Everyone was like "whhhaaaat? No way." As the day went on, all I wanted to do was go get my kids from daycare and go to my parents home. At the time I lived and worked within a 5 minute radius. This area is about 15 miles South of Wright Patterson Airforce Base. I wanted as far away as possible from the base. September 11, 2001 was a day when the multi million dollar executives and the "peons" stood side by side in front of the TV in the boardroom just staring at the TV watching the horror unfold. This was a long day. At the end of the work day, I left work to go get my kids. I was sitting at a stop light and heard a big boom. Being too young to remember the sonic booms, I thought that this could be bombs. When I crossed the intersection and was driving like hell to the daycare, everyone had come out of their houses and were standing looking at the sky, some people with phones in their hands. My line of vision followed theirs. There were planes in the sky. No way, I thought, everything is grounded. This was so spooky. I was about 5 blocks from my children's daycare. I must have been flying when I pulled into the daycare. I ran into the daycare and got my kids and drove home (quickly!). I found out shortly thereafter, that the boom that I heard was the sonic boom from the jets at Wright Patt, someone said that they had been granted special permission or something. As the week progressed, we had to get the payroll out somehow (yes I worked in payroll). The normal procedure is to overnight payroll to the 40 or so odd locations throughout the nation. Since planes were grounded, we didn't know if people would get their checks on time. For those who had direct deposit, it wasn't that important. But for those who were not on direct deposit this was a big concern. Many of the people who work for the companys owned by my company, live paycheck to paycheck. If these people didn't get their paychecks Friday, they would have trouble feeding their families. Let me say that it disgusted me to see that my God fearing supervisor drug his feet on advancing people money for the weekend out of petty cash funds. Most everyone received their checks by Friday though some didn't get their checks till Monday. Looking back, the week of September 11, 2001 was a scary week. I am 32 years old and have never experienced our country in such a position. I have always felt safe and invincible. Not anymore. The future of my children concern me greatly. Will they grow up to live in a country that has been wracked with war. Our economy collapsing. What is going to happen in the future? I don't know. I do know that I appreciate my family more and don't take for granted the time that I get to spend with them.
I always worked Tuesday and Thursdays 6am til 10pm. Hubby worked MWF same hours (6-10). We had NEVER switched a shift, but Monday Sept. 10th was my sons 4th birthday and he wanted to spend the day with me at work (BOOOOORING for him). I agreed, so we switched days. At the time we were living with my parents. After the second plane hit my mother came downstairs to make sure I was awak, I wasn't. She said "Kellie two planes hit the buildings". I was like "WHAT, something hit the house???" She said "No get up!" My daughter had in our home physical therapy everyday to help her fine motor skills, I thought I had over slept and the therapist was there for the 10am appointment. I dragged myself upstairs to the TV. I sat, asked my mother questions,searched online, anything to catch me up. My local news was making comments about gas stations being "at risk". Well hubby and I worked together at a gas station and he was there. I called him to make sure nothing strange was going on. He was fine The therapist showed up at about 10:15am, we spent the entire time watching the TV, she spnt most of the time trying to contact her son who worked in the WTC. (he had actually called in sick that day) Tower 2 fell and so did my heart. I had only ever been to NYC once in my life for my 8th grade field trip. During this field trip we went to the top of the WTC. I had taken pictures,but I had no clue where they were. Later that day, I had to do all I could to pry myself away from the TV. My 4 year old was asking questions I couldn't answer. We decided to clean. I was cleaning out a box of mine from high school, every once in a while I would start to go thru the box and get bored with what I found, for some reason this time I kept going thru the box. Near the bottom of the box, I found my pictures from my eighth grade field trip. I had taken pictures from the top, looking straight down, and from the ground looking straight up. The day we were there was picture perfect. When I was there, I NEVER thought of something like happening. I toke my first plane ride since 9/11/01 a month ago. My hubby and I are 25, the kids stayed with my grandparents, I wrote a will. I kissed my kids a billion times and reassured them that I will always love them. I hate living in this type of fear, but I do. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
I'm flying HOME to LAX (SUNDAY)...with 100,000+ flight miles...I AM NOT STRESSING!!! ...BUT if people are afraid to fly...I feel sorry for them...BUS, TRAIN, CAR all waste WAY TOO MUCH TIME...
Gosh, I just can't believe it's been a year already. I'm only 18, and IM FEELING OLD because time is passing by so fast! It sucks, and I know it's going to get worse as time goes by! First of all, I want to say that my thoughts are with all who have been directly affected by the September 11th terrorist attacks. A friend of mine from work lost 2 people, a cousin and a good friend of his, who were both working at the time. Today was a very hard day for him. I remember the moment so vividly, though, I will never forget it. It was my junior/senior year of high school (I graduated a year early, so I guess I'll call it my senior year , and I had just changed from my first class to my second period AP History class that started at 9:05. I walked in the room and the teacher had the TV on and was just freaking out. Mr. Moravec had never seemed so dismayed or distraught as he did that day. He was running all over the hall alerting other teachers, and all of us students in the classroom (12 of us) were just glued to the TV not knowing what to think. I saw the view of the first tower after the hit, and I watched the second tower get hit live. Then when they showed the Pentagon, reality began to set in, and I really knew the situation was BAD. I thought our country was being taken over and that they were likely hitting other major metropolitan areas, such as LA, Chicago, etc. I just couldn't fathom who the hell would have done this to our nation. Most ignorant kids my age were commenting about how infallible our nation is, and that this shouldn't be happening. That day in 4th period, my teacher got a call, and my mother had called and requested I go home. I felt much safer at home anyways, and all we were doing in class was watching TV. Some teachers didn't take the matter seriously, and wanted to get back to classwork, which I thought was complete and utter bullshit. When I got home, many of the neighbors were outside discussing the matter and I joined them. It was a very gloomy and saddening day for me, and I will never forget it. It will be a story that I will surely tell my children and grandchildren. It is just sad that I remember something this horrible in such vivid detail. I would rather remember the wonderful moments of my life, and share those as I just shared with you all what my day on September 11th was like. I could write more, but none of you likely want to read a book. I just want to say god bless everyone and that everyone needs to stay strong. We can't let them get us, and we must show our determination as a nation to succeed in our daily lives and prosper. It is exactly what the American image stands for, and I plan to uphold those values and morals in a bitter fight against terrorism for the rest of my life. God Bless. -Matty
George- Don't feel sorry! In July I drove from NH to Florida and thought it would be the worse time of my life. It was great!! The kids were great, we got to see a lot of landmarks on the way down. The only reason we flew this time is last minute my grandparents offered to take the kids (saved us fvrom buying 2 tickets).
