Where were you 4 years ago?

[Andrew92]

I was a senior in high school. At the time of the first attacks, I was at my first class of the day, which was calculus (boo!). However, I was in a designated study-hour period when I found out about the attacks. This was also a period when students could visit teachers to get one-on-one help on homework or make up assignments that they were absent for. But that day, everyone was glued to the TV. We didn't close school for the day, but all extra-curricular activities were postponed except for practices.

-Andrew92

[Swimdude]

I was only in 8th grade. During first period, around 9:30 in the morning, Central Time, a teacher came into my Journalism class and whispered something to my teacher. We were under the false impression that "two planes had collided in the air over NYC."

Didn't mean much to any of us.

We all went to 2nd period; my teacher sat us down, cancelled the quiz, and turned on the television.

That was my first view of the towers; both planes had hit by then, thank GOD. I can only imagine how it would've felt to see the second plane hit LIVE on television, as many of you did see... I probably would've been knocked off my feet...

We had to go to homeroom that day for whatever reason after 2nd period. All I can remember is shaking. I wasn't crying; I wasn't scared; but I was shaking. And I couldn't stop. I've never felt that before, and never since. And I won't ever forget that feeling. The rest of the day was spent with 1/2 the normal amount of people in my classes, as parents were picking their kids up. [I still don't see why.]

I remember my 70-year-old Spanish teacher telling us, "I don't care who you pray to, but take a second right now, and pray."

[therock1811]

I was in my 1st period Math class when the first one hit. I went and took a break, and after that, went to my 2nd period Spanish class, where my assistant ran in about 10 minutes after I got there, told us to turn on the TV. Suffice to say, all we did the rest of the day was to either watch TV, or talk about the attack. After school, activities got called off, and I went home about half an hour early because I was scared.

I don't believe I've shared this, but my mom did, and still does, work within the shadow of the tallest building in Cincinnati. I was very afraid a plane would be hijacked and taken into it.

[breeze]

I was "off" from working in EKG Dept. at the hospital, that day,
but, I was secretary on the Nurse Practice Council, and, we
had a meeting, that morning, so, I had to go to "work" for
a short time. I noticed administrative people whispering during
the meeting, and, afterwards, I was walking down the hall by our dept.,
and, another EKG tech that I worked with said, "The world's gone
crazy, today"...I said, "Huh?" And, she proceeded to tell me about
planes hitting the Twin Towers in NYC and hitting the Pentagon in
Washington. I went into our dept. and sat with patients and watched
TV for an hour or so - I lived about 45 minutes away, then, and,
didn't want to drive home, alone, at that time. I eventually drove to
my parent's house, here in Summertown, and, watched tv with them for
hours, trying to sort it out, and, being with people I loved.

[chicagopizza]

It is a memory that I will never forget. My husband was on the internet. I came into the den to see what he wanted for breakfast. He showed me the aol headlines and it had a plane crashing into the first tower. I asked him if it was a promo for a movie and he explained the horrible news. I just remember thinking..please let me be having a nightmare and please let me wake up to a normal day. Not the case. When the second plane hit, we were watching the Today show and that is when it hit us this was not an accident. A sad day in history.

[cajungal]

I was heading back to Louisiana after a 5 day vacation to Destin, Florida with my parents and my aunt. We stopped at the Wings store in Crystal Beach to buy some T-shirts. And the news broke out on the store radio. We rode the 5-hour drive back home in almost complete silence. Even when we stopped at Wendys to eat lunch, we barely spoke. We stopped at a rest area just over the Alabama state line to use the restroom, some middle eastern men were wearing turbins and were laughing at us. I got scared and ran full speed to the car as soon as I was done using the bathroom.

[Miss Mary]

I had just sent my 6th Grader off to school. Our weather that day was just beautiful. 70s, zero humidity, blue skies, clear sunshine. I remember closing the door thinking what a nice day it was. 5 to 10 minutes later, my next door neighbor called to tell me about the 2 planes attacking the Trade Towers. Like millions of Americans hearing the news from someone else, I said what, is this for real? As I was talking, I turned on the news and saw Katie Couric right away. Flipped to all news channels, it was on every channel (something we are not surprised at now). She filled me in on as much as she knew, she had the TV on after the first crash. And watched live, with millions of others, as the second plane crashed. She began calling everyone she knew to tell them the tragic news. We hung up, I called my husband at work. They had no idea this had happened. I called my mom and she even wondered outloud what building would be next and said DC/Pentagon/White House. We could not believe it when the Pentagon was hit next. At one point we both wondered where one of the towers was, all we saw was dust. At that point we hung up and listened to the news. I didn't want to miss any of it, b/c I was on the phone. I was crying and wanting my children home. By noon, many schools in the Cincinnati area were letting students out early. Our district didn't but the schools were on lockdown. No one in or out. When my girls came home all we did was hug. And they wanted to watch the news and footage from earlier. Since they were 9th and 6th graders, I agreed. This was very sad history in the making and they needed to watch with me.

From that day forward we almost always watch the news before they go out to school. For months we read all the news scrolls daily.

And now if I've been away from home for a day or more, I turn on CNN right away, to make sure I didn't miss anything. Which is an awful way to think, but 9/11 did it.

I was online at some point that morning and Steve/Azskyman IM'ed me. I broke the sad-sad news to him. You just felt compelled to tell as many people that you knew, the sad news.

Marshall, I remember you telling me how you were stranded here in Cincinnati. I'm glad you got home safely but what a ride that must have been like. I heard rental cars were just about nonexistent that day. Total strangers were sharing cabs and rental cars just to get home. My dental hygneist was stuck in Canada, after being there with her husband and his work convention. She said everyone was so sad for America. And offered any help they could. They had to also rent a car, staying over in several cities before getting home to Cincy. So many people were stranded all over this country. For days.

Mary

[alicia-w]

I was scanning the news sites and saw the breaking news about the first crash. I called to the secretary and had her turn on the TV in the conference room. That's when we saw the second plane hit. (We are on the 6th floor of a 6 story building on Eglin, so we started to get a little nervous...). Then I saw that the Pentagon was hit. My best friend and her husband worked there and I just felt like someone had punched me in the gut. A whole office of guys we worked with on a project was wiped out. They all died. I was terrified. I wanted to just pick the kids up from school, go home, and lock all the doors. But they wouldnt let us leave.