I always stay at home on this anniversary-! I was 300 miles from the artic circle when it happened and it took me an extra week to get home. Where were you when it happened?
I was just getting off work and was asleep on the couch when I got the call from a friend of mine to turn on the tv. We were just outside of DC at the time and it was a very scary situation. We stayed up all day glued to the tv and didn't go outside.
We had a moment of silence here at work this morning and people were crying. Still a very emotional event for people.
I was home with Carson, hugely pregnant with Lauren. She was watching Sesame Street, and we were just about to leave to go get some new shoes for her. Dan called to tell me a plane hit the World Trade Center, and not knowing how big the plane had been, I honestly thought it was an accident.
We left within minutes, so I didn't know about the second plane. While out, a woman at the shoe store had the radio on and by then, all four planes had crashed. I went home. It was eerily deserted on all the roads.
My cousin and his wife both worked at the Trade Center. They missed the ferry and stood in New Jersey and watched the whole thing, thankful they were late that day.
i was working as a special ed tutor in a second grade class. the principal came in to talk to the teacher and i took over the class while they talked. after i finished reading the book (chrysanthemum) the other teacher called me in back. "Two planes just crashed into the twin towers and the pentagon is on fire" she whispered "we're not telling the kids" then she turned to the class "ok, boys and girls, take out your math books..."
i had to leave early that day to go to court for a speeding ticket. i signed in at court, but the courthouse was closed. then i went to donate blood. i couldn't get anywhere near the red cross to park.
what struck me was the dumbfounded faces of all of the other drivers on the road, everyone listening to the horror unfold. people were never such considerate and friendly drivers as they were that day- waving others to take their turn first, letting people cut them off.
I was on my way to an interview, stuck in traffic . . . I didn't find out about what happened until after the interview, when I was on my way to my job. I ran into a friend on the street that told me a plane struck one of the twin towers.
I went to Ground Zero for the first time back in May. It's impossible to not get emotional when you're there.
We met two mechanics from the rebuilding project. One of them gave each of us a beautiful stone from the site.
There's an interesting story about them here:http://www.wtc.com/news/at-ground-zero-scenes-from-the-ice-age
I had just gotten out of a coma a few days before the 11th. I was still pretty drugged up and I happened to be watching an old Rat Pack flick (High Society) and I switched stations during a commercial and saw one of the towers on fire. It must've been like a quarter-to 9 or so. Then I saw the second plane hit and I woke up my roommate (who was also in a motorcycle accident). We both figured this was the start of a war.
It was sorta weird though, being somewhat isolated in a hospital for the month after the attacks. I pretty much only got second hand accounts about what life was like on the outside - campus shutdown, people in a state of shock, the grief and such. I was still confined to a bed, so I just watched the news 24 hours a day with not much of anything else.
Not to demean the memory, but knowing there were a bunch there, and thinking it might be interesting to see what other board members had said over time.
This morning in DC the weather, the temperature, the breeze are perfect. It's another one of those perfect fall days we get as the heat drains away before the cold arrives. I stood on my porch and watched my dogs do their morning ritual, and inhaled deeply the pre-autumn air.
Then I remembered that this is exactly how I felt two years ago this day. I walked to work, and marveled at how it was good to be alive.
I won't recount my whole day, except to share that DC was a scary place that day. I could see the smoke from the Pentagon from my office, and the streets were teeming with people scattering to their cars, like some horrible Godzilla movie scene.
I thankful to be alive, and my heart goes out to the families of the victims.
As we move forward as a country, I hope we can find the strength to avoid using this memory as a justification to erode the highest virtues of freedom and instead remain ever vigilant in preserving true democracy.
This message has been edited by SquiddyBoy on Sep 11, 2009 10:43 AM
Interesting article in the Boston Globe today about how teachers are having to change their lesson plans re: 9/11. Apparently, they used to do lessons that centered on remembering the event, but now kids are too young to remember it. They said that it's becoming more like teaching about Pearl Harbor or the Civil War.
I mean, for me - the image I remember most is the folks facing the choice between burning or jumping, and then jumping. Not sure young kids should see that part, but it's the thing that brings the magnitude of the tragedy home 100% for me, and it's what I always think of when I remember the day.
I'm pretty sure that we saw the videos of the Allied troops storming the beaches of Normandy at some point in school. Lots of guys got killed in that video, too.
I was in law school, and had woken up a little late that day because I didn't have a class until 11. My brother called me and left a message on my answering machine telling me to turn on the news. I had office hours at 11, and decided to go but everything was eerily empty.
Some elaboration:
Actually one guy did show up to my office hours, and we talked about the paper he was writing. We didn't mention it because we had didn't know what to say. That was weird, we were obviously both shook up but we were trying so hard to talk about the normal stuff.
The day before the attacks, I had gone to Disneyland. Because when I was in law school, I had an annual pass and I went there a lot to study during the week when it was deserted. When they did the flag removal ceremony, I started to cry. I thought it was so weird, why the hell was I crying? Little did I know I would almost always cry during the national anthem or anything flag related for years to come.
I still cry whenever I see the video or see a picture. I cried this morning when I saw cnn and the picture of the lights. I don't know why either, but it's still an emotional thing for me. I get chills everytime.
I had come across this song earlier in the week during the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" and recognized it from "Hannibal". I searched for the MP3 this morning to add it to my ipod. As I was listening to it, it occurred to me what day it was. I found it very appropriate and thought I would share it.
I definitly think the healing is happening. It's less and less painful every year. The ten year will be a big deal, but after that it will become more and more like another day. I hope so, anyway. We can remember and honor the victims without having to reopen a wound every year. It's time to move on as a nation, in my opinion. Remembering every year is one thing. Getting all paranoid and angry at our many faceless enemies is another.
Had just been laid off the afternoon of Sept 10th.
Woke up, teary eyed and depressed from the layoff, to the phone ringing.
It was my mom calling. She told me to wake up and turn on the TV.
I did. And, watched the 2nd plane hit the second building. I was horrified, and watched TV for like 10 hours.
Cut to about 6 weeks later.....
FBI knocks on my door. Interviews me about the Anthrax killing in Boca Raton, FL. Guy that was killed with Anthrax, was employed by my (former) company's parent company.
It was all beyond bizarre in 1,000 ways. And, sad.
was home with a 3 year old Lindsay. My ex called from the radio station where he worked telling me to turn on the news, that a plane had just hit
one of the towers.
I was living in Japan when it happened. I had been reading a book in my apartment for some time. I got sort of bored of doing that so I turned on the T.V. and there it was on every channel.
I'm still angry about it. I want to see bin Laden fucked up big time. That asshat should not be living in a cave. He should be dead.
I hate ! This time of YEAR ! ... I try to move on in my life !!! ...And see this stuff NOW ! ON TV ! ... And I am Again SOOoo... ( hurt , lost and I feel like I was Dreaming ! of what Happen ! But it was REAL ! ....SO SORRY ! TO get Personal ! BUT ! R I P ! TO ALL ! WHO has PAST ON !
KOOL, the purposeful mangling of grammar and the faux pre-teen syntax are un-necessary on this thread. It would be respectful if you dumped your irritating Internet persona & instead wrote something mature, respectful and thoughtful.
