My 9-11 Story....

Published on September 11, 2005 By alison watkins In Current Events

9-11. I remember the exact moment when I heard what happened. I was in the music library listening to Hermann Baugmann's rendition of Morceau de Concert when my friend Matt came through the doors saying, "Oh MY GOD Alison! The world trade centers!! Did you hear?"

I took off my headphones and said, "Why are you so hysterical? What happened??"

"You must know, you're wearing an I heart NY shirt!!" He observantly said.

"Say what?" I questioned.

"Planes flew into the World Trade Center. Let's go smoke NOW!"

We went out the door and lit up a cigarette. We stood in disbelief. I felt an inch big. How could this happen? We lit up another smoke, ditched school and headed to Pittsburgh for the day. We decided to go on an adventure....musta smoked at least a pack and a half of smokes that day.....

I will never forget that. Where were you when you heard? What did you do?

Comments

alison watkins

on Sep 11, 2005

and how ironic was it that I wore my I heart NY shirt that day?

Moderateman

on Sep 11, 2005

I was livid that day so were other vets I knew, never saw so many sick old farts that wanted to go to WAR!!

MissAnimosity

on Sep 11, 2005

I was in alaska, my boyfriend at the time was to fly out to work on a construction site that is accessible by plane only. When all flights were banned, we tuned into the TV to see the horrifying pictures of WTC tower one burning.

Manopeace

on Sep 11, 2005

I was at home in Jerusalem... it was 4 PM local time... my TV was on... the programme was disrupted for a news bulletin. I could not believe what I was seeing... a place I had been to hundreds of times, a place where I knew alot of my friends were working in... Going up in smoke. I was terrified. My mind could not comprehend how there were such animals that were capable of doing this to humanity... I still can't understand it.
My door is never locked... I locked it that day. My son came home shortly afterwards and asked why the door was locked... my answer was..." I am a Jew, I was born in the United States, I have many Muslim friends and associates, surely someone wants to kill me today".
Life has not been the same since that day.
A year later I went to Ground Zero.. it was 2 AM New York time... I sat there for about 3 hours totally numb. I will never forget that day or the feelings I had.

InBloom

on Sep 11, 2005

I was eating a bowl of cereal before I headed to work. I flipped on the tv and saw that an airplane had hit one of the towers...and as I continued watching, the Second one Hit...I remember saying, "Oh, my god, something's going on here..."

We had to explain to our students what was going on without scaring the heck out of them. After I got home, I was glued to the television set for the rest of the day.

dharmagrl

on Sep 11, 2005

I had put the kids on the schoo, bus and was at heading out to work. I was off base when I heard the news, and as soon as I did I called the squadron commander to see if I could help. He tasked me with calling other spouses and caling them down...

I decided to go home and got Daveys birthday cake on the way...ice cream cake that sat on the passenger seat for 2 hours whilst I sat in line waiting to get on base. We had 100% ID checks and vehicle searches that day; there was a 3 mile tailback.

When I got home, I tried to make the best of things so that Davey could have a decent birthday. Dave came home around 10 that night and told me that he was getting his 'A' bag (deployment gear) ready because they were putting together a team and he was volunteering to go. I was so proud of him....he wanted to go and do what he'd been trained to do, real-world style. I remember thinking what a hero he was at that moment....when his country called, he was willing to go into an unknown situation and kick some ass.

The next day, all I could do was cry. I took the rest of the week off, and I stayed home crying the whole time. I was so angry....if I had been eligible, i'd have enlisted and gone and kicked some ass myself.

foreverserenity

on Sep 15, 2005

I was standing on Sixth Avenue, just got off the E train on my way in to work to see a crowd standing around. I was in shock when I saw the first plane in the tower and even more dumbfounded when I saw the other ran right into the second one. Needless to say we all thought it was the end of our world as we knew it! I guess in a way it was too!

Demosthenes Locke

on Sep 15, 2005

Still being in college at the time, and late for my first class of the day, I had no idea anything had happened. My girlfriend sent me an odd text message and when I tried to call nothing would go through. It seemed odd, but still not all that out of the ordinary. I ran into her on the street a few minutes after that, when she told me what had happened.

The word "unreal" played in my head throughout the rest of the day, as I sat fixed on the tv. Everything felt like I was in somebody else's dream. It was almost like I wasn't in my own body, kind of hovering a little above and behind it, unable to accept the reality of what had occurred.

Rightwinger

on Sep 15, 2005

I was at work. No one had heard or said a thing. The boss came in...not sure what time it was, really, and asked us if we were ready to go to war. We all asked what he meant and he told us about the WTC. We couldn't believe it. My apt. was just down the street, so I went home and grabbed a radio, which we sat out front for everyone to hear. It stayed on for three days. I stopped on the way at a doctor's office on Washington St., and stood in the waiting room for a few minutes watching it on TV. i couldn't believe no one in there was paying attention to it. Guess they were all sick, I don't know....

Funny you should mention going to Pittsburgh; I live about 30 mins outside Pittsburgh, and one of the crazy rumors was that they were evacuating all big cities, and Pittsburgh was on the list. Turned out not to be true, of course.
I went to my other job that night, at Weirton Medical Center, and they were scheduling blood drives and there were flags everywhere, even in patient rooms. TVs were brought in, and every nurses' station had one on, tuned to CNN or the local news if no cable hookup was available. Someone came and donated hundreds of 13"x15" (the size you'd put on graves, etc.) flags to be handed out to staff and patients who wanted them. I took two home and stuck them in the ground at the top of the steps leading up to my home.
I lit two candles under them, and kept the candles burning for seven days and nights (then it rained).
That was our generation's "where were you?" moment. I'll never forget it.

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