Pittsburgh Nesties
4EvR&4AlWz
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Where were you?
I had just gotten up and was getting ready for my Tuesday Immunology class and watching the Today show when the news broke. I then watched the second plane live as it hit thinking initially thinking it was a rerun. It didn't hit me how defining this was or I never would've left to go to class. Only a few people had heard of the attacks when I showed up to class at 9. At 11, when we got out, I was in disbelief when I heard about the Shanksville plane as it was practically overhead at one point.
ourblackandgoldworld.blogspot.com
Re: Where were you?
I was in college in Virginia. I had an 8-9:15 Tues/Thurs class so I had just gotten out of class. We got out early so it was shortly after first plane. On my drive to my apartment they were talking about a plane hitting the tower and everyone still thought the first one was a small plane and accident. I believe the 2nd hit by the time I got to my apartment. I immediately starting watching the news. I didn't have class again till noon, so I watched everything. Saw the footage of pentagon and watched the towers collapse.
My mom called me worried because I go to school not that far outside of DC so she was concerned. But then after I talked to her I started hearing accounts of a plane down outside of Pittsburgh so I was worried! I couldn't find out much information about it and couldn't get ahold of anyone back home (phones were getting crazy).
I ended up going to class just to be around more people. We all just sat around and talked. My teacher had family in Pittsburgh too so she was able to give me more info on the Shanksville plane. Many of the people at my school were from VA and had parents and family working in DC. So everyone was worried and many had difficulties getting in contact with their parents because of the phones.
After class I went back to my apartment and my roommates and I just watched tv.
Later that night, I got a phone call from my parents that my grandmother had died. It had nothing to do with 9/11 but it was odd to be apart of a day of so many grieving. I'll never forget the following days, going back home to Pittsburgh for the funeral and how there was practically nobody on the roads and not a single plane overhead. It was surreal.
i was in my senior year of college. One of my housemates busted into my room at 10AM and woke me up (ahhh... those were the days) screaming to turn on the TV. We just sat there for hours and watched the footage. I remember feeling like I was watching a movie.
My school (Allegheny) canceled no classes and we just went about our lives in our blissful college bubble. So weird.
I had class at 10am, so I woke up a few minutes before 9am and turned on the TV just in time for the start of Live with Regis & Kelly...they were talking about something, I had no idea what they meant about the first plane...showing footage of NYC...right about that time, the 2nd plane hit. I really didn't understand what was going on, I really thought it was some type of freak accident. I got ready, started walkign to class and my mom was calling my cell phone, telling me what was going on. I went to class anyway, where the professor talked about it, and Pitt cancelled all classes shortly after that. I met up with my roommates on campus, we grabbed food and headed back to our apartment, where we pretty much camped out in front of the news the rest of the day.
It's hard to believe it was 11 years ago already, the memories are so clear in my mind.
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
I was pulling in to the parking lot at work. When I got inside, everyone was huddled around this tiny 13" tv in our office managers office (I talking 15 people). We moved the tv into the bigger office and left it on all day.
My sister was in Charlotte and they had gotten reports that a plane went down it Pittsburgh. Her boss at the time refused to let her call so my now-BIL called my dad to make sure everything was okay.
Nathan and I went home that night and just watched Fox News non-stop.
at work, trying with everyone else in the country to get more info off the internet and the only image was the picture of the first tower with smoke coming out of it on every site. I was supposed to go to Greensburg to give a talk but I called to cancel b/c of the proximity to Shanksville. My DH then fiance' was in Cleveland and I kept calling to see what he knew since the plane looked to be headed there before it came back.
Then about an hour in we were told to leave & quick - it was like a mass exodus from town. Gridlock. I remember taking a co-worker to the Mews and then headed with my friend to my mom's house where we stayed and watched tv all day. I just kept saying, "wait until the West Coast wakes up - what will happen to them"? I think I went home to my townhouse that night and cried the whole night. I remember doing that for weeks after.
How time flies! Caileigh (9), Keira (6) & Eamon (3)
I was getting ready to start Fall classes the next day, so I was home and about to head to the gym. My dad randomly was home that day, too, and commented that it was weird, a plane had accidentally flown into the WTC. I watched for a few minutes, but at that point it was still just thought to be an accident. I went to the gym, where they ended up cancelling classes once events started unfolding.
The scariest part of the day happened when I went to work. I was a receptionist at a car dealership, so a big glass building. We were a few miles from an Air Force base, where apparently President Bush briefly touched down (they still weren't releasing his whereabouts). As the plane took off, there was a sonic boom that shook our dealership. I will never forget people screaming, crying and hiding. They closed the dealership and sent us home after that. I just remember watching non stop news coverage after that. I can't believe it's been 11 years.
I was at work and my friend emailed to tell me that a plane hit the WTC. In my mind, I was thinking it was one of those super small planes and a freak accident. Then I heard that a second one hit, and it still took me some time to process what was really going on. One of my BFF's husbands worked at the WTC, and she would drop him off before heading to work herself. I called them at home thinking I would leave a message, but her husband answered - he had stayed home that day to take their dog to the vet, and my BFF was on her way back home. She had been driving to work when the planes hit, and was able to turn around and get back home - but she got close enough to the city that debris had started falling on her car.
I worked for an IT consulting firm, so we had to go through our emergency call list to confirm the location of all of our consultants. There was only 6 of us in the office, and my boss asked me and the admin to make the calls - then he, the sales manager, and DH (we were not dating at this point) went to a bar to watch the news. After we made our calls, I became really angry that all the 'men' left us in the office while they went to drink, so I called them to tell them we were going home - my boss started to tell me that we needed to stay in the office, and I told him that if someone needed to be in the office, it would need to be him.
From there, I went home to the house I was renting in Brookline at the time with some friends, and we spent the rest of the afternoon watching the news.
About 2 weeks later, I went to Boston for the weekend to visit my cousin. Logan Airport was very eerie - there was armed military stationed all over the airport and the whole airport was quiet.
Not to be a "b" about this, but these posts every year rub me the wrong way. I'm not sure if I can quite put my finger on it as to why it does, or articulate adequately what I feel, but I think it comes down to the heaviness of the situation and how most people do not know the true affect this day has on the people who were directly affected by the terrorism and evil.
That said, I don't group myself into that category of "knowing firsthand" either - but having grown up in an area outside of NYC; watching 600+ families from the town I grew up in be affected directly by this; having lost a collegemate in the towers (I wouldn't say friend, but she was best friends with a friend of mine) who was there on a business trip - she wasn't even from the area; having family members who were first responders (via NYC PD or FD) that day; having other family members who took the train into work through the Towers and not knowing where they were....it bugs me to hear people say how affected THEIR lives were when they live 600 miles away and have no ties to either NYC, Shanksville or DC.
I am also ticked about that day b/c my then boss made us turn off all radios, phones and not use the internet; he wanted us to go about our jobs. I had to sneak around to find out if my family members were safe. I know he did this because we worked with "alarmists" who all thought the world was ending, but still...
Again, I apologize. I have no problem with remembering what today stands for - the first time our generation has felt unsafe in our own country. It reminds us that we are a Nation of One because, together, we can (try to) fight evil and keep our country an overall great place to live and be free. Remembering everything else from that day, though, is just petty in comparison.
My three sons!
Is it though? I will be the first to say that I was not directly affected by what happened that day, at least in the sense of having no family or friends who were injured or killed, no one I knew was living in NY or DC at the time. I would never in a million years claim to know what others have gone through, or the fear or sadness they have known from that day. But that day, and that moment of recognition is a defining moment in our generation. How many other circumstances in your life can you recall, so vividly, so many details about something? I can tell you what tshirt I had on that day, what the weather was like, the fact that I was watching a particular TV show, etc....
I get what you're saying, but I don't think that anyone is pulling a "woe is me, I had it so hard that day" kind of attitude. I don't think these posts are necessarily a way of saying how it affected any of us, we all know that there is no way to know what those people went through....but more of a way to say hey, we were all there. We remember how we felt, and the sadness we felt as a nation.
I'm not sure if I articulated very well exactly what I meant. I guess my point is just that I don't think anyone is posting about their memories to get sympathy for what they went through, but more to remember the way they felt that day.
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
Ditto Emmy's sentiment. I think recalling your own personal situation is the way people remember things. It's similar to generations past recalling where they were when Lennon was shot or Pearl Harbor was attacked. It's not to say it impacted us on any level like those who were directly involved, but rather that we still remember the victims and their families within the context of our own lives.
If we didn't remember, we'd be in essence doing what your boss did that upset you at the time -- just tune it out, it doesn't affect us.
Clare,
I totally understand your point here, but I don't think people posting about their remembrance of that day diminishes the direct horror experienced by so many that day (including my family). My MIL, FIL, and BIL were in the financial district that day (thank goodness they were not physically harmed). Casey lost friends and family.
It's not as though people are saying "oh poor me, I had to watch the news...".
This tragedy touched all of us, whether it was direct or not.
No, I get that and I certainly never meant to diminish and imply that people were looking for attention or sympathy by posting what they were doing that day.
But the day-to-day mundane of what we were doing that day, to me, is trivial in comparison to the gravity of the day.
*sigh* Sorry ladies - I didn't mean to get everyone upset!
My three sons!
No apology necessary! I really do understand what you're saying. And my inlaws all feel similarly to you. There's nothing to be sorry for, imo.
As an aside, my FIL and Step MIL recently moved to Syracuse and they were aggravated b/c there is a big chunk of the WTC near the municpal building. They couldn't wrap their heads around why it was there or what the significance to Syracuse is (other than our nation at large).
I actually think for those of us not directly affected, the insertion of something so horrific, in the middle of the mundane, is why "we" all have such strong memories, among one million other reasons, if that makes any sense.
Honestly, I think it's people's way of coping with that day. For us, it was a trivial day of mundane things that completely changed on a dime. Even though we weren't there or may not have known someone there, our world's were rocked that day, too. And I think by saying 'man, I was doing silly things like this, that and the other and then it all stopped in an instant', we're wrapping our mind's around the events as well.
I think for me, just the process of thinking about my experience with the events of 9/11 help me to remember my concern and worry for the friends we had in NYC and DC. For the victims and their families. And for the men and women attempting to rescue them. Remembering my day reminds me of how everything changed so quickly. It reminds me of the emotions of that day. Emotions that I will never lose.
We all as a country lived through that day. And there was nothing petty about any of it. It was an attack on our country, and we all had fears, worries, and prayers that day for people we knew, and those we didnt..
How time flies! Caileigh (9), Keira (6) & Eamon (3)
Sleeping. I worked nights, 10pm-6 am at the time. My dad called and woke me up.
I had a hard time understanding what he was saying, it took me a minute to wake up and realize it was "real" and put on the TV.
Married, September 23, 2006
ITA.
I think in hindsight you can say nothing happened to people who weren't directly involved. But in the moment nobody knew that. Everyone was afraid. We had no idea what was happening or if it would happen to us next. I remember what I was doing that day because it had a big impact on me. I lost a feeling of security and I was genuinely afraid. While nothing happened to me or anybody I knew...I wasn't sure that was the case at the time. Living so close to DC I was afraid of what could happen. I know my mom was upset and told me not to go to class. And then when I heard a plane crashed outside of Pittsburgh I had no idea if it could have been any of my friends or family. Communication was sparse so I didn't know.
I definitely don't think anything we went through is anywhere near the horror that others experienced. But everyone experienced something that day with that fear and it really did change things.
I get what you are saying Clare. People experienced true terror that day, and knowing some of the people who lived through it, part of me does feel sort of silly talking about my day at work that day. But as irrelevant - and maybe even insulting - as those details are to the real tragedy, it was just part of my experience. Maybe because our senses were heightened so we were experiencing every little thing or maybe because attaching 'normal' things to a traumatic experience is just a coping mechanism (probably a mechanism we've all learned from the past (JFK, etc.) and one we all need to go through as a reminder as to how quickly things can change).
I've experienced tragedies in my life, and some of the things I remember are the mundane details. Two friends were killed in a car accident in high school - I remember that when I found out, I had just came home from buying Paula Abdul concert tickets (don't judge) and was eating tuna casserole for dinner. I have no idea why that, over 20 years later, I still remember those random things in the midst of a truly defining and tragic moment in my life. I couldn't tell you why, as neither of those things are relevant on any normal day, let alone on a day of tragedy. I just know that I can't think back on that day without remembering every little thing about it.
For me, conversations like this are just an inevitable part of most significant events - but I do understand your perspective on it as well!
You don't have to apologize....like I said in my post, I get what you're saying, and I'm sure you're not the only one who feels that way. I was just pointing out that I also think there's a reason that so many people on days like 9/11 have that immediate reaction of remembering the day through a "I was here and doing this at the exact moment I found out".
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11