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So the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 is tomorrow. I think it's one of those things where we all remember what we were doing when we heard the news.
What were you doing when you found out? How did you find out?
How old were you and where were you living?
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What were you doing when you found out? How did you find out? I was asleep and my roommate (later my MOH) at the time was leaving for work. She always watched Good Morning America and she saw it when she turned it on. She was student teaching then and I was working at the bookstore. She woke me up and told me what happened and we watched some of the news about it. Then when I got to work, we watched it throughout the day. I worked in the shipping/back room at the time so we could watch it and work. People who worked on the sales floor came back and watched from time to time. It was a weird day. We were all sad but so far away, too. I didn't really know anyone who lived there either.
How old were you and where were you living? I was 23 almost 24 and living in Oakland. I had moved to the Bay Area and met DH just a couple of months before it happened.Donate to My Pancreatic Cancer Research Page
I was waiting for the elevator in my apartment building when my neighbor told me that a plane had just crashed into the Pentagon. As I drove to work it was all they were talking about on the radio and we all watched the news at work.
I was 23 and was living in SF.
I was headed to work...it was like the 2nd week of school of my 1st 'real' teaching job in San Diego. The radio said a plane had flown into the WTC but at the time they were reporting that it was a little plane like a Cessna. I called my mom so she could tune in. As I drove to work, the story developed and just got worse and worse. The principal told us to not talk to the students about it and not turn on the TVs. (which I refused to do)
I had stayed home sick from work that day and was woken up by my BFF/neighbor (later my MOH as well) knocking on my door to tell me about it. She was hysterical, since she grew up on the East Coast and knew people who worked at the WTC (thankfully they were ok). I called my dad later at work to talk to him about it. He was supposed to leave for a dream vacation/safari in Africa on 9/12, which obviously didn't end up happening due to the flights being grounded.
I was 23 and living in Oakland, working as a paralegal in Walnut Creek. I had just gone through a bad breakup which I also can't believe was now 10 years ago. I met DH the following February.
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Once I understood what was happening I knew I was going to have a tough day at work since I worked at a travel company, and all flights were being grounded.
My mom called after I left and left me aFrantic message to not go to work, to quit, that the bridge was too unsafe. At work they didn't let us listen to the radio or anything, so I was really in the dark about a lot of the horrors until later.
I was living in Oakland (too!) and was 27.
I was 16 and living at my parents house here in Washington. I was getting ready for school and listening to the radio. I remember the morning djs said a plane hit one of the twin towers and they started watching the news and relaying the news to the audience. They definitely thought it was an accident until the second tower was hit. After that happened I went into my parents bathroom (they were getting ready for work) and told them we should turn on the news because NYC was being attacked. I started worrying about how many other buildings were going to be hit across the country. I had to leave for school soon afterwards. I listened to the radio all the way to school and I think during this time is when the Pentagon was hit. When I got to school everyone was so quiet. After school started the principal came on the loudspeaker explained to everyone what was happening and asked for a moment of silence. I don't remember too many other details from that day. I think some of our teachers did have the news on throughout the day and I think we might have even been released early because everyone was in such shock.
What were you doing when you found out? I was getting ready to go to school. I was watching the news in the livingroom while eating breakfast and saw the second plane hit.
How did you find out? My mom who was already at work called home and told me to turn on the news.
How old were you and where were you living? I was 12 and living in Auburn.
I was 16. A girl in my math class got a phone call letting her know something had happened and her mom was alright. I didn't know anything had happened yet but I had this weird feeling something had happened at the WTC. I heard for sure the next period in the nurses office when I was delivering my emergency contacts form off to her. I then called my mom who works a few blocks away to make sure she was ok. The whole day was a nightmare.
Obviously at the time I was at home, living with my parents (I'm from the suburbs of NYC).
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What were you doing when you found out? How did you find out? I was getting ready for work and watching The Today Show when I saw the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower hit live. It was the most surreal thing. At the same time, DH (BF at the time) called me to tell me SIL was ok (she was living in NYC at her office was about 5-6 blocks away from the WTC). I had to go to work but I spent all day listening/watching the news. The images of the families wondering where their loved ones were was the most heartbreaking thing I had seen. I was in tears most of the day.
How old were you and where were you living? I was 25 and living with my parents. I just graduated college the year before so I was trying to save $$ to move out.I was 25 and was working at a weekly paper living in a crappy part of town. I think I must have heard it on the radio and turned the TV on, because I never watch TV in the morning. Anyway, I had really bad ibs at the time and spent a lot of time in the bathroom. I could see the TV from the toilet and actually watched the second tower fall while on the toilet.
That was a busy day. Several weekly reporters got called up to help out the daily, which turned out to be a bit of an audition for me before I got the job at the daily. I went to some church event.
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I was 17 and senior in high school and was woken up to my moms boyfriend calling and telling us to turn on the news - I tuned in a few minutes before the second plane hit, and the shock that it was an attack, not just an accident. I was living in the Napa Valley at the time.
We talked about it at school - but they wouldn't let us watch the news, so a bunch of us left at lunch to go to a friends house and we spent several hours watching the news coverage in shock and silence.
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I was 18. I was living with my parents at the time, after just graduating high school a couple of months earlier. I was scheduled to move to college in three days.
I found out when a friend called me that morning, and told me we'd been attacked. I turned on the TV and couldn't believe what I saw.
I was 19 and living in my first apartment in San Diego, a sophomore in college. It was the second or third week or school.
XH (then boyfriend) and I were sleeping. He was home for three weeks before he went off to his first assignment in the USAF-2 years overseas in Germany. He was to report there 9-17.
Since he was staying with my for those 3 weeks, his parents (who lived about 5 minutes away) called my house right after the first plan crashed. We were sleeping as it was 6:30 or so. I picked up the phone. She slowly tell me "Tell XH that the New York had a plane crash, he Pentagon had a plane crash into it and the White House is being evacuated. Turn on the TV'" I woke up XH to say those words and literally I remember trying to comprehend thinking aliens invaded and this was a scene out of Independence Day or something. Honestly...I really thought it was something as crazy as that because terrorism wasn't a thought on my mind.
I went to school, because I didn't know what else to do. It was canceled once I got there.I remember clearly walking through the halls, the footage on in every classroom. Ironically, my first class of the day was a Political Science class and it was one of the best classes I took during college and really helped make sense of some of the events (in terms of learning the political reasons and history of the region). We spent the rest of the day at his parents, and XH rushed to get his uniforms from the dry cleaners.
XH left for overseas the following week...6 days later. I remember taking him to the airport and not being able to walk him to the gate. I remember the chaos and weeks on end I wasn't able to hear from him. I
Crazy how clear all the details all.
Dh (then boyfriend) and I were just getting ready for the day. He was already in the shower and my alarm went off. Over the radio I heard that 'a plane had hit the WTC'. In my mind, I pictured a little bi-plane hitting it and bouncing off. I went into the bathroom and mentioned it to Dh. 'What?? No way.' he said...still, neither of us had seen the footage. Then I went and turned on the TV and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then I saw the second plane and I knew there was no way this was an accident. I was just stunned....and saddened. I couldn't believe what was going on.
Later I drove into work, my mind just reeling with everything I had seen...everything I had just absorbed.
I was living in Hayward and was 31 years old.
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I think one of my high school teachers knew someone who died because the following year when our school had a moment of silence he started crying and had to leave the room. I brought it up years later and he freaked out and didn't want to talk about it.
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i was 26 and living in the east bay at the time, working in the Financial District.
how i found out .. my mom called me frantic telling me NOT to go into work that day. she saw on the news that the WTC had been hit w/ another terrorist attack (keep in mind, the WTC was attacked once before in 93) and she was scared that whoever did this was targetting US financial markets meaning Chicago and San Francisco would be next. I worked at 2EC at the time and if they were going to target SF, i was in the cross hairs so i called in sick that day. a couple of hrs later, work called telling me NOT to come in. at that point i had been watching enough coverage to know that i held a piece of history in a box - my ticket stub from what i was at the observation deck of the WTC just before we left the east coast for CA - since both towers had collapsed by then.
What were you doing when you found out? How did you find out? I was getting ready for my early morning classes and I had the tv on to find out the weather forecast so I knew what to wear that day. I don't think I realized at first the magnitude of what had happened when I saw the images of the World Trade Center that morning, but once I got on campus that day everyone looked like zombies. Most of my classes were half empty that day and everything seemed really eerie.
How old were you and where were you living? I was 18, a freshman in college and living at home in Walnut Creek.
What were you doing when you found out? How did you find out?
I was taking a shower. I was living with my parents and getting ready for classes for the day. It was my second year of college. My mom burst into my bathroom and said "A plane just crashed into a building in NYC!" She told me she would watch the news and report more when she heard. So I thought maybe it was a fluke thing. Went to class, and my professor was holding a discussion and quiet time instead of class. That's when I learned that the second plane hit and that it was an attack. So sad.
How old were you and where were you living?
I was just about to turn 20. It happened a week before my 20th birthday. I was living in the Sacramento/Foothills area and living with my parents while I went to school.
What were you doing when you found out? How did you find out?
I was asleep. I must have had late classes that day. My BF (now H) called me to tell me to turn the TV on. I remember asking him if I could do it later. My roommate at the time did NOT like being woken up early, but his phone call had already woken her up so I asked if she minded if I turned the TV on; something about a bomb or something at the WTC.
I flipped the TV on and we both just sat in silence/horror, watching replays. B called me just before 9am, so we didn't see anything in real-time. When we turned the TV on, they were already playing looping footage. The timing was interesting though because we turned it on right at the beginning of a loop. It was like watching horror after horror. With each impact we would be thinking that was the extent of it. We had no idea that both towers had already collapsed.
We both decided we weren't going to class. By the time we ventured out of our room the campus was closed-down.
How old were you and where were you living?
I was 18. Had just started my sophomore year at SJSU. I was living in Joe West (the big 12-story dorm complex, the old one).
My funnyish story about the day is that I actually had tickets to see Weezer at the SJSU Event Center that night. That was the primary reason for leaving my dorm room - to see whether the show was cancelled. It was postponed. When they rescheduled in Feb02 they opening band, Cold (WTF?) had been replaced with Jimmy Eat World and Tenacious D. :fist pump:
I was working at Jacobi hospital in the Bronx (Bronx Municipal Hospital Center) which is one of the biggest trauma centers in the city. I was seeing patients and went to the large shared office for a drink of water and our secretary was listening to the news and said "a plane just hit the WTC". I was like "WTF?:" but had to keep working. Then I went back in a a little bit later to see what was up and she said "Another plane just hit the second tower", so we knew it was an attack. After the morning clinic, the hospital closed down to gear up for the onslaught of trauma cases. I had to bring someone across the campus ot the main hospital for admission since all the couriers and ancillary staff were helping out with the preparations. At about lunch time I walk the family past the ER entrance. A host of doctors were standing and sitting outside all gowned and gloved with gurney's waiting and it was the saddest moment of my life, which I am still crying about sitting here writing it, when I realized there were so few survivors that we were not getting any. It is a super quick drive down the FDR if the road is closed to everyone but emergency vehicles so we should have been inundated and there was just nothing happening. I held it together to finish what I was doing but on the way back I ran into a doctor I knew and we just hugged and cried. We had to stay late in case they needed us for an "all hands on deck" kind of thing but eventually they let us go home. I couldn't go home since i lived so close. I had to stay with a friend overnight. I won't tell you how horrible it was to go back there the next night. ETA: I was 31.
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