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Where were you 10 years ago today?
I remember waking up and going to class first thing in the morning- Consumer Behavior at college. Class got out at 8:40. I remember the air was cool; sky was crystal blue. Class got out, I walked back to my apartment on campus with no clue...
Opened the door to my apartment and my roommate just looked at me and told me a plane crashed into the WTC. I remember walking passed the living room right into our bedroom and saying something like "Oh really?" Totally lassaiz-faire...had no idea...then I threw my bag down, went back into the living room and asked her "wait, what!??"
I drove to my internship around 9 just listening to the radio. I remember freaking out because my parents were in PA on business, my sister was in Europe on vacation, and my grandmother was doing the polls for voting in her town. I couldn't reach anyone. Then I heard about the PA plane and freaked even more so.
I kept getting these foreign numbers coming in on my cell phone and had no idea where they were coming from. My sister was trying to call me from a train in Paris because they had just heard.
I remember trying to reach my friends and family in NY and couldn't. No email, no phone, nothing...
So unbelievable that it's been 10 years.
Re: Where were you 10 years ago today?
It does not feel like it's been 10 years!! Maybe it's because I remember it like it was yesterday....
I think the waterfalls at the Memorial are beautiful!
I feel like it was more recent too.
I was just pulling into my office parking lot, listening to WPLJ's morning show. They joke a lot, and when they said a plane hit the WTC, I thought, "Guys, that's way too overboard. Sick joke, not cool." And then they started screaming about a second plane and I flew out of my car, into my office building, and up the stairs to our suite. At the time I had a solo practice & shared space with 4 other solo attorneys.
One had a TV in his office, and I was the one to bring him the news, so we all crowded into his office and turned on the TV. Because almost all of the NY/NJ stations broadcast off the top of the Trade Center, there was no TV except the Spanish station, which broadcast off the top of the Empire State Building. By the time we turned it on, the second building hit (first to fall) was smoking, and we saw it go down, then the other one. We were freaking out.
I was numb pretty much all day, mostly trying to contact friends. My first call was to my mom to tell her, and it was pretty much right at the beginning so I got through OK. My mom's friend had a marketing firm on the 89th floor of the 1st tower hit (2nd to fall)... which my sister had worked at 'til the very week before. She was offered a full-time job but said no to go to vet school instead. She & my parents had driven right past there the night before, though, because she defended her Master's thesis that night, at NYU.
My mom freaked and got a hold of her friend, who thankfully was late to work that morning. She was NEVER late to work, but had to take her dog to the vet here in NJ. Thank god, because she's got leg issues and never would have made it down all those stairs.
As it turns out, the plane hit ON the 89th floor of that building... but on the other side of the building. That marketing firm was the topmost office to make it out alive. And they all did make it out, though they needed years of counseling after. Even more ironic? The firm had been located on the side of the building where the plane hit until several months before, when my mom's friend moved it to a different suite she wanted more.
I know a lot of near misses.
Anyway, I spent the day pretty numb. Friends kept getting in touch with me, worried because they knew I also practiced in NY and didn't know if I'd be in or near the WTC. Meanwhile, I was worried about my friend who worked in the John Hancock Building in Boston. If they were going after large financial buildings, he could be in danger too.
I stayed in my office all day because I really didn't know what else to do, but I didn't get a lot done. Mostly I just kept listening to updates. When clients called with their petty bullsh!t like "he brought the kids back 15 minutes late from visitation on Sunday!!!!!" I wanted to scream at them, "Don't you realize there are bigger and more important things going on in the world?! SHUT UP!"
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There's something I wonder every year that you may know the answer to...Did the businesses and firms that made it out safely, reconvene and reopen elsewhere? I mean, they lost everything that was in the building as far as paperwork, etc. I hope that's not too much of an insensitive question, but I've never had anyone I could ask before. I truly hope that they were able to rebuild their lives as best as possible after something like that though.
I'm not sure. My mother's friend's did, obviously elsewhere. And I imagine the larger financial firms had multiple locations or ways of backing up their stuff. A lot of it was international, I'm sure.
It's a really good question, because technology at the time wasn't what it is now. Now, everyone could save everything to dropbox, or if they have an outsource IT company like Eric's, it'd be backed up elsewhere outside.
Another bit of trivia: My mom's friend with the marketing firm... her husband owned party yachts that were in NY Harbor. So the flag in that famous photo you alway see that recreates the Vietnam War scene? Was stolen off one of his boats by the emergency workers. Yup, really. He was in touch with them and was supposed to get it back afterwards, but it disappeared. Some moron stole it. It'll probably show up on ebay in 50 years.
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My first class that morning was at 9:30, so of course I slept until 9. There was an unusually large crowd of people in the dorm lobby watching TV when I walked through, but I didn't have time to stop and see what they were watching. When I got to the building my class was in, no one was in class, everyone was standing in the lobby where they have a TV that was always set to CNN. Everything was so shocking and confused at that time. Even though I watched with everyone else for the first 20 minutes of class (until several profs finally convinced everyone to go to class), I didn't get what happened until our prof actually told us.
We did have class, briefly. I don't remember the rest of the day. I think we had class canceled that week, though. A lot of students went home for the week. There was speculation about what other possible targets would be, and we were all nervous being so close to Fort Hood.
My dad was supposed to be going to a conference/training/seminar dealy in Vegas that week, but all planes were grounded, so he didn't go.
Rodgers was applying for a visa to come to the US for the first time - not that day but soon after. They told him to wait until the next year. The US Embassy in Kenya didn't issue any new visas for a while.
That's insane! I can imagine needing counseling after that.
Yeah, I have a client whose son was a cop who ran INTO the WTC that day and died.
His marriage to his wife fell apart after that, and they're in the midst of a divorce. Neither one is well. She's a total recluse, living with 17 cats and refusing to leave the home (her lawyer has to go to her) and he's on meds and has a nurse/assistant helping him out. They're both in their 80s.
And a friend of mine was supposed to be there for a meeting that morning... that had gotten delayed to the next week.
So many people affected. I almost feel like an AW when I talk about it affecting me, because so many people were so much closer, either having a friend or family member who died or they themselves being there or nearly being there. As close as I am, I feel like I'm too removed to take attention about it. Am I explaining that right?
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I was a siphoned in High School. I just walked into my band class, and our teacher started telling us about it. I was so confused as to what was going on because so many people started talking at once. Then, my teacher turned on a radio, and we were all listening. It was so sad and scary. The main office made an announcement stating that everyone was going home, the buses were on their way to the school.
I arrived at my Grandparents house, and my dad came home early to and we all watched the news coverage on the tv. It was really rough to see and hear everything.
Larissa that's crazy.
I was at work in a travel agency when one of the guys walked in and said a plane just hit the WTC, we all couldn't believe it.
We all went and checked out CNN and MSNBC trying to find out what happened, but with no luck and no one had a radio or tv in the office to actually see what was going on.
The next thing we did was checked the flights to see if we had anyone on them and luckily we didn't, it was a hard place to be for a couple days following and not to mention crazy place to be for a couple days.
I can still remember it like it was yesterday, and I know it's something I will never forget.
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I was Senior in high school on my way to school when the first plane hit. When I heard it on the radio, I thought "how did that even happen?". I didn't think it was a commercial plane but more like a cessna. Then I vividly remember passing my friends house just as they said the second plane hit.
When I got to school staff members were ushering us all inside to be cautious I guess (I went to a Christian private school). We had chapel that day and we prayed for everything going on. It wasn't until after chapel that we learned about the plane hitting the Pentagon and the one in PA.
All of the seniors stayed in the library all day watching coverage on TV. I was panicking because my dad works for the government and my brother was doing contract work at the WTC in Dallas. It took me a long time to get a hold of either of them. They were both ok but both of their buildings were being evacuated for precautions and people sent home.
My parents called to release me from school early and I went home to watch TV with them. I just remember feeling so uncertain of everything. It was so surreal to watch it all.
I was working at Disney when we went to war. That was also really scary because we were apparently one of the top 3 targets in the US. They were giving students permission to leave the internship early but I stayed (glad I did). It was very odd to hear 0 planes for a long time because it was restricted airspace.
When we went to NYC for our honeymoon, we saw ground zero and went to the museum. It was incredibly humbling. We also took a tour around the WTC site by a woman who working in the south tower on one of the highest floors (can't remember now) and a fireman who was one of the first on the scene. To hear their stories in person was truly life changing. I won't forget them.
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I refused to go to the site for a long time, and planned to actually completely avoid the area until they rebuilt. With how long they argued over the plans, that wouldn't have been practical anyway, but as it is several months after the attack I took a wrong turn while driving in the city and ended up on the West Side Highway, going right past it. It made me nauseous to be there, and I wasn't at all braced for it.
The second time, I was with friends who had a NY layover on their way from Austria back to their homes in New Mexico & Hawaii, and I was entertaining them overnight while they waited for their morning flight. They wanted to go to the site, and they wouldn't have many opportunities, so I bit the bullet and took them. I wasn't happy to be there at all.
I'm selfish. I didn't want to see it or think about it. I wanted them to rebuild the towers and other buildings 100% as they had been, only stronger. I wanted the skyline I knew, the one I could see from my apartment window when I lived in Brooklyn for law school.
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