10 Years: 9/11 Where were you?

At the time, we woke up to NPR via a speaker system in our house. The sounds of the first plane, and announcers telling of a horrible accident started. We all went downstairs to turn on the tv and saw the second plane hit. I went upstairs, and got ready for school. As I did, I put a tape in my boom box to record the radio. I still haven't listened to the tape, but someday, I will. A few friends lost family members.

I was a freshman in high school... it was one of the first days of school and I was just starting to get the hang of things.  Our princiapl came on the announcements and told us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC.  We turned on the TV and watched together all day.  It was a really sad day and one I will never forget.

I was in my 7th grade math class... I will never forget that day! It breaks my heart again watching the GMA special </3

Sitting in homeroom...before my mother came to pick me u...it was my senior year and she was taking no chances

At my school, the sixth graders are sent to a local summer camp for a week and learn about nature and history while getting know sixth graders from other local schools. The Seniors from our high school acted as counselors. I was at camp as a counselor, with no television or radio. The teachers pulled us out of activities to let us know that something had happened, that we were not to discuss it with the campers because many parents were members of the military and it was still unknown if it would be necessary for them to be involved. 

It was three more days before we went home and I saw how terrifying this day truly was. I refer to it as delayed devastation. I didn't really begin my grieving until after many of the conversations had been had. 

I will remember a newscast I saw featuring an interview with an NYC firefighter. The reporter asked him something like "how do you feel about being a firefighter?" and he responded that he loved his job. The reporter asked "even on a day like today?" and the firefighter said "especially on a day like today." I feel so blessed on a honored that we have men and women out there who are willing to run towards terror and destruction when everyone else runs away. I will always remember the emotion I felt and feel. I will never forget.

I was home from work that morning and waiting for friends to drop off their newborn son for me to care for since they had to put their dog down that morning.   I was watching television when the 2nd plane hit. I almost vomitted.  I sat in front of the television stunned and with silent tears rolling down my face.

I worked in the afternoon, and I work at a hospital and live about 45 minutes from the NY state border, so our hospital was on standby.  Work, that day, was very quiet with an undertone of tension and apprehension.  I will never forget that foreboding feeling. 

I was very pregnant with my 3rd son, he was due in a couple of weeks, and I had a doctor's appointment that morning in Downtown Philadelphia, and then I was going to go to work for a half of day.

I left the doctor's office and when I stepped outside, the streets were unusually quiet, and the looks on some people's faces were grim.  I kept walking to catch my bus to go to work, and I just remember everything being so eerily quiet.  I overheard two people saying that the subways and the el trains were shut down, and then that's when I saw all the police that were near City Hall (because at that time there was a rumor that Philadelphia would be hit too, due to all of the historic elements we have here)

I asked somebody what was going on, and he told me.  I immediately thought of my friend that lived in New York.  I called my work, and they told me to go home, not to come into to work, because they were closing the office, I went home, and I stayed glued to the television for hours.

That is a day I will never forget, still to this day, some of the images from the news on that day are in my head.

I will never forget...ever...

I was a freshman in high school. I was sitting in my second period computer class. Our school kept time on the TVs so every classroom had the exact time. I remember being in the middle of a typing test and the time turned to the news. The image was of a plane hitting the towers. The teacher turned the tv off so we could finish our test but about that same time the bell rang and everyone was sent to homeroom. We stayed there until lunch watching the news. I remember thinking that they tv messed up the first time and a movie was playing. Then when we got to homeroom we had the volume up I realized how serious and REAL it all actually was.

I will never forget.

I grew up on a military base in Sicily, Italy so I was there when it happened. It was 4pm ish so we were out from school and my brothers and I were at our afternoon hangout place. Some adults came running in and threw on the tvs and had everyone come sit down. The base alarm went off, and all the troops went into Delta mode (which is like the war mode) because we are one of the closest Navy base to the middle east.

The shut down the base, closing our GIANT gate that seperated us from the civilians, and for a lot of people, to the other part of the base where the parents worked. So my brothers and I had to run toward the gate, along with practically everyone else and try to find our parents on the other side. We found our dad, and he slipped us his bank card so we could go get food, and maybe stay at the base hotel. Hours later they finally let people out.

The base was closed for the next few days, and was on Delta mode for a long time after that. What I'll never forget is the different reactions some locals had. Random Italians would greive for us, giving us well-wishing comments. Other people, and some with obvious roots back to the middle east, would make rude gestures or clap. I remember hearing about a solider kicked the shit out of one guy who clapped saying something horrible.

It was horrible.

I was in my 8th grade English classroom.  I had seen something on TV in the lunchroom but didn't really think much of it.  When I got back to English, our teacher explained what had happened to the towers and the Pentagon.  My heart stopped.  At that exact oment I realized that my parents were both supossed to be in the Penagon that morning to renew my mom's ID card.  I put my hands to my mouth and the teacher called me an escort to go use one of the school phones.  Tried my mom...no answer...tried my dad...no answer.  I don't remember how many times I tried them both.  My moms phone started going to voicemail.  Finally my dad answered.  As soon as I heard his voice all I could do was cry.  

My mom ended up running late so my dad waited and caught a later bus (he was working at the Navy Annex) to meet her there.  She got on the metro, but when everything happened, they stopped all transportation so she was stuck on there.  My dad was on a bus when the plane crashed into the Pentagon.  They heard it fly overhead and then saw a huge cloud of smoke.  My mom came and got me from school as soon as possible.  I don't think I've ever hugged her so tightly or cried so hard.

Later that afternoon when we were all together in the living room my dad said that they were all evacuated to the Arlington Cemetery.  Can you imagine.  Praying for safety behind the Wall at the Arlington Cemetery?  Just imagining what's going on...

 I will never forget that day.  I will always be thankful for the heroes that put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe.