Where were you?

[GBBob]

On this day 8 years ago?

I was in a rental car heading back to Kansas City airport to fly back to Chicago. Heard about a small plane crashing into a building in NY and then it started getting crazy. Noticed a lot of planes circling the airport as I was pulling in and then the word was out. Watched the first tower collapse at a bar in the airport and realized soon I wouldn't be flying for a while. Got a hotel, ate at Hooters, and then met one of the most beautiful girls I had every seen in my life at a bar. She was from Dallas. We talked forever, fooled around some and we exchanged numbers. The next morning I got on an Amtrak back to Chicago. A very surreal ten hour train ride back and then had to get to O'Hare to get my car out of the lot. It looked like a fortress with military everywhere and snow plows lined up blocking all access. Was searched and then had a guy with a machine gun walk me to my car and follow me out. Drove home, went to call the girl from Dallas, and I had lost the number. And she never called me back either.

[Bigsmc]

Working. We had one tv in our shop to monitor the weather channel and the guy that had the tv in his office had the news on and the first building was burning. I asked what was up and he said looks like a small plane ran into one of the towers.

We stood there watching and debating what was going on and what was happening and wham! The second tower was hit. We couldn't believe or comprehend what we were seeing. We were glued to the tv from that point on. The day was a waste. Word got back to us that the VP was pissed that we were all watching tv. He was such a jackass, he had no clue of the magnitude. He ate a lot of crow in the days following.

My Mom and Dad were flying down that day to vist us. Our first daughter was 11 days old. As reports were flowing in about the Pentagon, another possible hijacking of United 93, a Delta flight possibly hijacked.....it was getting crazy and I started to flip out that my parents were about to get on a plane. They had a cell phone, but I didn't have the number. I called my brother to get their cell number and tried repeatedly to reach them (they never turn the damn thing on unless they are going to place a call) to tell them not to get on the plane. They finally called me and said they were heading home and that all flights were grounded until further notice.

Very surreal day.

[SuffolkGirl]

I was sitting in my office listening to my local NPR station. A newsbreak came in announcing a plane crash in NY, a plane hit the WTC. The first report did not say it was a commercial jet. As more news poured in it was clear that this was not an accident.

Everyone in the office started gathering in the SVP's office where we watched the horror unfold on TV. Aside from the TV there was stunned silence in the room. Many of us, myself included, had tears running down their face.


I was a frequent flier at the time and flew from Boston to California every other week or so. I regularly took that very same non-stop United flight from Boston to LAX. Knowing that I could very easily have been on the flight really brought into focus what is important.

When I saw a group of fire fighters run into one of the towers and shortly after it collapsed I had to leave. I got in my car and drove home to see my family and let them know how much I loved them and what they meant to me.

I didn't find out until the next day that a dear friend of mine who was in the process of re-locating to NY had died in the attack. He had started a new job at Cantor Fitzgerald and was at work when the plane hit. He was coming home the following weekend to get the rest of his stuff and transport it to NY.

R.I.P all of those who died. And for those of us still here, don't forget to tell the ones you love that you do.

Have a peaceful day

[geeker2]

I was finishing up my bowl of oatmeal watching CNBC about to head upstairs to my office. I yell up to Toni " Hey Tone come look at this some idiot just flew his small plane into a building in NY"......

The rest of the day was surreal just like Bigs said.

I was in bed watching Good Day LA rubbing one out to Jillian Barberie and then they cut to the tragic scene. I still finished.

[Heels1989]

I was in our older corporate office in Alexandria VA about 5 miles south from the Pentagon. We were conducting our quarterly managers meetings when a co-worker interrupted the session to say "something has happened". Our meeting stopped and I returned to my office which faced the Pentagon. A cloud of very black smoke was visible and pillowing, obvioulsy much more than a typical fire. Our focus quickly shifted to find out as much as we could especially since we had personnel working in the Pentagon. Fortunately everyone as OK.

We were also now learning about the events in NYC. All of it, just totally unbelievable.

A bit later we were back in our conference room which faces to the southwest. Out of no where, just outside our windows and not on the normal southern flight path, we see two figher jets at very low altitude, escorting another non military plane into Wash National airport. Those jets were one of my most visible impressions of the day.

We honor and remember those lost their lives that day and for all the others who have fallen since 9/11 protecting our nation and ideals.

[Sightseek]

I just woke up and turned on the radio and that particular station had Howard Stern on in the mornings. Because it was Howard I thought it was a very odd joke, but turned on the tv anyway...

[miraja2]

I was in Columbia Missouri that day.

However, my girlfriend at the time (now wife) had just moved out to NYC that Labor Day weekend and I had gone with her to help her move. It was my first time in New York, so we did some of the tourist stuff, including going up to the observation deck of the World Trade Center. I was up there September 2, 2001.

As I sat there in my apartment in Columbia just nine days later watching it all happen, I kept thinking that having just been up there made the whole thing a lot stranger than it already seemed.

[MaTH716]

I was sitting in the cafeteria of the American Stock Exchange (about 200 yards away from the south tower) when the lights flickered. Thought it was strange, because the only time I have ever seem them flicker before was when the bomb went off about 11 years earlier. Next thing I know I see reports about a plane flying into the building. So I run outside the back of the building and see a huge plume of black smoke. It smells awful and there is so much paper in the air, you thought you were in the middle of a ticker tape parade. After checking on my wife who also worked in the building (she shopped in the WTC at least twice a week before work), I find myself in the park (where they are holding the ceremony this morning) about 70 yards away from the south tower. Next thing I know, I see this plane come out of nowhere from behing the DBK building. The next was like a scene out of Die Hard, a loud explosion and choas everywhere...........

[fpsoxfan]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

I was sitting in the cafeteria of the American Stock Exchange (about 200 yards away from the south tower) when the lights flickered. Thought it was strange, because the only time I have ever seem them flicker before was when the went off about 11 years earlier. Next thing I know I see reports about a plane flying into the building. So I run outside the back of the building and see a huge plume of black smoke. It smells awful and there is so much paper in the air, you thought you were in the middle of a ticker tape parade. After checking on my wife who also worked in the building (she shopped in the WTC at least twice a week before work), I find myself in the park (where they are holding the ceremony this morning) about 70 yards away from the south tower. Next thing I know, I see this plane come out of nowhere from behing the DBK building. The next was like a scene out of Die Hard, a loud explosion and choas everywhere...........

Wow. That must have been horrifying.

[fpsoxfan]

Our school was undergoing construction so the cable and internet was shut down. I was in the middle of teaching a lesson on the Scientific Method when another teacher called me into the hallway and told me the news.

[MaTH716]

Originally Posted by fpsoxfan

Wow. That must have been horrifying.

It actually gets a little more interesting/scary. I'll post the rest later.

[mclem0822]

In my little apartment that I had for a couple years when I first moved to Jacksonville. I woke up and turned on the news while preparing to go to work at my old retail job with JC Penney. It was the most stunning and horrible thing to watch as the second plane hit the towers. Later at work of course people were talking about it all day, and we gathered around the tv in our lunch room to watch coverage. To say the least a day that will never be forgotten.

[timmgirvan]

I was on the freeway going home after a 10 hr shift in the warehouse. At first, I thought it was a fluke that a plane hit that big building......then I got a wierd feeling that something really bad was going down. Rest of the day was just in shock!

RIP to those who lost their lives.......and wishing peace and comfort to all who lost loved ones and friends. Certainly a landmark day in our lives!

[Gaelic Storm]

I was in my office at work listening to Howard Stern on the radio. He announced the plane hitting. I went to see if anyone else had heard anything and the person in the office next to mine poked her head into my office and said did you hear what I just heard. About 10 of us were huddled around the radio for the next few hours. The other side of the building is a call center. They took the fewest calls in the history of the company that day. I guess everyone was a little preoccupied.

[pgiaco]

Was finishing up an on-call night at Nyack Hospital and getting ready to head home to rest, clean up and get ready to go to the Yankee-White Sox game that night. A bunch of people were gathered around a TV watching a report of a small plane crashing into WTC. Thought it was weird since it was such a clear day...One of my buddies joked that it wouldn't be so weird if the pilot was wearing a turban. Then we watched the second plane hit and it wasn't a joke anymore. Later in the day they announced they were setting up a triage area at Chelsea Piers on the west side of Manhattan. A couple of the guys in my practice got together and decided to head down to see if we could help. It was the eeriest feeling I've ever had driving down the Palisades Parkway without another car in sight. We were the only car going over the George Washington and got stopped by an NYPD checkpoint entering Manhattan at the West Side Highway and only got through when we showed our hospital IDs. Driving down we could still see the smoke plume from WTC and we could smell the burning which was a combination of burning rubber, and an electrical fire. The pier was a great set up of makeshift ER and Trauma center, but the saddest thing is we never saw a single person from the towers. We treated a couple of firemen for smoke inhalation, that's it. We headed home around 6 the next morning with the burning pile behind us.

[Many Others]

Was living in Las Vegas and getting ready to go to work - caught a backward glimpse of the television in the mirror and saw smoke and flames and at first thought it was an earthquake in Cali, but soon found out different! Lived not far from McCarron so there was always a low undertone of jet engines overhead pretty much 24/7, but shortly thereafter you could honestly hear the air traffic trickling to a slow but full stop, was totally unreal... later was told the casinos started sending employees home as soon as they heard the airport had shutdown, total panicked that their source of incoming $$$$ had pretty much screeched to a halt...

Special thoughts and prayers today for the families who had loved ones who perished...

[RockHardTen1985]

11th Grade, Mrs. Summers. She was SMOKING HOT.
They announced it and it was just kinda silent the entire day, every class just had the radio on, I remember not doing much.

[Cannon Shell]

I had left NYC the day before and was heading to the Keeneland sale. Since i had my wife with me we had to stop 20 times so we wound up staying overnight in Huntington, West Virginia. Got up on the morning of the 11th and was totally clueless for a few hours as I had not yet discovered the joy of satillite radio and phone service in WV was spotty. Once i crossed the border into KY turned on my phone and had a bunch of messages. Before I could listen to them Kenny Wirth called and said, "Can you believe these mother fckers?" I thought he was talking about the racing secretary. He said "where the hell have you been? Dont you know what is happening?"

When we got to Keeneland it was the weirdest scene. The 747's were gone, everyone was milling around watching the news on tv as the sale had been cancelled. Like i had said I had a ton of messages from people that hadnt been able to get ahold of me who knew that I had been living in Manhattan and thought I was stuck or somehow in the middle of that mess.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

I was staying at my brothers and didn't get to sleep till morning.

I got up and went into the kitchen and saw one of his friends.


Bro's friend: Check out the TV man, they just bombed us in New York City.

Me: Huh?

Bro's friend: they bombed New York

Me: Who did?

Bro's friend: Probably Cuba

Me: Cuba?

Bro's friend: Yeah, Castro.

Me: Sucks to be Cuba now I guess. I'm going back to bed.