9/11...this month, ten years ago, what are your memories?

[Joe S.]

I was at work when this happened doing testing and managing repairs on high capacity telecom circuits. Another fellow came in and said he could not believe what had just happened and asked the supervisors to turn on the TV's in the office. A few minutes before the second plane hit, the TV's were on. Some of us that were ex-military were discussing it while working with our outside technicians. We hoped that people were exiting the tower and it could not be an accident like the non military people in the office were suggesting. The second plane confirmed that it was an attack. While it happened in the US we thought it was an attack on the world.

When the towers came down, we saw pictures of some of metal piers with cordite like shears. I got a phone call from the head of AT&T and on the line with him was the head of the BBC. They were calling through California on my direct line (which I reminded them was against federal law) to find out why one of their circuits was down. I checked the circuit from CA to Denver and that was good. going the other way was not. I asked if this circuit traveled the transatlantic cable. When they confirmed that I told them they would have to reroute since there was nothing left of the interconnect.

They did not believe me. I knew that in order to have my number, there was someone on the line with internet access and I had that person confirm what had happened. I suggested that they use some of their satellite bandwidth to get the images to Europe.

It was some thing that I could not help them with since I had access only to Colorado circuits.

[Blue Kat]

I was at work when my coworker's mother called to tell us what was happening.  At the time, we didn't have TVs in the office so another coworker went home on her lunch break and brought back a tiny B&W TV (the kind you might take camping) in and we tried to watch on it, but the reception wasn't very good.  It wasn't until I got home at the end of the day and turned on my TV that I saw the full extent of the destruction.

Seeing pictures of today's remembrance ceremonies, you can see that the pain is still very raw for the family members whose loved ones were callously stolen from them on that day.  It's hard to remember, but at the same time it's necessary that we do.

[engy]

I go back to that day often as my most memorable teaching day. 

I had just dropped my students off at PE & returned to my classroom. I turned the tv on to tape a 15 min. news show on pbs for my students. It was 9:20 when I turned it on & the Today Show was still trying to figure out what was going on. I literally sank to the floor & then ran to my co-teachers room. When she came in the hall I was crying & I said, "I'm very scared of what I'm seeing on tv, please come see it & tell me I'm wrong"

She asked me what I was talking about & I told her, I think our country is under attack. She replied, no way, stop joking. We went into my room & continued to watch in horror as another plane crashed into the second tower.

We "sucked it up" told our kids our allergies were bad so we didn't scare them & taught the rest of the day. At lunch we ate in another teacher's room & cried.  By the end of the school day, my co-teacher's husband was called to go overseas (he was in the reserves).

By the time I got home my husband was there. We were so sad.

We will never forget.

God Bless the U.S.A.

[Carolina]

For some reason the TV was on, and it never is.   

We lived in Georgia, so in Eastern Time......after the second plane hit, and things just went from bad to worse
I called my husband at work, and then our son in Hawaii.

I got him out of bed since it is 6 hours earlier than Eastern Time.

He was a Major in the Army, doing his residency, and I knew his life was changing even more than mine.

He had to know.   And of course 6 years later he was in Iraq.

We ended up moving near him and his family in El Paso Texas to help out while he was away.

Our lives went in a completely completely different direction because of 9/11.

I also remember the day I heard that JF Kennedy was shot and killed, and Bobby Kennedy and ML King.

So many shocks.

Mostly we have such safe and protected lives, as a rule.  These events are memorable, and even more so because we are usually so safe.

We lived for years in a community with many Holocaust survivors, which always leaves me in awe of the terrors life can bring.

And I remember those Americans who lived a generation before mine and experienced two World Wars AND the Great Depression.  My own father was killed in action at Normandy in World War II.

Life is precious, and we often take is so much for granted.  My darling granddaughter asked today for a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa.  Of COURSE we said yes.  Yes and yes and yes to all the joys of life.

Yes to life, and an effort to be useful to others.  Those are my mantras.

Hugs

Elaine

[Nancy60]

I was at work treating kids with disabilities.  there is also a special needs daycare and the teachers in the classrooms has small TV's that they kept on low so as not to scare any of the kids.  I turned a radio on in my office and kept checking for updates on what was happening.  Even though we were in Texas, several kids went home early or did not come in for therapy that day and actually that week.  Most parents wanted to keep their kids close.  Driving home was eerie, not a plane in the sky, and I lived near a major international airport. I remember thinking almost immediately that this was terrorism and that Osama Bin Ladin was more than likely behind it.  Our country, the world will never be the same.   

[Meld256]

I was also at work, in Ohio.  I worked in an office taking calls for consumer complaints from around the US, so was on the phone. We had a fairly sophisticated system connected to the internet. 

We had no tv or radio in our office, but a friend used a radio in hers, and came in telling us of the first plane that hit the WTC.  I remember being confused and shocked. Then news of the second plane. That was when we tried to understand that this was not an accident.  Our phones lines and computers all went down within a few minutes for the rest of the day.  Back then, not many people had a cell phone, but a few superviors used walkie-talkies to relay information.
I also didn't realize the devastration until I got home and saw  the television reports. I remember feeling such sadness for all the lives lost, an unbelievable number of people.  My husband and I got home from work, watched the reports and cried together, and tried to explain to our 12-year-old daughter some of what had happened.  She was very upset since she had heard some of the news at school.

I've watched some of the memoriam documentaries this week.  Again, my heart goes out to all the thousands whose lives were changed by the loss of a loved one, and in some way we are all changed.
What this has shown is the determination of the human spirit; and that there are heroes among us every day.

[season]

I was sleeping a little late that morning and my son called and woke me up.

He said, "Mom get up and turn the tv on. The United States is under attack."

It was devastating what I saw on the tv and I was truly scared for our country.

[eyeamdry]

I was at work in the president's office of a community college.  Because we were the administrative area, a tv was brought up because the boss wanted to keep up with the situation.  Everyone was totally aghast.  People within the college who were in class or working in other areas were not initially aware of what was happening.  I watched a little of the tv reports this evening, but it was just too sad to sit and watch non-stop.  Lucy

[Happy]

when the second plane hit I too called my son at Pearl Harbor, he was not happy to be up at 2;30 am,  I told him to turn on the tv, once he saw what was going on, We never heard from him for a month,, he went to the Sub and they put to sea in record time with half a crew,

[norwegian79]

I was at home with the flu that day, it being early afternoon in Oslo. I watched the videos of the first plane, thinking the pilot must have had some sort of heartattack or something. Then the second plane hit, and the one in the Pentagon, and the fourth one crashed, and the world never became the same again.
9/11 this year was very special. It is less than two months since the attacks here in Oslo, and we had our local elections on sunday. Being able to vote on 9/11, after someone so violently wanted to crush our strong democracy, was very moving. Our thoughts went to the victims of that day in New York, to those innocent young politicians who died in Oslo, and to all those who have suffered in the aftermaths.

[Joe S.]

I watched news evening reports of the incident in Norway. So much destruction from just one person.