Remembering 9/11

[clmarti1]

I remember that day... I was my freshman year at LSU. My roommates and I came home from swim practice, turned on the tv like most mornings to watch the Golden Girls and happened to hear about the twin towers on the news. All we could do was sit there in silence, just hoping it was all a dream.

[Yari]

I have to be honest I avoided this thread when I saw it first thing this morning. I just didn't want to remember.

 

I live in California, so I was getting out of the shower and heard banging at my front door. Since it was super early, I was worried. I open the door and it's my mom and she is shouting we are under attack turn on the tv. I was so confused, I honestly thought she meant by aliens...so lame I know. I then realized what was going on and tried to call my friends who lived in NYC. I of course couldn't get through. I then went into robot mode and got ready for work, then drove on the freeway to my job. The whole drive to work there was no traffic, it was like we were all zombie's trying the speed limit and listening to the radio coverage. It was super surreal. I got to work and they had the television on and all of us watched the coverage. I did get ahold of my NYC friends and found out they were okay. Work let us out early and I went to my friend's apartment and hung out there...we watched the coverage and just talked and talked. Then we went to my apartment and made mac & cheese and got drunk. We then laid out on the grass outside and watched the sky all lite up with planes...but it had to be military planes since all commercial planes were grounded. It was the weirdest day of my life. I was so scared and sad, I knew that our lives would never be the same.

 

The crazy thing is my FI picked 9/11 to propose to me last year.

[azhuskergirl]

I was at work at my current job (i work for a company that provides tours/transportation/entertainment/etc for corporate meetings & conventions that come into town) & remember all of my vendors calling me to let me know that the tours I had scheduled for that morning could obviously be canceled without penalty, but that if the client did want them to go that they'd be charged even if nobody went. It was bizarre that I still had to put my professional hat on & work (and ask my client to make decisions) in a time like this. I remember a coworked of mine had the top execs from a major American car manufacturer set to depart on 9/11 & she had to jump through hoops because these guys would not take no for an answer. I guess when you have that kind of money, they expect miracles to happen for them. They were trying to have her charter a plane, a motorcoach, anything to get them home. I remember her being in tears, because they were so demanding during this time. I had to work that night for the event that my client had planned at a western venue, & it was just so bizarre. 1/2 of the folks still went (to get their minds off of everything), but it was still very surreal.

 

One of the things I rememebr most during that week was the lack of planes in the sky. I live near a flight path & although it's never noisy, it was amazing how much I missed seeing the planes in the sky.

[lambert13]

I've been thinking about it today off and on. Just what I remember from that day. I first heard the news when someone called into the Howard Stern show saying that he just saw a plane hit the Twin Towers. Like most people, they though it was just a small plane and an accident at first. Then the second one hit.

 

I was out of the office coming back from a job site at the time. I drove back as fast as I could. Like 100mph fast. It took an hour and a half or so to get back. On the way I heard that one of the planes had left from Boston. Heart drops. Fuck. My father was in Boston for work and leaving that morning. Fuck fuck fuck. It took a few minutes, but I found out that he was not on one of the planes. I was a mess by that point. I had friends all over in the city and a few that worked in the towers. And my brother in the Air Force stationed in Jersey. Was he going to have to leave to go fight a war? Were my friends, family and loved ones in NYC and the surrounding area dead? fuck.

 

It took a while, but I found out all family members were ok. Some old friends who worked in the towers were not. Well, I did not find that out till weeks later.

 

That day was so scary. I felt helpless and uncertain about what tomorrow was going to bring. I went to see my brother a few days after the 11th because he was being shipped over to the Middle East. I wondered if I would see him again. fuck. Then I stopped by into the city on the way home to see things for myself. I walked downtown to as close as you could get to the site and myself and hundreds of others were crying as we cheered on the police, firemen, ems, and everyone else in the ongoing caravan of people going into hell to try and save what lives may have been left. And the smell. Can't even describe it. Don't want to describe it.

 

I just hope that people never forget that day. How scared we were. How we all worked together.

[Yari]

Jason, your post made me cry. You are such a great writer!

[lambert13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yari Jason, your post made me cry. You are such a great writer!

I don't know about the great writer part, but writing it made me cry too. Thanks Yari.

[jajajaja]

We listened to a tribute on the radio on our way to work today. Wow does it still bring back the tears and all the sadness.

 

I was a junior in college and since I'm on the west coast, I didn't hear about it until I arrived at work around 7am. Oddly enough, I worked with my DH back then and he was the first to tell me the news. I walked in and they had the TV on and I thought they were joking. I saw the images and I thought "you're lying. That's not real." Then it all sunk in. That moment was so surreal. I felt so many emotions- fear, anger, anxiety, confusion, sadness.

 

I worked at a casino (still do!) and I remember being incredibly pissed off that we didn't shut the place down and go home. I remember customers coming in saying "Well we have to still have a normal life." I remember thinking "the fuck you do, you insensitive pricks. You don't return to "normal" right now. Nothing is normal." Thankfully, they were just a small few. I remember how our employees seemed to just come together- nothing else mattered except for what we saw on the TV screen. No one wanted to stop watching- we just couldn't process it and take it all in.

 

Most of you seem to have been East coasters and that must have been such a terrible experience. I didn't know one single person on the East coast at the time so I didn't have anyone in particular to worry if they were ok. For me, that day was nothing but a day of silence. I can't describe it any other way. We were all just zombies- going through the motions.

[ACDCDCAC]

i remember the same as everyone, random bits from that day, mixed in with news reports all day on the tv.

 

what i remember most is later, in november, i took my then 14 year old cousin to las vegas and we were walking in front of the bellagio fountains at night. they started playing "proud to be an american" and i just stood there with tears streaming down my face. i wasnt the only one, tons of other people who stopped to watch were crying as well.

 

going to nyny hotel/casino was so surreal, the flowers and t-shirts and pictures hung all along the fence. a huge memorial of sorts had erected, even months after. all i could think was how huge this memorial was, and it wasnt even where it had happened. i couldnt even begin to fathom the enormous-ness of what was really happening in nyc, if this much was done somewhere that was just a representation of the real deal.

 

my heart goes out to anyone who was affected by the tragedy of that day.

[JennyK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lambert13 It's always a strange feeling day. And today...the weather feels just like it did that day.

that's what I thought too.. minus the black smoke in the air..

[jamisoncollette]

There are three accepted treatments for PTSD that have been proven efficacious and one of those is exposure therapy. The essential element is you write the trauma down and continue to write it down, adding more and more detail until you can tell the story without feeling the PTSD symptoms. I have talked about 9/11 every year to help myself decrease the negative feelings and yet also to remember.

I was a senior in college. I was getting ready for school, watching Good Morning America. They had a camera on WTC within minutes and also somehow the ameteur footage quickly. I called my advisor at home, a History professor, and told him we were under attack. I had his number because his daughter was my babysitter. He told me, no we are not and to go to class. The second plan hit, my mom called. This is when I told her I was fine because I was in Williamsport, not exactly the hub of Western civilization. So I sat there until the sitter came. I drove to class, which was a film class. The screen was down and the news was on. There was a lot of talking and laughing going on. I was upset and complained to another political science student that no one was taking this serious. Then the Pentagon was hit and the class was silent. The mood was instant. I left to find my favorite political science professor but couldn't find him. I didn't know a plane had hit Shanksville, a teeny tiny village in PA and the home of my roommate. Classes continued for the day and I stayed. I kept trying to call my best friend who was doing study abroad in England but couldn't get through to her. Her parents also couldn't get through, turns out all the American students were sequestered in one room on campus for safety. The only person I knew that died was Father Mychel Judge, a franciscan monk who was at St Bonaventure for a time and also the NYFD chaplain. My school lost several former students and many parents of students. I remember at least three students did not return to school. Our ROTC students started training and a few were called to serve. Before I graduated, I recorded my memories for the archives. I sometimes wonder how future generations will react when they hear the stories.