I was sitting in the green chair in my grandma and grandpa’s living room, eating oatmeal from a tray my grandma had brought me–like she did every morning before I headed off to classes. My grandpa sat across from me in his recliner, his bad leg stretched out and his cocker spaniel loyally perched at the end of his chair. He sipped his coffee and hollered for my grandma to come take his tray while we watched the morning news. Like always, he volleyed channels between The Today Show, Fox News and CNN, reaching for the remote every time a commercial appeared, and he made good grandfatherly conversation with me in between headlines. Like asking what tests I had coming up and how much more I had to write on that British Literature paper I was procrastinating finishing.
This was our routine.
My hair was still wet and I was running late, so I ate quickly, skipping the mug of thick apricot nectar my grandma had poured to accompany my breakast. She poured it for me every morning; I skipped it every morning, but either she didn’t notice or perhaps was persistent and thought I’d eventually drink what she was certain to be good for me.
And then Matt Lauer cut his story short and said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. And we talked about what could possibly have gone wrong until we watched, live, as the second plane hit. My grandma peered around from the kitchen and the three of us stared, silently, and suddenly I wasn’t so hungry.
I skipped my classes that day, instead choosing to stay near my grandpa’s chair where it felt safe. I drank cup after cup of my grandma’s weak coffee, nervously fingering the handle of my mug while we watched footage for hours of sirens, fires, smoke and fear. I called my dad, my mom, my sister, my brother, my friends. By late afternoon I was emotionally exhausted from forcing myself to imagine what it would be like. To be on that plane, to be in that building, to be wondering if the person I loved made it out alive. I asked my grandpa questions and drank up his answers. He was smart and experienced and strangely calm through the disturbing images of horror I’ll never forget. He prayed out loud with my grandma and me, eloquently bellowing words intended for the victims of that day but comforting me instead.
I remember I had had enough come evening. I laid on my bed and cried because I was scared. I was twenty-two years old and felt the vulnerability of a young child who needed to be scooped up and protected, and I was embarrassed for how scared I felt–for how naive I was of world issues, politics, terrorism, relationships between people and countries. I thought it was the end of us all.
I’ll never forget what my grandpa told me that night. I walked into his office in my pajamas and sat next to his desk where he had just finished his nightly ham radio session. He wasn’t usually the person I approached during emotional breakdowns but, for some reason, he was the one who would calm my fears–I knew it.
“What’s going to happen?” I asked him, crying.
And he smiled and told me that yes, it was sad and yes, this would greatly affect us. But then he said, “Listen to this old man. I’ve been around for a long enough time to see a lot of bad things happen. I’ve seen devastation in a lot of parts of the world, but people overcome. They always overcome. It will be okay.”
I’ve thought of these words so many times in my life and, of course, at that moment had no idea just how much his wisdom would mean years later after he was gone. But it’s true. We overcome.
Something happened between that fateful day ten years ago and today’s memorial that has changed the way I look at the events and effects of September 11. I had children. And everything–everything seems to matter so much more. I don’t know how to make sense of it all, and it’s difficult to weigh the importance of the safety of our children and our country with the greater principle of changing the world to a place of compassion and peace. I’ve shielded Lainey’s eyes this week from the memorable images of that day–protecting her from things her little 4-year-old mind doesn’t need to know quite yet. And yet I want her to know someday because it’s important.
And what will I tell her? I don’t know. I hope that her world and the world of her children will be so much better than ours. And when my mind stretches and trails off dangerously to a future that overwhelms me, I rein it in to the comfortable, focused task of today. You teach compassion and love. You live compassion and love. I can handle that today.
What do you remember from that day?
What a beautiful story, your Grandpa was a very smart man!
I was sitting in a chair nursing my 6 week old baby, Ava Katherine. My 19 month old daughter was asleep in the bedroom still. I was on the phone with my friend, and she told me to turn on the t.v. (I never watched television then, unless it was baby Mozart or Barney!!). When I did, I could not believe my eyes. I was watching right after the first plane had hit….I sat transfixed to the t.v as much as I could that entire day and night and for weeks afterward, whenever I could watch it, I would….I remember sitting there thinking, “how am I going to bring my daughters up in this awful new reality”…but it’s been better than I could have imagined. There has been hope, heroes, & me having more faith in people, than I could have ever imagined on that day…
will always remember nine eleven!
tara
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Thanks for sharing. It is truly remarkable how different everyone’s stories are. I was sitting in my dorm room in college. Some came screaming down the hall that NYC was being attacked. We all huddled around the tv watching helplessly. I too called everyone I knew, particularly those in the NY area. All was safe. But my heart broke and ached for those that we not so fortunate. I remember everything from that day. And really everything from the days following. And thank you is not a large enough phrase for all the heros that died that day.
i remember this: http://girlandgreatdane.blogspot.com/2011/09/decade-gone-by.html
Thanks for these thoughts, Kelle.
I was 22 as well. It was my 2nd full day as a 2nd grade teacher in Los Angeles, 3000 from everyone and everything I knew. I learned of the attacks as I left for school, the first tower–a tower I could see from my hometown, a tower from which I had gazed at a panoramic view of the city–fell. I spent the day worried about the people I loved…my whole family was either in NYC, DC, or the surrounding areas. My dad’s memories of what he saw that day are haunting.
That day defined my 3 years in LA in a strange way. It is a day I still prefer to spend in quiet remembrance. This week, I had to explain that day to a class of 3rd graders who weren’t alive to live it.
I live in England and was only 16 years old. I remember being in the car and hearing the news on the radio.. The rest of the day and that evening I sat in front of the tv watching the news.. Thinking of my family that live in America. Thankfully they were all ok..
This was beautifully written.. Thankyou for sharing xxx
What a good grandpa. I was at Westmont in Santa Barbara, beginning to get ready for an early class and gathering my keys when our phone rang. (Yep, we still used a land line.) My roommate’s mom was on the phone, and I waited, risking arriving at class late because my roommate looked like she was getting bad news. She hung up and we turned on our TV to get our one channel and saw what was happening on the East Coast.
Four months later, I was living in the DC area.
I was awoken by my dad who called from work and all he said was “turn on the tv” – I don’t think words could describe what was going on. I was 16 years and I also thought our world was over. My mum said this was the beginning of the end, not very comforting words that a teenager needs to hear!! I went to School and it was deathly quiet, all day, no one said a word or dared played up. I’ll never forget. May all those who perished rest in peace and know you are in a better place now x
I remember returning home after my second day of Secondary School, and my mum was already home from work. On the T.V were the horrible images of terror. I just remember feeling scared, sad and confused. The 12-year-old me grew up a bit that day. Every year, I still feel that sadness and my thoughts go out to all the families and friends of those who died.
How helpless I felt.
Always forgive, never forget. 9-11-01
“You teach compassion and love. You live compassion and love. I can handle that today.”
I think I’m going to have to make myself a sign to hang in my kitchen with those words.
Thank you.
I was 28 and had a 2 year old. I missed the first plane and its chaos because Ian was watching teletubbies. I was doing normal things, drinking coffee, picking up toys when teletubbies was over I turned on the Today Show and my world changed. I couldn’t believe that such a terrible thing could happen. I watched the second plane and the towers fall all mouth agape.
Love this Kelle… And when my mind stretches and trails off dangerously to a future that overwhelms me, I rein it in to the comfortable, focused task of today. You teach compassion and love. You live compassion and love. I can handle that today. Just beautiful & tangible & comforting…
I remember being up very early that morning to meet a friend for a walk before work. We walked & chatted & sweated our way up and down San Francisco hills… in complete ignorance of what was happening on the other side of the country. A car driving by us stopped & asked if we knew… our walk changed to a run as we made our way back to my apartment & turned on the TV. Shock, tears, utter disbelief at the images. The rest of that day is a blur of talking with family & friends around the world checking off who was where & making sure everyone was safe. All the while tears streaming for those who were missing, hurt, lost. My most vivid memory is of the days that followed… the strangely beautiful goodwill between strangers, the outpouring of support from around the globe, and talking with people in my apartment building who I had seen for years but we had never spoken.
It all seems like yesterday & so long ago at the same time.
I was driving to school with my mom. I was a freshman in high school. When I heard it on the radio, I thought it was an accident and still don’t remember when it hit me that it wasn’t. My mom told me to call my dad and tell him, because just a week prior he was there. Across the street. At 14, I didn’t get the hugeness of it. Now, however, I’m a 4th grade teacher talking about it to my students. Watching the memorial videos. There hasn’t been a day in the last week that I haven’t cried. I guess I’m finally, at 24, realizing the weight of this event and the toll it took on so many people’s lives. And the toll it is still taking. Sad it took me this long, but glad that I’m finally paying the victims and our country the respect they deserve.
I was in the hospital after just giving birth to my 2 day old daughter. I was terrified! She was in the nursery & I was coming off of the morphine. I was certain terrorists were going to start attacking public places…like hospitals. I called the nurse to bring my baby & it seemed to take forever. I remember laying there imagining terrorists storming the hospital doors & people fighting for their lives 5 floors below.
I was supposed to stay in the hospital for 2 more days – I had a c-section. But I called my dr & asked the nurse to tell him I needed to go home. He released me a few hours later. Home felt so much safer.
10 years later & my daughter’s baby book is still blank on the pages titled “The day we brought you home”. I just do not know what to write.
I was 21. I woke up to a machine full of messages, but I didn’t know what was going on yet. The first plane had crashed when I turned on the TV and stood there. My body didn’t move from that spot, two feet from the set, where I had pressed the power button and stood with the remote in my hand. Shock.
I stood there for, I don’t know how long, as I watched the second plane hit. Eventually I sat down on the floor, right there where I had become rooted and watched.
At some point the ringing phone pulled me out of it and I realized that I had an exam in 30 minutes. I had to go, so I pulled a hoodie on over my pajamas and walked out the door. It was cool and sunny in Wisconsin as I got into my truck. I sat there for a minute just feeling the realness of the cold leather seats before starting the engine.
When I turned the keys the CD picked up where it had left off; the tail notes of a song. Pink Floyd. Then the next song rolled in: Goodbye Blue Sky
I didn’t make it out of the driveway. That did me in.
ooo oooo ooooo oooo
did you see the frightened ones
did you hear the falling bombs
did you ever wonder
why we had to run for shelter
when the promise of a brave new world
unfurled beneath a clear blue sky
the flames are long gone
but the pain lingers on
goodbye blue sky
goodbye
Whew. I know the lyrics by heart because they are burned there by that moment. I haven’t listened to it since that day. It was waaay too much. Yanked me right out of shock into a deep, deep sorrow.
What a great memory you had from a tragic day.
My first worry was for my son. He was military intelligence and stationed far away in Hawaii…..a very vulnerable place. I was sure he would go to war immediately. Then my heart broke for everyone , tears as I write this. We will never forget.
What a beautiful, yet haunting memory. I remember fear, confusion, hopeless and helplessness. I pray that our children will see better days.
I was 19 years old and in my sophomore year at college in Philadelphia. I was in my metals & jewelry class and we were listening to the radio while we worked. And I remember the dj talking about what happened and I didn’t really understand what was going on. The look on my professor’s face told me how significant this was. She told us all to go back to our dorms and call our parents. I watched the news in my dorm, while we all cried, and waited for our parents to come get us.
I can’t look at images from that day, or hear stories, without crying.
I was 18, in my freshman year of college. Walking down the hall to my first class I noticed it was eerily silent except for the sound of the same news station coming from room after room. At the end of my hall I stopped in a friend’s room and we sat in silence and watched. Soon after, it was reported that the Pentagon had been hit. We were 25 miles away, and many girls had parents, family who worked there. Now we were all frantically calling, or trying to call, people we knew in DC and NYC. Campus phones overloaded and went down. We all felt so small, so helpless – we needed to do something. Someone found out about a blood drive in a town nearby at a VFW. About 10 girls piled into 2 cars and we drove, listening to NPR coverage, to the VFW. We sat all day with many, many people from the community in that VFW, all of us listening to the radio and just being there, feeling we were doing something, even as the reports rolled in that let us know that our efforts were probably in vain.
That day my world did change, but I am not more scared. I just know that I can’t take anything, my family, my friends, experiences, for granted.
Thanks Kelle, for writing and giving us an opportunity to share. Sharing/remembering is how we can pass along the lesson in the tragedies of that day.
I came home from school and saw the 2. plane hit and sat in front of the TV for the rest of the day in total disbelieve that something like this could happen in our time
.
Today i hope your Grandpa was right, and that the USA and the world can overcome.
I remember wanting to drive home to be with my baby and my family. I remember holding everyone extra tight. I remember crying and thinking it was the end if the world.
Your grandpa sounds like a very wise man.
I was at work in Germany and heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the WTC. They first thought it was a little Cessna and that it happened by an error of the pilot. Some minutes later my husband called me and told me about the second plane, that both had been really big planes and that it was a terrorist attack. We were both very scared since he worked close to some US base and we did not know what would happen next. As soon as we hung up the phone I ran into the next office to inform my colleagues and they looked at me as if I had become completely mad.
On our way home we were both scared to death. We were sure this would be the beginning of another world war. As soon as we arrived at home we turned on the TV and watched for the rest of the evening until deep in the night, crying in front of the TV.
I will never forget that day and my heart still aches for all those who lost their lives or their beloved ones on that day.
Beate
I was 20 and in college. I remember someone saying in between classes that a plane hit the world trade center and we were under attack. I laughed. No way. Some small inexperienced plane must have mistakenly hit. I went onto class but couldnt help and hear all of the chatter, cell phone calls, etc. My professer finally told us all to go for the day. I went home to find my parents home early. it was then I knew something serious was going on, My mom worked in civil service at a local military base and my dad worked at NASA. Even watching it on tv, i didnt grasp the full extent of what was going on. I was young, self absorbed and didnt even know there were two towers at the Trade Center (embarrassingly enough). BUT one thing I know is that I agree with you when you say EVERYTHING changed once you have kids. I think 9/11 affects me more know because I can picture myself…loosing a child, a mother, a spouse, etc. Its devasting thinking about what those people went through and how many people were left behind loosing their loved ones.
It is interesting to hear all of the stories, there are millions. I did not know personally anyone involved in the attacks but I pray for everyone involved…that they might find closure and peace.
I remember waking up that day not knowing was going on until my dad got a call from work saying what had happened. I remember turning on the TV watching the news until my neighbor came over so we could walk to school together. I also remember talking about all the way to school. I remember watching Channel One in class and they were talking about it.
I wrote a similar post on my blog today. Everything changes once we have kids. I have spent the last few days just staring at my kids and in envy of their innocence of it all.
I was 18 years old and in my first week of college in Central Pennsylvania. I had been in an early morning Biology class. No one bothered to come and tell us what happened. I came out onto the central quad of the campus at what I had learned was normally a busy time, the change of classes. The quad was silent and almost no one was walking through it. I still didn’t quite catch on. I walked into the library to return a book and noticed that there was a big crowd huddled around a t.v. on the wall. I walked over just in time to see the second plane hit the second tower. I will never forget the sounds that came out of people’s mouths or the twisted looks of terror and bewilderment in people’s faces. I contacted my family, boyfriend, best friend….Having grown up in Upstate NY everyone had someone in the city they were waiting to hear from. It took my best friend and her family all day to hear from their father, a local NYS Senator who had been one building away and knocked out by a blast that busted the windows. We all thought he was dead. My roommate, from Northern Jersey went home each weekend for a month to go to a Memorial Service/funeral. I remember feeling hopeless and confused. Little did I know not so far away civilians were bravely wresting a plane from the air, sacrificing their own lives.
We are all changed, and I hope, more conscious that life is precious and not to be wasted. One of the reasons I adore this blog is that you Kelle focus on the everyday fabulousness (word?) of daily emotions. Please keep on reminding us that life is amazing and precious, as I am really grateful for this reminder.
I was 24 yrs old and at work… I had just returned from my lunch and i got a txt from my boyfriend who said… “get to a TV now… turn on the news”
I worked in a huge office attached to a contact centre… the word quickly spread and you know that afternoon no work was completed. No one phoned in, the lines were quiet — everyone was watching the news – in disbelief.
I continued to follow to news for days…. so sad.
I too have blog posted something about 9/11. Just a little photo of hope.
Your grandpa sounds like a lovely man. I hope you were comforted by his words.
jenn. xx
I remember this day very clearly, since it – of course – shook us in Europe too.
Seeing the images on TV I first thought it was some clip of a disaster movie.
Then I thought it was an accident and then….. shock and then feeling frightened, just like you.
When New York was hit like that, it was like “now horror is for real and closer”. If it can happen there…
It made me feel even closer to the american people and I still feel so much for all those who lost a loved one or who lived through.
Your grandfather was totally right: we overcome but it changes who we are forever.
I live in NYC and did 10 years ago as well.
There are so many things I remember from that day: the gorgeous weather, the immediate generosity of and closeness with my fellow NYCers, the ghost-white workers quietly marching north, the ER facilities along the West Side Highway that were turned into makeshift morgues, the missing signs covering every surface, the smell – that smell that I’ll never be able to get out of my nose.
I was 23 and remember the radio alarm waking me up and the Dj’s saying that a plane had crashed into the World trade center.I turned on the TV wondering what was going on and I saw the second plane hit. I ate breakfast with my dad watching until I had to leave to go student teach. I remember not knowing what to tell my students and feeling sad. At lunch all the teachers gathered in the library to watch to learn what was happening since we were cut off from it while we were teaching. I also remember some teachers gathering afterwards to talk and pray -I was such a comfort to me.I remember being so afraid and like you I imagined what it would have been like and how scary it would have been to be on the plane or in the one of the buildings. We are changed – Now a mom, I pray that the world will be a better place for my kids.
I was 18 and a freshman in college in rural Kansas. Completely naive at the time. I walked briskly to my history class, as I had just woken up and was running late. Walking through the doors the entire room was silent. Our teacher very solemnly said because of the events happening that morning, our class was canceled. I had no idea what she was talking about. The chatter on the way back up to the dorms was the sound of terrified and troubled young students, like me, who had no idea of the impact and horror of the morning. The news was turned on in the common area when I made it back to the dorms. I watched the chaos and disaster on the channel for hours. Just frozen. I couldn’t imagine the lives changed forever. I can’t explain it, but that day I felt like I was so shut off from the world. Just a young girl that didn’t think about wordly, terrorist things. After that day I changed forever.
Such wonderful words from your Grandpa, Kelle. We will overcome.
I was 21 and still in bed when my husband’s friend called us from across the country to get up and turn on the tv. We ran downstairs and watched in horror as the second plane hit the tower and then in shock as the tower came down.
An hour later I headed off to school and my classmates and I sat in the photo lab listening to the radio. I sucked up information like a sponge for the next week.
I was teaching first hour English; we went to the media room and saw the second plane hit. Students were crying, and we were all stunned. We live an hour from Shanksville and an hour and a half from DC. Area schools dismissed before lunch. No one knew what was going on. My husband was at work, and I didn’t want to be alone. So I drove to my in-laws’ lake house to be with them. For a couple days I watched the mountain ridges. My sister was stranded in Portland, OR, and ended up driving home to WI. She was scared for me, and I was scared for her.
I remember feeling like I should go to NYC to help. I could hand out water; I could hug people who needed to be hugged. But I couldn’t just leave my students, and I felt helpless.
I remember just about everything from that day. When 9/11 is mentioned the first thing that I remember is wondering if the man I thought I would marry was ok and if he would be ok.
I had just started my first year in college, the first time away from all of my family and friends. I had met a man, 7 years my senior, just one year before and after we first met I knew I would marry him one day. He was in the Army serving overseas in Germany (as far as I knew). We were not in contact with each other, I had only briefly met him in passing. But that day he consumed my mind, I felt sick thinking about his safety that day and in the future. My life changed that day, as it did for everyone else in the world, I knew things HAD to change. Only five months and four days later we were engaged and married just before he left to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Gods Grace brought him safely home to me.
I can’t imagine what life would be like if we did not have to experience that day. I will never forget that day, and I will NEVER forget all of our Nations HEROS that so bravely protected and served “that” day. I pray for peace for all of the families that lost someone dear on 9/11.
I live in Norway and i did much the same as you. Except that i just had come home from school. Don’t remember how hour i sat in front of the tv, but i sat there the hole night and much of night.
Your grandpa was a smart man with good words…
I was getting ready to go to work that morning – watching Regis and Kelly (or was it still Kathy at that point?)
They interrupted the show to tell us that one plane had hit, and it must have been a training pilot…then the second plane hit, and they went off the air.
I couldn’t leave the t.v and had CNN on all day. When it was finally time to got to work – the city was beginning to feel the effects. Living on the border (we were in Windsor, ON), many folks got sent home early – before the bridge and tunnel were closed.
I was managing the local Christian bookstore, and we had people coming in who just need to be pointed to something that would give some hope. We sold out of a number of books on suffering, and our Bible sales went through the roof. We had people who just needed to be in the store – to talk with others, to feel safe, to listen to the music we had playing.
It was very surreal…but 10 years later, other than the inconvenience of extra security at the airport (if they are keeping my travel safe…have at it), I have to wonder if we have really learned the lessons we all said we were learning?
My heart aches for all those directly impacted by that day – the victims, the first responders and all the family members.
Thanks for sharing where you were Kelle. I like when everyone shares where they were or what they were doing, we all remember so well.
I was almost 32 years old and it was the first day of my job teaching mother’s day out. Brianna, who was 3, 1st day of preschool. We dropped Joe off at NASA. Listening to the radio a plane hit one of the towers. I thought it was a little plane. At work learned another plane hit the other tower. I called my friend Karenia and my mom who told me about the Pentagon & flight 93. I was a mess! Hysterical and trying to stay focused of my room of 2 year olds. My co-teacher was doing a good job of it. I could not wait to go home to be with Joe as NASA let everyone go home. Once home we just stared at the TV & Brianna wanted to go help everyone get out. I wished we could have. I let her watch it all. And we talked about everything. She was never scared, just focused on wanting to help people get out. She is 13 now and doesn’t remember that day. We have been watching all the shows this past week. Just feel so compelled to relive it as it. I feel I owe it to those who died, survived, and served.
I remember sitting in my freshmen first period class and hearing the office attendant come over the announcment, telling all teachers to turn on the tvs in the classroom and watching a terrified news reported jump in shock as the second plane hit as he was reporting on the first. The confusion on what was going on, and then the confirmed terrorist attack anouncement as we learn of the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania planes as well. But being in Michigan, after confirming that all PA and NY relatives were safe, I was so disconnected from it all. I listen to people who were truly affect, losing husbands and wives and children, and my heart breaks for what that day was for them.
I was chatting with a friend online when she sent one sentence, “Turn on your TV.” I stood and watched the second plane hit and screamed and sat in the floor with my hands over my mouth. I could not believe what I was seeing. I cried over the phone with my husband. My 4 year-old son woke up and I had this overwhelming urge to go and get my girls from school. When I got there, there were at least 50 parents outside the school signing out their kids ‘just because.’ We all cried and hugged each other. I called my friend in New York and she told me her best friend was in the 2nd Tower. She was hysterical to reach her. She was 28 and had just recovered from treatment for Hodgkins Disease and was so excited to start her new job, just two weeks earlier. She left a voicemail for her fiance after the first plane hit. They never heard from her again. They only recovered her ring. My heart goes out to her family and all the other families every year. . .
I was three–I remember nothing. But I remember the 7/7 bombing in London, the boy in drama who had an aunt killed, the way he still has to leave the room when the conversation gets too involved because it makes him cry.
I worked in a daycare center and we were on our way to breakfast when one of my co-teacher’s phone rang and she sank to the ground. We quickly turned on the one TV in our center and took turns watching as paretn after parent came to get their children. They just needed to be with their babies. I had no children at the time and I remember thinking that their kids were safe with us. But now, I have 4 and I totally get it.
great words!
my story was the same but different than everyone else’s. I lived overseas as an American and slightly different logistics that day and days afterwards. http://www.oursemiorganiclife.com/2011/09/my-9-11-story.html
Your grandfather was so wise. He words carry such truth.
I was teaching technology integration at an elementary school on that day.
Great post to be summed up in two words…We overcome.
This is what I wrote…
http://candidcollections.blogspot.com/2011/09/where-were-you.html
Thank you for a lovely story! Your grandfather was a wise man!
I got home from the hospital that day. I was pregnant with my second child, and this day we had a false alarm, so we went home again to keep waiting for our new baby. I sat down to watch tv, and it came rolling over the screen that a plane had crashed into WTC. And I switched over to CNN, and we also watched the second plane, live, hit the other tower. It was hard to understand. It still is….
Our daughter arrived two days later, and Tuesday we celebrate her tenth birthday. And we will never forget 9/11….
http://monabl-hverdagseventyr.blogspot.com/2011/09/11-september.html
I remember:
http://www.wheredidyougetthatcheerio.blogspot.com
Kelle, You writing is so great and I look forward to reading about your beautiful girls and your adventures in Florida everyday! Thank you for all the stories you share. On September 11th I was in 7th grade, had no idea what was going on until, on the bus ride home, we started noticing mothers and fathers waiting for their kids at the bus stops. I will never forget the teary-eyed look on my father’s face, a man I had never seen cry, as we got off the bus that day. The scaring news images and stories will be forever ingrained in my mind. Growing up 45 minutes from NYC,I felt so deeply hurt and affected by the 9/11 attacks and tragedies. Today I remember all those who lost their lives, the bravery and strength they showed and the amazing courage and love of their family and friends left behind.
I remember sep 11 like if it was yesterday. I was living in Argentina and I was 22. When they told me what happened I though it was an accident, I was so naive that it took me a while to realize what was going on.
I turned on the T.V and watched for hours, I was frozen, and I remember crying and feeling so weak and sad. I just couldn’t and didn’t want to believe that someone could do something so horrible. I couldn’t stop thinking of all this people living in NYC, how scared and terrified they might felt if I was feeling like that being 5300 miles away.
Thank you.. I would have loved to have your Grandpa to go to 10 yrs ago.
I was 28, at my desk, which overlooked the federal buidling. I remember my employees teasing me after hearing of the first plane, telling me I was going to get hit (It really was innocent.. we had no idea..) Then the second plane hit, then the Pentagon.. I had no children, but my roommate did. I ran to daycare and picked up her 2 yr old baby and held her for hours watching TV. (I now have two children and would have done the same thing with them)I also remember the deafening silence in the sky for days to come.. the loudest silence I ever heard.
We will, we have come so far. My 8 year old said that his school is talking about it.. and that he doesn’t understand.. I hope he never really does.
Thanks again for this post. It was oddly comforting reading others’ comments as well.
I remember this day like it was yesterday. Like you, I was 21 years old & in college. Since it was a Tuesday I didn’t have class that day, so of course I was still sleeping! I woke up to my phone ringing. It was my mom, frantically telling me to put on the TV, that something bad happened! (it was about 9:30 am when she called) She was at work and I was home alone. Frightened, I ran across the street to my grandmom’s house. We sat for hours just watching everything unfold before us. For awhile we had a close scare. My aunt & uncle were flying that morning, but thankfully we learned they were safe! It was such a tragic day. A very sad day. Watching all the coverage on TV today just brought back so many feelings. Strangely I felt a lot stronger about it today, due to my age, maturity, children of my own. I pray that our children will never see anything like this in their lifetime! It scares me! I am scared for my children! God Bless America!!!
I was also 22, working in a boys home in Chicago. We had 6 boys between the ages of 12-17 who had been through so much in thier lives and were afraid of so much….and I watched the day unfold through their eyes, huddled up together in front of the TV. They had so many questions, wanted to make sense of what was happening. And what the hell did I know… I was still a kid myself in so many respects. But I put on my brave face and tried to do for them what your grandpa did for you that day. I tried to reassure.
That night on my drive home, the bustling and vibrant city that I loved was eerily dark and calm. The stranger that I shared a red light with in the car next to me gave me a somber glance…it was chilling.
I had just started a job that required a lot of flying. I got home from the Newark airport the night before & was having a lazy morning in the recliner curled up with my kitty cats. My phone rang off the hook (as friends and family checked to see where I was) while I watched and watched and watched the television, trying to take it all in.
i was a senior in high school and just happened to turn on the tv during my open campus period. i NEVER turned on the tv in the mornings. I turned it on just in time to see the 2nd plane hit. I didn’t know enough about the world trade center towers to know how serious the situation was. It was my dad, who was in the ktichen making breakfast, and his reaction that really made it sink in for me. I knew it was something serious, and as i went to school and, through every single class period, watched the latest news unfold on tv, realized more and more what that day meant exactly. It was so sobering. I’m grateful for an english lit. teacher who made us sit down in a quiet place in the classroom and write down our thoughts and feelings there in the moments that everything was happening.
I was 24 and driving into my downtown office that day. I caught a few words about it on the radio right before I parked, but I thought it was some drill or sick joke. I wasn’t sure. Then I walked into my 7th story office and everyone was crowded around the TV in the conference room. I walked in just in time to see the second plane hit, and then fell into a chair and watched in horror for the next two hours as buildings fell and ash covered the city. It was all so surreal, and horrifying. My naive sense of security changed forever that day. Today, I watched the tributes as my three boys ran in and out of the living room, and just felt tremendously thankful for what I have. I will never forget.
I was 27. I woke up that morning and didn’t have to be at work until 2 pm. I turned on the t.v. and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I thought it was a movie. I remember thinking, “Why on Earth would Matt Lauer want to say something so awful on the news? Silly man…impossible.” When I realized it was a movie or a joke, I cried. I cried and cried and cried.
I was watching some of the specials that are on t.v. today and when my 4 year old came into the room, I froze. Do I turn it off? Do I explain? Do him that it’s a movie? That Matt Lauer tells lousy jokes? I ended up turning it off because, like you, I don’t think he needs to know these awful things yet. I did, however, tell him that there were many, many brave people that acted like heroes that day.
“Like Spiderman, Mama?” he said. “Yup, like Spiderman.” I said.
Thanks for your beautiful post, Kelle.
I was 27 and had been married for 2 yrs almost (9/25 is our anniversary) and I remember getting ready for work but having the tv on. I saw the reports that a plane had hit one tower but they thought it was an accident. I shut the tv off and finished getting ready for work. In 1 hour, when I got in my car, the other tower had been hit, and the pentegon & another plane crashed. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I too, was scared! We didn’t do much at work that day except listen to the radio. It was such an errie day as phones didn’t ring much, no one coming in much. I think we were all glued to the tv’s and radios. I also remember how all flights were cancelled for the next 2 days or so. I remember going out at night to look at the sky and only see stars. So quiet, no one out much. The world just kind of stopped for a few days.
I remember the intersection I was sitting at when I heard the report of the first plane…on my way to class…Once I got to school, I walked throught the hall to reports of the second tower being hit…all of the offices had TVs tuned to news stations…class never commenced…we all hung in silence waiting – wondering – questioning. Then the Pentagon was hit…my sister working on Capital Hill in DC…my mother’s Birthday…HOW IS MOM?? HOW SCARED MUST SHE BE? NoONE CAN GET THROUGH TO DC…prayers, fears, questions…
It was and exhausting day. And then that feeling made me feel guilty…for so many people were experiencing far worse than “exhausting” days…
But then, the relief, the rallying, the overcoming…
I totally agree, having children has completely changed everything.
We struggle to explain to ourselves, to remember respectfully, and yet to sheild our children from the devastation…to protect them…and eventually to educate them…what responsibility.
God Bless America.
i remember waking up to a heartbroken nation. i was 22 year old. a waitress at a little family resturaunt. unfortunately, i was scheduled to work. i was afraid and didn’t know what this meant for our country. the resturaunt was empty, except for a few regulars, sipping their coffee, in silence. i remember asking all the gray heads what they thought was going to happen. hoping they would tell me everything will be okay. just like the comfort you felt from your grandpa. i clung to the wise that day, for sure.
10 years ago on that day I still lived back home, across the ocean. It was around 6pm my time when I was going home from work and I saw people in a nearby restaurant staring at the TV and their faces had such intense emotion I could never forget. I felt a strange buzz in the air, and I turned the TV when I got home to witness the horror. I lived on my own, and I just couldn’t bear being alone, on my own. Even though I was thousands of miles away I was shaken to my core and I was on the phone with friends and family all night long. I still cannot make sense of it all. Why were so many innocent people killed??
I watched parts of the memorial service today and cried when hearing those names, I couldn’t believe how many they were, somebody’s brothers, sisters, children, dads and moms, relatives, friends. It is so very sad…
I was 20 working in a family owned resturant, who’s owner also happened to be my next door neighbor. I was working the cash register when my boss brought out a small tv she had in the kitchen. She sat it on the counter and people surrounded it watching what was happening. I couldn’t leave the register because people were beginning to leave. I just listened to what everyone saying trying to grasp what was going on.
What I remember the most about that day was the look on my boss’s face when the first tower fell. She turned away and said, “It just fell.” I was unable to see any of the news until I got home that afternoon. When I finally saw the horrific images, I was blown away. I questioned if this was the beginning of the end. Was a war going to start on our homeland? Were we going to have to defend ourselves?
The following year I went to New York for a wedding. We took a day to spend in the city and went to the site. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced. My mind couldn’t wrap around the fact I was standing in the exact spot all those horrific things took place. It’s something I’ll never forget.
Interesting that you seem to feel the same way I do. Watching the coverage today I was much more emotional than I was that day teb years ago when I was in high school. I think that’s because in those ten years I married and had children and I can understand so much more those that lost spouses/children/etc.
I blogged about this as well…. I remember my husband (Army man) being stuck at work for almost 24 hours… and me not being able to get on post to pick up my 4 year old who was at a friends playing.
It is so terrifying. From that moment on, my husbands deployments started, and now we are working on our 5th one, he is in Iraq now.
It does change when you have kids. They make you realize your heart is on the outside of your body…
XOXO
I completely agree that having children makes it all seem so different! I told my mom the very same thing this morning.
I was student teaching in a 3rd grade classroom that morning. One of the students caught the news on his way in and came in and told us. Of course, that was before the 2nd plane. The kids went to resource first thing that morning and we all huddled together in a room watching the news on a school TV that was fuzzy because it was using rabbit ears. We cried together and were very afraid as the news was talking about planes going down everywhere. I remember watching the news that night sobbing as they talked about the fallen firefighters who died going into the building. I was newly engaged to my very own firefighter (now my husband) and I could only imagine the horror those families were feeling watching the buildings go down knowing their family member were there helping others. I will never forget!
I was in my sorority house, getting ready for class that day. I, too, watched live the 2nd plane crash and felt with certainty that my life -our lives- was forever changed. I went to class that day, because that’s what good little girls do, and shortly after starting class the sirens went off and we were notified of a bomb threat on campus. This was particularly scary for me because the building in question was next door to where my dad worked as the school pharmacist. I evacuated the campus and tried for hours to reach my father, finally hearing from him after both towers had fallen. It was a chaotic day, one forever etched in my mind with absolute clarity. I remember the tv coverage, the people jumping to their deaths, the compassion of strangers and the uncertanity of what was to come next. I will always remember.
You write a wonderful blog, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know your world! Thank you for sharing! Jenn (jennhutcherson@gmail.com)
I remember.. not all the details. but i remember how i felt.
http://hellakids.blogspot.com/2011/09/we-remember.html
still in shock.
On that day I had my first music rehearsal. I knew nobody, nobody knew me and this whole place and situation was uncomfortable and scary. And then suddenly comes this bit of news (across the ocean there was aprox. 6 pm). We were shocked, with our jaws dropped down. We all felt so lonely, so fragile and at the same time united and very friendly in a special way.
I had just turned 23,My girl was 22 months old and I was just 2 months away from having our first little boy. I remember being so scared that the whole thing would escalate to the point where I’d never get to meet him.
Thanks, Kelle. I remember hearing the first news of the tragedy in my car driving down Wisner.
Loved the images of you at G&G’s house!
BDC
I remember lots of details, but mostly I remember the feeling I had of everything being out of control and not knowing what was happening but being grateful that no one I knew was involved.
Our soon-to-be-8 year old asked about 9-11 this week. It was the first she had heard of it. We had a long discussion this morning – no images or sad details. But I was choking back tears as we told her about it. Not sure why—the end of innocence for her? The sadness for everyone….who knows. She said a prayer for “the bad guys”. She has a big heart – Guess that’s all we can ask. xo
I, like many people, caught the news on tv before heading to high school (senior year). I saw the first plane and thought it was such a tragic accident and then was watching when the second plane hit. I immediately ran to my parent’s room and told my dad to get up quickly because we were being attacked. I was frightened and angry and horribly, horribly sad for the people who lost their lives that day but especially for the families down at Ground Zero desperately passing pictures of their loved ones around. Still cry to this day when I see that footage.
I remember being checked out from school. It was second grade, and I had no idea why my momma was crying. Later I found out that we didn’t know where my dad was or when he was coming home. He came home later that night, about 1:00 AM. He’d been in a bunker protecting his boss (a high-up government official). It was a confusing day for a seven-year-old.
I was in fifth grade. I remember I was running around the house frantically getting ready for school as I had started the habit of continually being late. My hair was frazzled and whispy, my clothes were half on, half off, and my mom was screaming at me to hurry up. Suddenly, the yelling stopped, and the rush grew into silence as my mother heard on the radio the news of the first tower. We had just gotten into the car and she had to pull over, I had no idea what the big deal was, first she was screaming at me for being late, and now she has pulled the car over. I remember it was sometime around 7:34 or so. My mom was late for work already, but she just sat there and listened. I sat in the back seat clueless. Finally, she spoke up and told me a building in New York just collapsed from a plane hitting it, a very big building like the one my father worked in. I didn’t think it was such a big deal. I remember thinking to myself “what’s all the hype about? It’s just a building after all?”
When I got to daycare, the radio was on, the teachers were sitting next to it, and the students seemed to be in a daze. There was something wrong, we could sense it, but we weren’t able to grasp the magnitude of the situation. During school, the teacher tried to explain to us the meaning of patriotism and how we need to come together in a time like this. The school was on lock-down, as there was apparently another threat to the LA area. We stayed inside all day, watched the news, and listened to our horrified teacher tell us about the many people who were losing their lives.
That day was a Wednesday. I remember because I was switching houses from my moms, to my dads. That night, my stepmom had all 6 of us sit around the TV for the news as we watched the events of the day, she cried and my dad sat in silence. Finally, it began to sink in for me. I realized these places I had always wanted to see where gone forever, and it wasn’t just “some building” it was a national landmark where thousands of people lost their lives. I distinctly remember seeing footage of people jumping out of the 23rd or 36th floor, committing suicide. I was horrified and a deep sense of sadness came over me. My father sat there and said he had almost moved our family to NY years earlier to take a job in the Twin Towers, instead, he worked in the Twin Towers of LA. I thought about if I had lost my dad that day. Grief started to sink in and I realized that so many people lost their moms, their dads, their sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, best friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives. I heard the frantic phone calls from one passenger to their family at home and I realized that I had just witnessed one of the biggest catastrophes America had seen in over a generation. I was witnessing a huge historical event, but I didn’t have to lose anyone I loved. That day changed the way I viewed my country and my citizenship.
Today, I am 19 and in my junior year of college, I am studying abroad and cannot witness the events that go on in the states, but I am so much more thankful for my country and for the people who risk their lives everyday. If 9/11 had happened today, I think I would have also skipped classes and cried in my room for the unknown that lied ahead. 10 years ago, I still had the innocence of a 9 year old, but I was scared as all hell as we sat in our classroom and the school was on lockdown. I think we were all terrified of the unknown that stared us straight in our eyes that day, no matter what age we were. God Bless America and those whose loved ones were sacrificed.
I was 19. In my second year of college. I had an 8 am class that day that I had overslept for. I had woken up in time to shower and make it to my second class at 9:25. I was watching the Today show as I blow dried my hair and saw the smoke coming out of the trade center. I turned off the hair dryer to listen to the coverage and watched the second plane hit. I was terrified! I remember asking my mom “why do they hate us so much?” I didn’t know who “they” were, but I knew they hated us enough to kill us! I grew up a lot that day. My view of the world changed, but so did my view on the goodness of humanity. We banded together that day and for the first time I truly remember feeling incredibly proud to be an American! I try to pass that on to my 3 kids now, who live a world so different than I did at their age. They have never known a time of peace, unlike us, who barely knew a time of war. The differences are striking, but it’s interesting to see how this generation, the 9/11 generation will affect the world! I know they will do great things!!
You know that’s all I really ever want to hear, that everything is going to be okay. I am so glad your grandparents kept you safe that day.
My firstborn was 7 months old, we were watching the news (so funny how many of us were watching- had it been today we would have been online I am sure) and saw it happen. Not understanding, and GLUED to the dark of the TV for days after. I just remember so much black smoke on the screen, and hoping everything was going to be okay, too.
Steph
i was sleeping, dreaming of being on an airplane that was crashing. i woke up and saw pieces of my dream playing out on television and i was really really upset with myself and equally intrigued as to why i would dream such a thing when it was already happening? i was 18. i remember feeling incredibly vulnerable, i think we all did?
I was 26 yr.old, pregant with my
2nd son. I had just returned from walking my 6 yr.old to the bus stop.
My neighbor came over crying, and told me to turn on the Tv. We sat in utter disbelief as the towers flamed and crumbled.
We were scared, scared for NY., for our families and fellow americans. I knew my brother, sister and brother-in-law, would be deploying and soon. Many of my neighbors/friends would be leaving their families as well.
We later learned one of our friends perished that day on flight 175. It was such a somber time.
Laying in bed with my 9 yr.old this morning, we read together the newspaper I saved so long ago. His questions were so profound, and he said “Mom, I’m going to pray for Mr. Sweeney and his family, I’m going to pray for everyone. I think I was born because I have to be here to tell my kids all about September 11th.”
God Bless America.
Cuddling with my 3 year old grandson in bed~~~my daughter came rushing in from her college class and said we are under attack, the Tower in NY was hit by plane. Still half asleep, my concern was to please be quiet and not wake the baby. That is when she YELLED, Mom, please get up! From that moment on, I, like everyone else in America, was shocked, stunned, sad, worried and sick to my stomach. You see, three of my children, at that time, were serving their country in the USNavy! They went to war, and all came back safe! I am a very grateful, happy, and blessed Mom! My babies came home safe!
my memories of the day are here
http://remnantofremnant.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-911.html
It was my second week of being in my fifth year of high school. It was a blustery autumnal day in England. Leaves were beginning to redden and there was a chill in the air. I walked home from school with a friend. We wore our new uniforms and talked about the pressure of our looming GCSE exams.
I got home to a call from my Dad telling me to turn on the TV. I started watching from just after the first plane hit. I think it was around 3.30pm. I felt so far removed from it all. The local time in New York was displayed at the bottom of screen and it all seemed a world away. Yet at the same time we all connected. We were one. It could have been an attack on our own country or city.
We relived it all in July of 2005 as bombers attacked London. This time the worry of friends and family being involved in the attacks were added to the horror that unveiled on the TV screen.
As is inscribed on the 9/11 memorial plaque in Grosvenor Square, London ‘Grief is the price we pay for love’. And what a worthy price it is.
Oh, your memories are tragic but beautiful at the same time. I love that your grandfather comforted you so much. Once again your writing takes us places. That’s my favorite kind of writing.
I wrote about 9/11 on my blog today and shared a little poem I wrote on that night. So painful and unbelievable to write about. And just one memory in a sea of millions. But cathartic to share anyway.
I remember waking up and hearing the radio on, coming from the kitchen. I thought it was odd that my husband didn’t care that he was waking us all up. I walked in to ask him to turn it down and he was standing there frozen, listening…
All day I just wanted all of my family to be in one safe place. I wanted my parents and brother and sister in Arizona to come be with us in Oregon, and at night I wanted all of my kids to sleep in our bed.
We went on a church camping trip the next day for the week..I didn’t want to go but Sam said we needed to do something “normal” as a church and as a family. When we drove back home four days later we were stunned to see flags in every yard and draped in every window and in front of every business- it was like the whole country came together over night.
I will never forget the feeling of shock on 9/11 followed by a profound sense of awe at our nation’s capacity for compassion and the will to carry on.
i remember this…
http://first-day-of-the-rest-of-your-life.blogspot.com/
prayful and thankful today
It’s amazing how each and everyone of us will remember that exact moment, day and time forever. It changed us & has definitely made this world a different place…
Beautifully written, Kelle. I’m in California, and I remember just pulling into the parking lot at work that morning (I was working overtime) when the radio station I was listening to was interrupted with the news that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. At that time it was thought to be an accident. I went into work and mentioned it to someone else, who turned on the television in our break room. It all went downhill from there.
I was getting ready for school….for a 1st grade practicum I was doing in order to get my teaching degree. My hair was wet, as well, I was partially dressed, and eating a quick breakfast when my husband rushed in from playing tennis and turned on the T.V. I was wearing something baby blue.
My stomach ached. My sweet, 1st born baby Gabe, who was still nursing, was only 5 months old and I had to leave him at daycare 🙁 When I entered the grade school, I heard T.V.s on in every room (I didn’t necessarily agree with that in a 1st grade classroom). I looked around at all these little tiny kids in their little tiny desks, gazing up at the news broadcast, and my milk came in.
As stories unfolded later, I kept wondering what kind of message would I have left on an answering machine for loved ones, had it been me in one of those buildings. And also hoped that the messages that WERE left, were somehow preserved forever. Those dear people.
I relived all these memories today during church when we had several moments of silence. I squeezed my Gabe’s shoulder and leaned over and told him, “You were only 5 months old when that happened….now you’re 10.” And now I’m talking to him about it.
Love what Dr. Pepper shared.
We grieve because we love,
Kelly
I was in 5th grade in my New Jersey classroom. I don’t remember much about the morning it happened but I remember stories of kids being called out of classes and a steady of flow of teachers in and out of the teacher’s lounge. Before we left school that afternoon a police officer came to tell us that if any of us got home and our parents worked in NYC to please call the police station. They told us that some of the big bridges had a lot of traffic on them. On the bus ride home one of the older kids told us a plane had crashed into the world trade centers but no one believed him. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the TV on with my mom surrounded by piles of laundry that I realized it was the truth. She later told me that she did the laundry in excess that day because she felt she had to do something to keep busy. I remember my mom telling me that my dance teacher had canceled classes for the night and I thought that was very kind, she was notoriously strict and never canceled class. I didn’t understand the depth of the tragedy then and now, at 20, I can’t help but be consumed by its depth.
Thank you for this post, as long as we keep sharing we can promise that we will never forget.
On 9/11/01 I was eight years old. My family and I are Norwegian, but I still remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. My dad was on a business trip in San Antonio that day, but I didn’t know how far apart those places are from each other. When my eight-year-old brain heard the news, I though ‘my dad’s gonna die’… Later that day, my mom brought down this huge children’s book with a map of the USA in it from the attic, that we had used when my aunt was an exchange student in Texas for mom to show us where she was. On 9/11 she used it to show us how far San Antonio and New York are from each other. Then it was OK. I’ll never forget 09/11/01, even though I’m a Norwegian.
Lovely post and so well said … here’s what I remember.
http://giftsofthejourney.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/911-ten-years-later/
I was in France almost through with my six month missions trip. Our team of six spent the day with a sweet older couple who took us hiking through the woods and fields where part of WWII was fought. I remember thinking later how ironic it was that we spent the day with our feet on soil where one war was fought all the while another war was raging thousands of miles away. Once back in the living room of this sweet couple, watching the news footage we knelt there in prayer. This image is cemented into my brain. My young 22 year old self wanted to watch the footage through the comfort of familiar voices like Matt Lauer or Charlie Gibson. Instead, we were watching French newscasters I could barely understand. I will never forget the heros of 9/11.
I remember calling a church in Orlando to see if they had a program for college students. My son had just started his Freshman year. The secretary said the pastor and staff were all watching TV because a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. My son called me today to talk about 9-11 and told me that was the days he signed his papers to become a Marine. I never knew he had signed that day. He completed college and is now a Captain in the Marine Corps with 2 tours of Iraq under his belt. I thank God for all of our military. susan
I love this Kelle. I am going to write a piece about 9/11 on my blog as well. I will never forget where I was when 9/11 happened. I was in the 7th grade, I was in my art class, and I was only 13 years old. I remember working earnestly to perfect the leaves on my tree when my teacher turned on the news. I just watched in awe and I was terrified. I didn’t know anything about war and destruction, other than what I had read in my history books. But there is nothing like actually watching it. I was scared and felt uncertain. I think it effected our country as a whole because we were caught off guard. We weren’t expecting it to happen and we weren’t prepared to deal with it. I will never forget the events of 9/11, those who died, those who lost family and friends, and those who served as heroes. And it has given me a new appreciation for my country and my fellow man. It has made me eternally grateful to all the men and women who fight for my freedom everyday. Now that I am a mother it makes it all too real and gives it a new meaning. I do not know what this world holds for my son or even for your daughters. The things they will be witness to, but I know I will never forget 9/11 and someday I will make sure my son knows about it too. This was a good read. Thanks.
And you are so right when you say everything changes once you have kids. I want them to know the importance of this day, the courage it took to run into a burning building when everyone else was running out, why we stand and place our hand on our heart when the flag passes by during a parade, at a ballgame. I am proud of how America has overcome just as your grandfather said. Thanks for asking us to share. I love reading the stories. And when we remember we honor those who fell.
XOXO,
Angie from Ohio
I was in the car on my way to work to interview a potential secretary for my lawfirm. I switched to another radio channel thinking I had hit upon a weird fictional story (like something out of “War of the Worlds”). When I realized that the other radio channel was reporting the same thing, I called my husband to turn on the TV and then sat disbelieving in the car listening to the news.
I continued on to work and that interview, apologizing as I walked in for being late. The young woman who had applied for the job hadn’t heard the news yet, and I’ll never forget the expression on her face when I told her why I was late. For some reason I have always felt guilty somehow for putting that expression there, although she would have found out soon enough. The rest of the interview is a blur, of course, and I spent the rest of the day watching the coverage and phoning family and friends …
I remember how speechless, hurt, sad, and confussed I was and filled with so much shock that I barely felt anything but numbness when I saw the tragic news on the television.I cried harder than I had cried in my entire life, knowing that so many dear and innocent people lost their lives, and I just wished there was something I could do, but I just prayed, and prayed and hoped nothing like that scary memory would ever occur again! I hugged my children and didn’t want to let them go, I immediately wanted to hug around my parent’s and I wanted to call all of my sister’s and friend’s to make sure I knew they were all ok! It was truely a time I would never forget, and pray will never experience again! I thank God for America and I especially Thank our soldier’s that do whatever they can, to protect us everyday! USA rocks!!!!
Michelle Torres
decorater4life@aol.com
Everything – the struggle to get out of bed to get to high school *my senior year*, the class I was in when we were first informed – in the library with my English teacher, watching stunned and shocked as the second plane flew into the second tower, not having to go to any other classes just staying in the library where kids cried and worried as a lot of parents worked in the city (only an hour commute from us), it was student ID picture day & I remember getting my picture taken, getting to leave early and donating blood with all of my friends (being only an hour from the city we knew there was a good chance it would make it to the city) before heading home and staying glued to the tv until it was time to go to work. I remember being at work outside with the babies on the swings and the air being eerily quiet, the sky mockingly bright – bringing with it a false hope that the morning was all a bad dream. I remember listening to AM radio – every room in the daycare with it on the same station the broadcasters voice filling the halls instead of children’s laughs and chatter that was the norm. I remember every last minute of that day. After work I went home and started watching the news again and suddenly not being able to stomach watching the second plane hit the second tower again so I turned on FRIENDS. A few minutes in to the mindless therapy there was a shot of the twin towers and I was instantly nauseous.
I will never forget a moment of that day!
http://falling-apart-nicely.blogspot.com/?zx=a3d31fefc2dd888f
(My favorite article in response to 9/11)
~Beth
I was 24 and working as a teacher’s assistant at an elementary school. The teacher was out of the room and I was getting the kids back in from our morning restroom visit. One of the other teachers I worked with came running down the hall telling me to turn on the TV. We sat there watching the flames our from the first tower and a few minutes later the second plane hit. We all screamed out in disbelief. We were huddled together, me and 12 students, talking about what was going on. One of the girls in my class, Jasmine, looked at me and said, “Miss Toney, I cannot believe this happened on my birthday.” I just hugged her. What do you say to that?
Later, my boyfriend, who is now my husband, came over and we watched all the news coverage with my parents and brothers.
I had just started my job working in a school as a reading assistant…the principal called the 4 teachers out into the hallway so we wouldn’t upset the students. I remember all of the teachers huddled around a radio in the teachers’ room because we didn’t have any TVs hooked up to watch live television. Being from the Boston area, a sense of panic struck when we found out that two of the planes took off from Boston. We heard fighter jets fly overhead and knowing that all airspace had been shut down, the 4 teachers ran to the window in a panic. A third grader turned to me and said, “There’s no need to worry Miss M, it’s just the fighter jets from the airforce base. They fly over all the time.” How I wished I could bottle up that innocence and keep it! I don’t know how I managed to get through the day without breaking down in front of the kids, but I just kept remembering what the boy said and said to myself, “They believe everything is safe and I need to pretend it is for their sake.”
I was a Special Ed teacher in a high needs classroom. I, too, remember watching the second plane crash on the Today show, and had to work myself up to go to school. But I knew my students needed me more than I needed to try and work out the confusion in my head. One of our paraeducators was Muslim, and she came in the classroom in tears, certain that everyone was looking at her and blaming her. And then one of our students (one with that extra chromosome, you know) gave her a big hug, just because she was crying, and told her he loved her. That room was an oasis that day. A safe place. None of the kids knew what had happened or what would happen. We were able to just pour out our love to them, and we got nothing but love in return that day. I can’t imagine having been anywhere else.
I was 24 and living in London, I remember like you Kelle, being shocked, scared, horrified at what people were going through. I still feel that horror for them, and their relatives, today. I remember how there was a huge feeling among Londoners that day of sympathy and affection for New York, how all of us in England feel an love and respect for the United States. Sending that love to all of you and especially those affected, today.
Everything really does change now that I have children when I didn’t on that day. My three year old asked me what happened to the buildings yesterday. I could just cry. I remember being so brave after seeing my mom horrified and my dad crying. I hadn’t seen him cry for his country before. I changed into red white and blue before school that day. I became even more patriotic. I was glued to the tv for days trying find out somehow that there were more people alive. And still I could hardly respond 10yrs later to my sweet little boy who asked why the buliding was falling after seeing one picture that I couldn’t switch quickly enough for his keen eyes.
I am a kiwi and I was 16 years old. It was early morning, probably around 7am, when mum came bursting into my room, saying “they’re attacking america, they’re attacking america!”, opening the curtains, urging me out of bed. The rest of that day, even at school, we all sat in shock, huddled around tv sets, not believing someone could do something so atrocious to other human beings.
Half a world a way, the images we saw through the media pierced our souls, unable to even begin to image the horror the families and friends of those lost were going through.
Now I am in the final months of my training to become a midwife, and weekly I hold in my hands brand new life, untainted by a world thats known such heartbreak. I wear a bracelet that says, “A world to be born under your footsteps”, and I pray that these precious babies never know such a day.
I remember waking up and turning on the Today show (as was my morning habit), I was about to get ready for my first class (sophmore in college) and I saw images from the first tower. Moments later the second plane hit. My brother called shortly after that. I was confused. And I remember thinking that I needed to reserve judgement, I needed to wait and hear the facts. I still went to class, not sure what to expect, everyone was too distracted to focus on pathophysiology, that was for sure. I remember watching The President and Congress and the Senate singing God Bless America, it gave me goosebumps. I remember being torn between wanting something done in retaliation and afraid of our country doing something in retaliation. It was weird to see planeless skies. And then weird to see planes again… I hope for world peace for my children and their children. And I am so sorry for the victims of that day. And so proud of the heroes. I wish that it didn’t take a tragedy to unite our country that way, for that moment….
I remember being in our school library just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland when my Head of Dept called me. He’d been on the phone and had asked the woman he was talking to if she was ok because she sounded distracted. She told him about the first plane and we ran to put on the tv in our English store just in time to see the second plane hit. Other teachers gathered in our store as news spread about what was happening.
I live 1000s of miles from New York, yet the images of that day have imprinted themselves on my memory and changed the way I look at the world. I too have shielded 8 and 5 year old eyes this week from footage they don’t need to see just yet. I have shed a tear or two at the remembrance shows on tv and then drunk in the goodness of those small people just a little more deeply than on an average week.
Thank you for that!!
Katerina from Thessaloniki…Greece
I was 21 and in nursing school. I was actually in clinicals that day in the cardiac post-op unit. I remember passing morning medications and then going in to do the assessment on my patient. He had the news on. I wasn’t paying close attention to the TV suspended in the corner of the room as I was listening for heart tones and lung sounds. But when I took the patient’s pulse and noted it being way above normal I paused, looked up and saw on the TV the image of the first plane that struck.
My nursing instructor quietly motioned for me to come out in the hall way. She asked I go into each patient’s room and turn off the TV and explain to them that once the hospital knew more and we were all safe, we would allow the TV’s back on.
An hour later, all the nursing students were excused and told to go straight home to family/friends.
I begged my fiance’ (now husband) not to go into work that day. I cried because I was scared and uncertain. I cried because my mind couldn’t handle the loss of so many in such a short period of time.
It was also a moment of clarity to see all of those men and women first responders who sacrificed their safety and some who gave their lives to save another. It was and is still such an example of human compassion. It’s hard to forget all of the tragic images from that day, but I try to focus on those images of people helping one another and supporting them in a time of great loss and even greater need.
I remember so much from that day but I really like what your Grandpa said and have found it to be so true. People overcome, they always do. It is the way of America and the human spirit. I am a teacher so, on that day as I do everyday, I was getting ready to greet 25 first graders. I heard the news out here on the west coast. Of course, it was still early for us and no one really knew what to do. IThankfully, our wise principal decided that keeping life normal was in the best interest of everyone. We gathered all of our students and prayed as a student body, I held numerous little ones and comforted them as best I could. There were lots of tears and lots of questions but the one thing we knew for sure was that we would make it and we would be okay by the grace of God. Our principal gathered all of the children together and took each child by the hand, painted it and we made a giant flag in memorial of the day. Slowly we began the long road back to normalcy. While we have reached pretty much normal, none of us forget. I dug the old flag out this week and told the story to my students who weren’t even born at the time. They were somber and serious but wanted to touch the flag, to see what they did here ten years ago. My current boys and girls touched a piece of history on Friday and they understood. It was a special day in my classroom. I posted a picture of them with the flag on my facebook.
I was 13 and it’s so weird reading your story- you were at the age I am at now basically and I wonder how differently I would have felt if I was older. At 14 I was in middle school- confused about everything- and home alone when it all happened. When I got to school there were disagreements among teachers as to if we should all watch the news all day- I remember teachers yelling at eachother saying “this is not a normal day, we should NOT pretend nothing has happened…” Seeing everything year after year has opened my eyes to what truly happened and how horrible and scarey it was.
I was at my weird little boarding school. Sitting in the lodge in rural Vermont while my friend Trevor presented an independent project abouit Bhuddism. We ran into the living room and watched TV and we just sat there and watched. My friend Ammen ,my teacher at the time and now my neighbor and best friend, put his head in his hands and cried.
I lived in the West Coast so I woke up for school and my mom was watching the news. I watched with her as the second plane hit. I was in 9th grade and had no idea what the WTC was. But I knew she was upset so it was a big deal. I got to school and I was ignorant enough to ask my friends if they had heard what happened… as if anyone HADN’T heard. During first period, History, we watched the footage of the towers falling. We didn’t do anything else. And what I remember really vividly is how that was my only class that had the news on. The day continued as normal and the message this sent was “this isn’t that big of a deal”. It makes me angry today. We were all so young and impressionable, and old enough to handle devastating issues, yet we were basically told what was happening wasn’t as important as learning to balance a checkbook or the fundamentals of marketing.
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I remember that every senior boy in my high school was terrified that he was going to get drafted, and that every girl was terrified that her dad or brother or boyfriend or cousin would get sent to war.
I was still living at home while going to university. I saw the images on the television, and I couldn’t believe it, I thought at first it was some sort of new movie. But no, it was really happening.
At the end of the day, we went to our church, where they had a service to pray. what else could you do. It seemed so far away (from us in Tasmania, Australia), but of course the empathetic human nature always makes you think how scary it would have been to be there.
I think also we forget some of the awful things our grandparents lived through (wars etc) and still found hope on the other side. With the advent of modern technology this level of unthinkable horribleness managed to touch us all deeply.
My grandmother lived through some horrific times in WW2, but you would not have known, she remained compassionate and forgiving her whole life.
I was teaching high school that day. I heard screams in the hallway and closed my door- thinking it was another teenage moment- we often had breakdowns in the hallway and I had regarded it as just another bad day for someone. However, this time is sent chills down my spine as if someone had just gotten very bad news… as teachers do- I continued to teach and casually walk by the door that has the quilted glass pane in it- eyeing the problem without alarming the class.
I noticed there was some commotion in the hall but figured it didn’t concern us so continued to teach the novel and writing assignment for it. No schooling can prepare you for the horror that I experienced that day. (Calming youngsters that almost all had someone working in the city.)
A few moments later came a knock at the door. It was my principal and she asked me to brace myself because it wasn’t good news.
Everything goes through your mind at that moment. My mom? My dad? What could it possibly be? She wanted me to be aware of what just took place and it still wasn’t determined to be a terrorist. That word- I remember ringing through my mind as such a foreign term- for in my lifetime- there has never been such an act of terror that had hit home.
As she walked down the halls, more people fell to their knees in sobbing motions to painfully find out the fate of loved ones- it seemed everyone knew someone that was inner city that day or was a first responder or in the service- me, my dad works there- the reason my principal came to my door- asking me to call to make sure he was okay or perhaps didn’t leave yet or was out before that time???- turns out he was fine.
The day was in slow motion as I watched the faces of innocent youngsters go white and on any other day seem so pompous and strong willed. We had no radio, no news, no phone lines- knew nothing for hours until we were allowed to go home. Everyone wanted to go home- see family- watch in horror the pictures and voices of people that relayed the news to us.
I remember phone lines were closed- people screaming- such uncertainty- fear in people- I too watched in horror- the inconceivable loss of life. Eerie quiet with strong sobs which could not be comforted with a look, touch or word.
God rest my Uncle Byrnes’ soul. A first responder to the towers on 9/11.
Amen. Jesus is Lord.
September 11, 2001
I had just visited New York the day before. I thought, that could have been me or my friends. Why were we saved? Why did those people have to die?
I was 20 years old. Living away from my mom and dad for the first time. I was folding laundry and getting ready for work when I saw it on the television. I still had to go to work. I had to deal and still wonder, why? why not me? And, like you said, after having a child it matters that much more.
I visited ground zero a few months after it happened. I had never seen that kind of destruction before in my life. It was terrible, hard and eye opening. It made me proud to be an American though. We didn’t give up! We conquered and continued to fight for our freedom.
I was 2 years old and 7 months pregnant with my son. I remember being asleep because I had worked the night shift the evening before. My phone would not stop ringing, so I got my big pregnant self up and answered. It was my Mom and she told me to turn on the TV, the United States was under attack. I turned on Good Morning America and I sat teary eyed as I watched the Towers fall. At the time, we didn’t know the airlines so I was in constant prayer for friends of mine who are flight attendants and pilots. I just remember praying, Dear God please be with our Nation and leaders and please let me live to see my baby. I did get to see my baby 3 months later when he entered this world on Decemeber 5. Your grandfather was a wise man. We did overcome and we will continue to do so. God Bless the USA!
I was 24 not 2…sorry
Ten years ago I was 18. I was your typical 18 year old, my only cares in the world were that I had new jeans and nice hair and a cute boyfriend. I had gone into work for 9:30 only to find out I didn’t work until 5. So I called my mom to come back and get me. She was in the middle of dying her hair so I had to wait. For a minute I was perturbed as so many teens are at the thought of waiting for anything. Until I heard what happened. Kinda put the 30 minute wait into perspective. After all, my mom was coming back to get me. I’d get to see her again. So many that day went into work as I did, only they would never get to see their loved ones again. I grew up fast at that moment.
I remember where I was. I remember trying desperately to get in touch with my family in NY with tears streaming down my face. I remember the horror of that day. I remember the bravery and professionalism of our heroes and our PRESIDENT. And today I remember the bravery of our men and women in uniform who bravely make the choice, voluntarily to fight for our freedom. I remember every day to pray and be thankful far all that this country stands for. God bless America.
I was getting ready to go to school at Hunter College, in NYC. My sister got me on the phone and said, “Lu (part of my nickname, LuLu) don’t leave. Something ‘weird’ is going on. They just turned me around and put me back on the train. Something hit the WTC.”
I was – annoyed. A couple weeks earlier, New Yorkers had to suffer a day without cell phones when a ritzy touristy biplane had clipped the Empire State Building and whacked out the antenna.
I was annoyed at the prospect of not having my phone for the day. As ALL New Yorkers do – I loaded up with cynicism and some choice words for rich tourists and turned the television on.
The second plane smashed into the second tower and I stood – in my bedroom, towel wrapped around my body and saw part of New York, a big heaping chunk of its soul, burst into flames.
And there I stood as images of the Pentagon and news of flight 93 streamed in. And then, after finally putting on clothes, I stood alone and watched the second tower crumble.
And this cynical New Yorker sat down in the middle of her floor, hand over my mouth, and kept repeating, “those are people. It’s not just steel and plaster falling – those are people.”
Among them a very old family friend – she worked in the South Tower and was on the phone with her older sister when the second plane hit.
The line had gone dead.
We mourned today. We mourn everyday, here in New York. People often talk about resiliency and our strength. We’ve rebuilt, we’ve memorialized.
Not many mention our deep gratitude. For every citizen in the world who stopped, like you did, and watched and cried and prayed with us.
Even though we are still cynical and want out cellphones to always work – we welcome the thoughts and faces and prayers of those around us.
Especially today.
Your comment about your daughter really touched me. As a fifth grade teacher, my students are too young to remember the tragedy of that fateful day. I want them to know, they need to know … but how do I tell them? How does one convey the feelings, the horror, the emotions, the patriotism, the national bonds, yet still keep their innocents and carefree spirits alive? How do we share with a new generation something that defined our generation in such a powerful way? I suppose that is all of our challenge … I too hope that the world of our children will be a better place …
Here is an incredible video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jlgZMZRf64
We are the same age, and I too was in college at UF. I had a student project I was heading to Borders to work on and I was wondering where all the music on the radio was as I was driving. It was about 8:50 and stations were reporting an accident at the WTC.
I literally had just gotten to Borders when the 2nd plane hit. My classmates and I knew it wasn’t an accident at that point. We worked a little, but couldn’t get much done.
I headed to my apartment and just remember immediately putting on the tv and sat there in disbelief. I can remember sitting there, tears streaming, on the edge of the sofa closest to the door because I couldn’t move the extra inches to sit in the middle of the couch. I sat there hugging my cat, who was comforting and warm and sheltered from the terror.
Being away at school without family nearby was hard, but the UF community got together, and I had my boyfriend and his local family (now my hubby and in-laws).
It’s a common thread now for everyone in America and the world… where were you? What do you remember…
Amazing how many people I know were directly impacted by that day. One of my old bosses tells the story of how he was at the Capitol that day. Imagine if FLight 93 had made its target? He may not have been here, not only affecting his family, but even my career path. Or the woman who came in to my part time job’s office 10 years ago in tears saying she hadn’t heard from her sister at the WTC. She had left the house to pay her bill in person just for something to do. That brought NYC’s tragedy literally to life right in front of my desk. I never found out what happened to this woman and her sister.
God Bless the Earth and all those who celebrate love and tolerance!
I was at home sick with my brother on the couch next to me also sick. My father came into the room and ordered us to turn the channel from the cartoons we were watching. We, too, watched the second plane crash and my minster father quickly turned to prayer, for comfort, for understanding, for something to fill the silence as we continued to watch as the plane crashed into the pentagon and into that field in PA. As a 15 year old I am not sure I could even close to comprehend the total severity of the events that occured that day but I do know that now, as military wife and mother, I know that I am so proud of my country, of the Americans that I share this land with, that through all of our differences we can come together for one cause such as those remembered on 9/11.
I was a freshman in High School. It was the second or third week of school. Until that day I didn’t even know what the world trade building were (I was from a town of 9,000 in IL – in the middle of corn fields!). All I knew is that it will forever be burned into my memory – sitting in Mr. Hageman’s classroom watching the news on TV with my classmates for the entire afternoon.
That day is forever burned into my psyche. The pain, the terror, the horror. In the days that followed, I (an EMT) and my husband (a firefighter/paramedic) organized a fundraiser for the families of our New York fire family who were killed that day. In a week’s time, we collected $52,000 dollars to send. Though I will never forget September 11th and how it changed me, I will also never forget the generosity and the patriotism of our nation, the children who brought us cookies at the firehouse (but left us with so much more than cookies) and the pride that I have in living in a country where anything is possible and dreams can be reality. As I type through tears, I wish for you and your family that all your dreams come true. Janice Harris
I was in the Indianapolis airport getting ready to fly to Las Vegas for a new drug launch – with half the rest of my company. I remember being on the plane in our seats and the captain coming on and telling us there had been an incident in New York. None of us had any idea what had happened until we got off the plane and started watching the coverage in the terminal.
I remember spending the day with my mom – my dad also worked for the same company and had flown out to Las Vegas several days earlier. He would remain there until air service returned – Saturday. We ate lunch at Applebee’s and both cried at the images and the realization of what had just happened. I too needed to be close to my family – to be “safe” – although my concept of that word was shattered.
Watching some of the tributes today I realized how much has changed in the past 10 years. I found the love of my life, got married, and have had two beautiful boys. I struggle too with what to tell them and how to tell them about things like this. I hope that the right words will come when horrible injustices and tragic events like this are asked about. I hope that something like this never happens again, but I think everyone’s confidence in that was shattered 10 years ago today.
There is just so much to be said about this day… I still feel the pain of people who have not and migh not ever heal from what happened.
I was in High School in my calculus class and will never forget that day and the days that followed.
I’m glad that on such a horrific day you have love and comfort around you!
I was traveling for work and sat in the lunchroom at the site I was at watching with my coworkers. I was supposed to take the train home that afternoon but the trains weren’t sure if they would be running (I was in Windsor – so right across the river from Detroit). I needed to be home because I needed to talk to someone about what was going on. I rented a car and drove the 3 hours listening to the radio and crying the whole way. I moved to NJ that December for a few months for work. As strange as it sounds I felt more connected to everything being in NJ and visiting NYC often.
I was walking to class that morning, and we all heard a loud boom. Nobody knew where it came from. Then I remember being in the lobby area of our dorms & we all watched what was happening on tv. It was so surreal.
I was at school, and only in 1st grade. I remember the teacher turning on the television and having us all sit down and watch the news together. I had no idea what was going on, and was really confused when most of my friend’s parents came and took their children home, leaving only myself and 4 other kids to watch the towers burn and my teacher cry. I think that even then, I knew that something awful had happened that would change the rest of my life. Even today, as a 16 year old, I can’t comprehend the extent of all the damage and pain, and I wish that I could still be a 6 year old with no worries. But that’s what life is, and all we can do is help each other through it and live as happily as we can.
I was having breakfast when I saw it on the news. I ran in to awaken my h.s. senior and tell her what had happened. She looked at me through slitted eyes as I told the story that was known at that time. Suddenly, she opened her eyes widely and said, “did you iron my white shirt?” huh? It did hit her a while later though, and she was as shocked and confused as I was. But that white shirt comment…I’ll always remember.
I have to go back and read some of other posts. Phew, it was a date for all to recall deeply in our minds and souls. Only had one other day like that when watching the shuttle blow up in the late 80’s.
I was at the office, juggling how to finish proofing a MBA paper due that day while getting my “real” job done. My co-worker Sallie called me from Atlanta and told me that a plane flew into the Tower. I was numb, and then immediately called my parents and Ben. I then talked to a producer in our NJ office, who told me that he had a date on his calendar to run with his best friend; who happened to be working in the NYC office of AON that day. And Bill told me that he couldn’t reach his friend. I felt the weight of his devastation. My fears seemed so minimal compared to his grief.
And then realizing that two major brokerage firms, AON and Marsh, had offices in those two towers; I saw how tight our industry was by how many people knew someone who perished.
Crazy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
-Jennifer
I was 16. Sitting in 2nd period American Lit when my teacher came in and said we needed to pray. None of us understood and to be honest, we brushed it off because he was vague. By 3rd period New Testament Survey, the teachers told us what really was going on. It wasn’t until 8th period (electives) that we were able to sit in front of a computer and see the images. I remember not feeling anything. I sat there cold. It was sad and incredibly tragic, but it didn’t affect me just yet. I don’t know if I was too young to understand or too self absorbed or too I don’t know! 10 years later, I’m feeling it and certainly crying my fair share of tears as the reality of that day hit me much much more as I understood and felt the ramifications of that day. Having kids only amplified my understanding. The kids that lost their parent. The wives and husbands who lost a spouse. The families who lost a son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, etc. It’s so incredibly tragic and yet so unnecessary. Why people breed hate and murder is beyond me. I don’t get it and I never will. It was senseless for all of those people to die that day and there is no way that the people behind it got anything good out of what they did!
I remember being at work and it was such a ridiculously busy day and all I wanted to do was get to my then 8 month old daughter at daycare and scoop her up and hold her tight. I forced myself to do my job instead of watching the tv we had in the office because I’m too emotional of a person and knew I couldn’t hold it together at work.
My now 10 year old daughter knows of the events of September 11, 2001 now and the enormity of it all is still lost on her, and for that I’m so very grateful. She’ll understand the severity and gravity of it as she gets older and why I cry when I speak of it with her. Living through it and talking about it to someone who was too young (and still is) to understand it are two totally different things.
I was a freshman at a really small liberal arts Christian school…atop a mountain with no way down unless I hitched a ride. One month before I left for school, a family I was very close to (3 young children) had lost their mama in a car accident. I was walking to chapel (before I learned how to effectively skip this mandatory activity), and many people were already crying and the whole atmosphere was serious…so I went. I didn’t believe it at first. Then my roommates and I went back to our dorm room and watched in shock and horror. Jaws dropped. Speechless. I had to be alone. I wanted to run away. No car…stuck on top of that mountain. I walked around the campus late that night and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the children who lost parents. The grief was so fresh. Gut wrenching. But we have and will and continue to overcome, and that is where I direct my eyes. The American flags…the common love of our country and freedom. Overcome. And if we can somehow relay that to our children, what a gift we can give them.
I was due to become a mother for the first time today 10 years ago. I didn’t and I am grateful. Mostly because he is the most sensitive, caring and loving child I know. I know that he comforted people as they passed on and comforts me today.
I was in NYC with my youngest son, we drove down from Westchester, early that Tuesday morning,at 7 am on 9/11 because he needed a blood transfusion at the hospital he was being treated for cancer at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. We were on the 11 th floor in the Pediatric Oncology Floor & were looking straight at the Twin Towers. Cody was hooked up & his port accessed at 8:30, the blood hanging from the IV poll & we saw the 1st plane go into the tower, 18 min later we watched the 2nd plane. The nurses, drs cody & I watched in awe. The tv was on, not the usual cartoons & disney movies to lighten a very somber mood, but the news channel was on. We were told it was prob a terrorist attack. They unhooked Cody, we were told to go home & get the transfusion tomorrow. The staff was going into Emergency mode, they were prepping for injured they expected ALOT of injured…. We were instructed to leave the hospital ASAP at 9:30 & were told if there was a problem getting home, which was 45 min away, to come back. We left, were in our car at 9:24 & made it over the bridge to Westchester, we were the LAST car allowed over the Hen Hud crossing before they closed it. We listened, Cody & I to the radio, as we were told it was a terrorist attack & listed to Scott Shannon telling us, on the radio, about the falling of the 1st tower & then the 2nd tower. We pulled into our driveway at 10.40. I picked up my 2 older boys at school & hugged my 3 boys & for a split second, only a split, my sons’ cancer diagnosis did not hurt as much……..
xoxocathy
I lived in Baltimore at the time and woke up to a beautiful blue sky tuesday. It was a big morning. I had been throwing up for 2 weeks straight. I peed on a stick and flipped on the TV to wait my two minutes. The irony and juxtaposition of Two towers and two pink lines will be with me forever. I called my partner to come home not sure if i was more in shock because of the upheaval in the inner or outer world. I woke up my family on the west coast and told them to turn on the tv but kept a secret to myself – who would bring a child into such a world…
My daughter turned 9 this spring. Her name is Rainbow Earth Girl. A colorful reminder of Hope for our world.
What a sweet story of your grandfather. If my grandfather had been alive during that time, I to believe he would have been the same way.
I remember being a freshman in college and not quite getting it when the librarian sat there looking at her computer and telling her co-worker that a plane had hit the WTC. I had no idea the impact it would have on my life. Yes it was a day, weeks, months and to some years of living in fear.
However it gave me a new perspective on loving your neighbor and propelled me into my calling. I believe in learning from your neighbors and loving them all the same. I work towards interfaith understanding. Had 9-11 not happened, I would have never met some of my best friends who are Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or of nonreligion. Yes it was a very sad and scary day I wish it would have never happened, but for me it has changed my life for the better. In some ways I am tired of telling the where were you story. I want to know what others are doing today to help keep things like this from happening in the future.
Thank you Kelle for your wonderful, honest and kind words you speak through this blog.
-Mandy
I just didn’t get it. I couldn’t quite understand it or comprehend it ya know? It took a long time to sink in. I still can’t believe it, and I still don’t get it.
I was at home in the foothills of California with my two little kiddos watching a morning show when I saw the news…I immediately called my friend who works in San Francisco and told her to leave work and head for our house, which was two hours away… She got here so quick and we sat and watched everything we could about the attack on tv that day. We were worried that something could happen in San Francisco too so she didn’t want to be there…We live under a flight pattern which normally we don’t even pay attention to….the planes are so high and you can’t even really hear them…but that day there was an eerie silence as all the planes were grounded.
My children were 2 and 4 at the time. I bought Time magazine and a few others and put them in my cedar chest to one day show them what had happened on that tragic day… Ten years later they are watching footage of that terrible day. Someday I hope to make it to the East coast to pay tribute to all those lost on that day at the beautiful memorial that has been built for them…
I too was a naive young (25 year old) and I was in my hometown in Tennessee that day teaching a class…the same class that was supposed to be delivered at the World Trade Center Marriott, but it was canceled. Tell me God did not have a another plan for me??? Now, 10 years later, I understand that God did and does have a plan for me and I am gratful He has blessed me so much! I think of that fateful day so much and pray for those affected by the tradegies of that day.
Bless you Kelle.
I was in my 7th grade science class. I remember my teacher turning on the radio, and “Heaven” by Bryan Adams was playing. My heart wept for each life lost, each terrorist’s dark heart, each person experiencing grief.
I was 21 and had to be at my college job at 7am. We only had a radio and I remember listening to everything happeninh but not completely comprehending what was going on. As soon as I got off I skipped my afternoon classes and rushed home to a TV. My roommates and I sat quiety together for the rest of the afternoon watching all the coverage in shock.
I was getting ready for school and just moments before I was woken from a horrible dream that a plane had crashed into our house and only killed me. I don’t know if it was the dream but for some reason I felt it was necessary to watch the news. I never watched the news, I was only 13 and cartoons were still my go to shows. I was the first to see it. I remember running out of my room yelling to everyone “Put it on the news! Put it on now!”
When my mom took me to school all day long, every class, the news was on. Everyone crowded in the library and classrooms during lunch and watched. We would sit for 10 minutes every hour, quietly praying for family and friends.
It’s been 10 years and this year is the first year that it has made me cry like I did the day it happened.
Thanks so much for sharing where you were that day!
-I was 16 IN SWEET HOME, OR and getting ready for school that morning. My Mom often turned on he news while my sister’s and I were getting ready. It was about 6:30am, and I remember sitting on the floor in front of the tv in silence, shock! My boyfriend at the time (who is my wonderful hubby today) picked me up and we went to school and all our friends and other students went into the History teacher’s classroom and watched the news. There was so much silence and sadness that day! I will never forget that day!
I was at my hometown in Germany, it was already 3 pm and I was on the bus, on the way from my apartment to see my parents. I got a text message from my boyfriend/now hubby telling me there had been an accident at the WTC. I got off the bus at the main station and they had a huge flatscreen there showing CNN News Coverage. I stood there for a while, the usually loud and busy main hall of the train station was quiet. I got back on the bus and was at my parents a few minutes after the first tower fell. We had tickets for a Circus Show that night and were debating if we should go (which in the end we did), no one really felt like it though. What really scared me was, that one of my best friends was in New York at that time. We had both applied for a Semester Abroad Program and he had gotten one of the places. I didn’t, which had made me sad a few weeks prior, but now I was glad because if I had gotten a place in the program, I would have been in New York that day.
Like some others here, I was in Europe at the time, having just moved to my new home (where I still live today) a few months prior, with my husband and toddler daughter. We’d gone for a hike in the mountains that day, and when we came down we put our sleepy girl in her car seat and turned on the radio to listen to the news. What was ordinarily a boring, quick 5-minute summary in a language I still didn’t understand well was suddenly a jumble of reports in both the local language and English, some BBC, some American news sources, with new announcements and interruptions every few minutes. Everyone, whether European or American, was still trying to make sense of what was happening and nobody really knew.
When we first turned on the radio the first crash was still being seen as an awful mistake, but while we were driving home and listening with increasing apprehension the announcement came through about the second strike. At that point everything changed because it became clear to the world’s reporters that this was not a mere accident. As soon as we arrived home my husband’s local relatives were already calling us; we went to their house and watched the unfolding reports on TV with them for the rest of the afternoon. Our whole group was basically in a state of shocked disbelief.
Being some of the few Americans living in our adopted country, soon the local media found us and interviewed us for their news reports — we made several statements to the press in the next few days, not that we had anything intelligent to say. The overwhelming impulse among Europeans was to reach out in sympathy and solidarity, and I remember that as much as anything.
I was heavily pregnant with my son and it was the day of my driving test. I didnt pass. I came home in a daze as at that point I had only heard it on the car radio, I hadnt seen any images. I stood shell shocked in front of the tv, I thought it was small planes that had crashed, driven by suicide pilots, when my mum explained they were passenger jets I looked blankly and asked when did they let the passengers off, they didnt she answered and thats when I cried. I couldnt take it in, to this day I read reports and realise I’ll never even begin to imagine the horror.
Out of all the posts I’ve read commemorating this day, your Grandfather’s words will stick with me. We will overcome, because we have to to go on. Moving, and we all felt that way, needing the wisdom of someone who had faced many years of crisis. I can picture the three of you in that living room drawing comfort just from being together. Your children absorb your strengths now, just as you did then.
My world became bigger that morning. I was a junior in high school, and suddenly my small town haven was no longer veiled by a protective sheet of ignorance. Teachers answered every question we had, yet it wasn’t their answers I remember. It was the look in their eyes–the tension on their faces. Sadness, fear, hope, pride. It was on that morning, when so many others lost loved ones and watched the horror of a changed world, that a young 15 year-old girl realized she lived in a big, big world. She understood her love for others wasn’t to stop within the confines of her town. It was to spread, and it did.
When writing about what I recalled about the day- where I was, how it all felt- I remembered that I, too, felt like a child- needing the reassurance of a parent. I was already a mom to two small boys. I was in my four year old’s kindergarten classroom when we heard the news. I remember debating whether or not to leave him there because we still did not understand the intent of the attacks or if there would be more. I sought out my father who lived a few blocks from school. We sat side by side in silence- stunned, helpless, heart broken.
I asked my now 14 year old if he remembers that day. He said, “I only remember the smoke on the tv. Lots of smoke that I thought was going to come to our house and swallow us up.” I certainly do not want the profoundness of that moment in time to be lost in a smoke- but, I also do not wish for him to ever know/experience the anguish we felt as a country.
I was 31. Dating a guy who lived in NYC. I was in Ohio. I had sinus surgery the day before. My parents were staying with me…I will forever be grateful for them being with me that day. My parents were watching TV. I was still asleep until the phone rang. It was my boyfriend. He worked at the Chrysler Bldg. He could see the smoke. He talked to my parents for a while, telling them about it. I was still drug induced…but I did speak to him for a moment. He was safe. We watched as the second plane hit and the towers came down. We watched all day. I was sleeping and watching.
The next day I remember sitting on my front porch. I lived in the path to airport and there were no planes that day. But while we were sitting out there…jet fighters flew over…along with Air Force One. It was scary and surreal.
The next few days I healed. And went back to my dr for a check up. I remember the last day my parents were there we went shopping. I had planned on telling them about my upcoming trip to NYC and that I would be interviewing then and hopefully moving before Christmas. I didn’t know how to tell them that the suit I HAD to buy was for an interview in NYC. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go any more. I don’t remember when I told them but it wasn’t that day.
The first week in October, I flew to NYC. Everyone on that flight was on one side of the plane looking at the gaping hole and the smoke still coming out. Between my interviews I walked down to the Financial District. Everyone was wearing masks. Buildings were damaged and closed. It was scary and I was moving there. But by this time I knew I wanted to live there more than ever. The people of NYC were amazing and I wanted to be a part of that.
Things didn’t turn out the way I wanted to at the time. I did get a job but I didn’t move…but that’s another story. 🙂 Instead they turned out much better. I’m married to a great guy and have two beautiful boys. Still I will never forget my time in NYC after 9/11.
I remember my Mom waking my up early, as we are on the west coast saying “a plane just ran into one of the twin towers” by the time I got up and walked the short distance down the hall to the bedroom where the Today show was on the second plan came into view and hit the second tower. My heart sank, we knew at that point something was wrong. I went to school that day, my sophomore year just began. Several classes had the TVs on the news. All day more and more bad news came in, the pentagon, flight 93, all of the lives lost and people wondering if their friends and family made it out. I certainly remember and take a moment often to continue to remember. One of those things I will never forget.
Kelle, we use this book with our girls http://www.amazon.com/September-12th-Everything-Would-Right/dp/043944246X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315832056&sr=1-1 . My oldest has anxiety issues and we needed to be sure she heard about the events from Sept 11 from us, not from a classmate at school. Check it out.
I can’t even put that day into words right now. In a way I feel guilty making it “my” day when so many survivors have to deal with the horror of that event all day, every day. The only thing I can really say right now is that 10 years ago, I was a single college student but today I’m a married mother of two. And it hurt both times. I cried non-stop for 3 days after the events of 9/11. I shed many, many tears yesterday and in the days leading up to the 10th anniversary. But just like on September 12, 2001 today I am thinking of my high school English teacher’s favorite quote, “What then shall we do?” The answer is the same today as it was back then. Move forward. Take the next step. Be forever changed.
I remember details of that day as well. I was in my second semester of College, I had 1 class that day and I was in it when someone mentioned it. The prof brought in a TV and we watched as long as the class was the footage. I went home and watched the news, alone all day, crying, thankful.
my great uncle called (I also lived at my grandparents during college) and I answered. He was yelling that we were being bombed and the it was world war 3. I went down and watched the news. And cried. I had class that morning so I went to school, of course classes were cancelled. I met up with friends on campus and we all walked to another friends apt close by. It was actually a really good bonding time as we all sat around the tv together and talked and prayed for the families.
Beautiful, Kelle…Much like you it was a normal day, I was getting ready to head off to work. My boss called me and yelled in the phone “TURN ON THE TV!” I did and saw the second plane crash…..I just stood there stunned….I don’t think I even said bye. My fiance at the time(now husband) and I stood in our living room holding hands….I was so scarred too Kelle. God bless America and our children!
Kelle, thank you so much for writing down such a beautiful memory. Granparents are a very important part of our lives: they are the connection between our past and our present and future. They always remind you to keep life as simple as we can.
I miss them so much and sometimes I daydream about them meeting my three children and theaching them things they taught me when I was little. Everyday I do my best to encourage my kids to be devoted to their grans! They deserve it!
Love
Fabia (Gemma Olivia)
It was first day of classes at the University of Ottawa and I was ready to go out the door when my mom (who with my dad and my sister lives in Pittsburgh) called and told me to turn on the TV…and the first thing I saw was the second plane hit the second tower…and I couldn’t comprehend what was going on…I thought it was a movie or something…and as I stared blankly into the TV I heard my mom saying: someone has attacked us…someone has attacked America!
And then I felt the terror, the fear, the helplessness and sense of doom flooding me…in that moment I was whisked back into emotional state I was in 6 years earlier….in a middle of war- torn Bosnia…
And I thought..this is it..this IS the end of the world…I escaped the horrors of a civil war and came to Canada to be free and safe (as my family did the same by settling in Pittsburgh) but now I felt that there is no safe place anywhere in this world anymore..because if this can happen in the US it can happen anywhere!
As I was trying to comfort my mom and tell her that everything will be OK I didn’t believe a word I was saying to her…I was crushed, I felt drained as I knew the horror those poor people trapped in those towers were feeling, I knew how unspeakably sad and helpless and angry their families are feeling…and I didn’t want to be alone in my apartment that day… I needed people…so I went to the evening lecture at the university and sat there in the room with the rest of the stunned class and watched CNN…we stayed long past the time the lecture was supposed to end and talked to our prof (who happened to be an American) and we tried to figure it out, tried to understand…and I still couldn’t…
I would cry myself to sleep for days after…couldn’t stop thinking about those who died that day and their families who were left behind…I went through motions at work and school but kept thinking: what’s the point?!? we’re all doomed anyway….the following week I scheduled my first visit with a psychologist…I couldn’t pull myself out of the abyss I was freefalling in..I needed a lifesaver
Yesterday, as I watched the memorial ceremony and the old footage from that day, I felt a different kind of fear..fear for my children…my two innocent two and half year-old boys who were playing in the next room with their trains and whose biggest worry is how to get more candy before supper…and this fear was infinitely bigger and deeper than any fear I felt before I had them…but so is my determination to teach them love and tolerance and hope…because that is the only chance they have…the only chance we all have of not just surviving but living and enjoying life.
To borrow the words of one good man who died way too early: My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.
Kelle, I love reading your blog as I completely share your philosophy of enjoying small things – the most important things in life…smile of a child, hug of a loved one, comfort of home…
All the best to you and your beautiful family from Canada,
Sandra
Beautiful recollection. You were lucky to have that day with your close and wise family. I remember I was at work, I was a 20 year old with a 10 month old baby….they let us leave work to go be with family, and I remember feeling as you did….young, naive, scared. I didn’t know much of the political aspects of it and still haven’t taken the deep dive, but I watched tv all day long and held my little girl, praying that her world would be more peaceful when she’s older. I still hold out hope.
I was 20 years old and 41 weeks + 1 day pregnant with my first daughter. I was scheduled to be induced on 9/12, and my (now ex) husband was a Marine. We were stationed at Camp Pendleton. My mother was there visiting for the birth of her first grandchild. My mother and I were glued to the TV all day long, just crying. I was scared for our country, but I was also scared for my husband. His unit, in fact the entire Marine base, were packed and ready to deploy at any moment to anywhere within hours. Our military still astonishes me at their readiness, their willingness, at all times. I was still induced at the Naval hospital on base the very next morning, 9/12, and my husband was released to join me at the hospital, and our beautiful Anna Loree was born midday on 9/13.
In many ways, going through the birth of my first daughter during those days shielded me from most of the fear and sadness of those events. I was enveloped in the overwhelming flood of love and fear and joy and exhaustion that a brand new baby brings. I feel the loss, the weight of the tragedy, so much stronger now when I watch and remember. I have two daughters now, and they both serve as a buffer between me and the tragedy, the cruelty, the rough edges in the world. For so long as I have them, I have hope, I have laughter, I have love, I have strength, and I have joy- regardless of what challenges I or we may be facing. Motherhood is so beautiful that way.
I was in printmaking class at UTK. The news came to one of the guys in my class, but from how he read it I had no idea of the devastation that was taking place in NY. Class let out early so I was smiling as walked to my boyfriend’s apt. instead of my own (in the same complex). I opened the door to find him, my roommate, and his two roommates all sitting around the TV with mouth half hanging open in eerie silence. It wasn’t until I too looked at the TV that I realized what was going on, and how massive this attack was. I know we all felt that it was surreal and like watching a movie or a nightmare. We all felt sick. I think that day brought us a few hundred steps closer to adulthood. As I listened to the boys talking about how they were willing to go fight to defend our country I felt like we joined the generations before us who had seen and endured terrible things and had the stories they told with eyes glazed over remembering every detail. Then like your grandfather said we overcome.
I was 16. We started first period when then the vice-principle came in to tell me that my mom called and my grandfather was fine. I had NO idea what she was talking about. Not 1 minute later were we all called in for an emergency assembly where we found out what happened. And I realized she meant that my Grandpa got out and was fine.
I wasn’t allowed to take the subway home so I waited for my friend’s parents to pick us up.
It was SUCH a gorgeous day and as we sat in jammed traffic in silence you could see the smoke from the fallen towers in the distance.
I still cry whenever I think about it all and all of those the ‘missing’ posters in Union Square.
May their memories be blessed.
I cannot imagine being your age when it happened, I’m 21 now and understand so much more about the world then I did when I was 11 when it happened. I was in history class in 6th grade and the headmaster came over the intercom and told all the teachers to turn on the tv’s (we knew something huge had happened for them to turn on the news) we all huddled around the tv in awe not really knowing what was happening but seeing our middle aged rough and tough teacher crying made the room fall silent. I remember adults screaming down the halls when the plane struck the 2nd tower and started to feel scared when my teacher told us all ” guys were under attack, this didn’t happen by accident. Take all this in kids, this is history in the making”.
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From Norway I send U all a big hug. I remember the day as if it was yesterday:
Comming home from work, grab a cup of coffe, turn on the TV. (As I always did, before kids…) And there was this plane, going straigt into the side of World Trade Center. I thougth it was a movie – and then as I realised I was wathing CNN – my stomac dropt and tears startet streaming down my face. I called for my housband, and I staid in front of the TV with him for several days, terrified and so very very sad.
This year, as I tended my tomatos in the garden, the radio next door was turned up, like, really really loud. A bomb in Oslo. The same fear – the same sadness. And once again I found myself in front of the TV watching in disbelief as the news of the killing of so many children and youths at Utøya startet coming in, and the pictures of a bombed Oslo constantly covered the screen. And then the pictures of all those cids, svimming an crying and dieing.
In 2001, people jumped to the ground, out of the flames. In 2011, the children swam for their life, while this cracy man tried to shoot them.
I belive in the freedom of speech. I belive in the freedom to belive in the God you choose. I dont belive in terror. I dont belive in killing.
I choose to meet terror and hate with moore love, moore democrasy. Today, I will vote – and then go home and ligth candles, rememrering those who died because of hate.
I can flashback like it was yesterday, hearing the news on the radio as I got ready for another day of my first year in high school. Turning on the tv just after the second plane hit, and watching until I had to leave for school. I remember every second of fear and uncertainty, the tv on in every classroom throughout the day. What was happening was bigger than English and algebra, we knew we were living through important history in the making. Teachers were just as preoccupied with whispered conversations as we were. Now, it feels like it was so long ago, but the memories are as clear as can be too. I remember so many people saying, “You’ll never forget where you were when this happened. We’ll be telling our children and grandchildren about this day.”
I was 22. I remember watching the news, but feeling nothing. Disconnected. Not sure sure how to process the images.
But you’re right about being a mom. Yesterday I cried. I cried thinking about the people who used cell phones to call their families. A father telling his wife “I love you” for the last time and telling her to tell his children how much he loves them.
It’s all too much for me now.
I was 18, freshman in college in Minnesota. I woke up to the radio saying a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, I was confused as to what happened. Turned the TV on as I got ready, remember seeing the smoke coming off one of the buildings. I went to class, thinking it was an accident. As I sat in Geology Lab, learning about stupid rocks or something, we’d get little updates here and there–the other tower was hit, it was terrorists (I didn’t even know what terrorism meant at that time), the towers fell. Classes ended at noon (my class was to end at 12:05pm). I went back to my dorm and remember seeing people huddled around the TV, in awe. My brother and I met my dad that day for lunch and I remember him saying, “You’ll never forget where you were when this happened, like for me when JFK was shot.” It was then that I really realized the enormity of it all – I then realized that this was a BIG deal! We spent the rest of the evening in the dorms glued to the TV. I remember a girl running past our dorm room screaming…I think she was from the east coast.
What a sad day. We definitely will never forget.
Beautifully written. Thank you for the perfect words to describe such an imperfect situation. Your Grandpa sure was wise.
I live in CT, about an hour from New York City. I remember it being THE most beautiful day–bluer than blue sky, with a hint of chilliness from approaching Fall. I drove my (then boyfriend) husband to work, and then to my own job. And life seemed so very good. And I still–10 years later–can’t believe how much changed in such a short amount of time.
Like you, everything–and I mean EVERYTHING–means so much more when you have children. Then I had none, and now I have two. And it’s with both excitement and trepidation that I imagine the world when they’re my age–and older. We can only hope and pray for the best, and do what we can to foster peace and harmony, starting with our own homes.
With love,
Beth
standing in my wedding dress as my grandmom and i finished some last details, watching and hoping my uncle wasn’t in the pentagon that day…
and getting married that next weekend was one of the best days ever, not just because i got married, because despite some missing people (for various reasons, none horrible), we all were reminded that, indeed, life goes on.
I woke up that morning, running late for work as usual, and I saw the footage on the news. I was shocked. Then I saw the live coverage of the second plane. I was scared. I had to go to work. I was in my early 20’s living in Boston. My father called and I told him I was on my way to work, so he came and picked me up and drove me in. Listening to the radio in my father’s car, we learned that the Pentagon got hit. The whole thing was surreal. I kept thinking “this really isn’t happening” but it was. 30 minutes into work, they sent everyone home. I was waiting for the subway and I will never forget it. Every person had the same look on their face and we all talked to each other. Consoled each other. Talking to strangers is definitely not a normal thing in Boston. Usually most people keep to themselves and don’t even make eye contact. I ended up bumping into my roommates on the way home. We were glued to the TV for the rest of day. That night I couldn’t sleep so I was out on the roof deck listening to the fighter jets fly overhead thinking about all my friends that live in NYC. A few weeks later I was in NYC for a funeral of a friend who died that day. He was a firefighter. I was so afraid to attend his funeral, but I am so glad I did. It was incredibly sad and surprisingly uplifting at the same time. A true celebration of a life well lived, albeit too short.
I was 7 at the time. I remember being in the gym nursery (my mom taught aerobic’s and we were home schooled) with my 3 younger siblings (the youngest was just 11 months) My mom came in early with a sad look on her face. I vaguely remember rushing home because we were afraid that they would lock down the air force base we lived on. We were the last ones they let through the gates. We got home and my mom didn’t turn on the TV. She had already seen the second tower get hit at the gym, and she didn’t want us watching the horribleness. Later we took off to spend the day at the zoo. My mom was trying so hard to keep us away from all the horrible images. It took us forever to get to the zoo because there were police blocking all the highway exits.. (later we found out the president had landed at our base.) At 7 I didn’t understand everything that went on, but I definitely understood that something very bad had happened, something that hurt a lot of people. I will never forget that day..
I was staying at the house my fiance and I had just bought, but still weren’t really living in yet. I made myself something to eat and was flipping through the channels when I saw it. It was… surreal. I thought, this couldn’t be happening.
It was the same week as our wedding. I felt guilty, living as though nothing happened. We got married September 15, 2001. We honored my grandparents at our wedding reception; it was their 60th anniversary, and they got married the same year as Pearl Harbor.
You don’t want to belittle anything that’s happened, minimize what people have gone through… but life does go on. And I celebrate my 10th anniversary this week!
Having children certainly does change your perspective, in so many ways.
I worked downtown Chicago at the time – I was 24. No babies yet. No real roots, or anything. I saw the same Today Show report as I was running out the door to the bus. The rest of the information came piece by piece from shocked strangers as we waited for our ride downtown, on the bus, walking into my 50 story building… I could hear the gasps as I walked into our offices, the sounds of the first tower falling. At the time, there were still airplanes that couldn’t be accounted for. I didn’t stick around. I had my bag in my hand, and was waiting for the elevator when an alarm sounded and told us all to evacuate the building. I got back on the bus with some of the same people I rode in with. There wasn’t a sound. The next day, The Chicago Tribune ran a series of photos of our abandoned city as almost everyone downtown voluntarily went West away from the tall buildings. And that’s one thing that sticks with me all these years later – the emptiness, literally and figuratively. Last night, when Willy (he’s 3) and I were throwing our wishes out into the universe as we do before bed most nights, I said that I wished for all the people that couldn’t be with everyone they loved to have strength. He said he wished for a day to spend alone with his daddy to play. And I just said, “oh how lucky you are Willy. Don’t forget how fortunate you are!” I hope he doesn’t…
I was driving to a grad school class and heard the news report the Pentagon event. I was scared. I got to school and class went on like normal! Can you believe it? As soon as class let out, I went to the student lounge and sat with students and professors watching a TV of the events. I couldn’t believe it. Then I went to another class. I went home from there and watched the TV almost all day. Those images are still burned in my mind.
I tend to not comment on blogs very often, but wanted to respond to your comment about shielding Lainey’s eyes from all the images as we look back on 9/11 and how you might discuss those horrific events with her in due time. Perhaps someone else has already commented on this as well.
My husband and I also work very deliberately to shield our young children from the evil realities of our world. Not ever having the news on in their presence, etc. The oldest, almost six, knows evil and tragedy exists, but we do not discuss events with her and had no intention of discussing 9/11 with her at all yesterday. Anyway, before the start of the football game we were about to watch on TV started, “Taps” was played and an American flag the size of the football field was spread out over the field. My daughter asked what was going on and in that moment I replied in the simplest, yet most honest way that I could. I told her that “ten years ago on this very day some bad guys killed a lot of people and tried to tear our country apart, but you know what? The good guys won. The good guys always win.” I told her that we are just remembering what happened on that day and feeling sad about it. She was, of course, sad to hear what I shared with her, but happy with my explanation and asked no additional questions. That is what we’ve taught her all along – the good guys always win. There are bad guys out there, but the good guys always win. And when things do come up, when she does catch wind of something or even in that quick moment in some little kids movie (you bet we are careful even about which of those she watches!) we reiterate that same thing: the good guys always win. And as Christians we know it to be true. Evil exists, but Jesus Christ – the ultimate good guy! – will have the ultimate victory!
This was beautiful. I was in college too, and it happened during my first class, Communications. Both my boyfriend (now husband) and I were confused and stunned. He went off to take a test, and as I waited on him, they had a tv set up at the main building, showing the footage. As soon as he got out of that testing room, I just about jerked his arm out of his socket, trying to get us out of there ASAP (we were near downtown CLT). Like you, I felt so vulnerable that night. I think we all did. But your granddaddy was definitely wise. What a perfect (and optimistic) statement.
I love your story! I remember my now mother-in-law came into my room and told me to turn on the tv. My boyfriend (now husband) was at work. We watched together as the second plane hit the tower and watched in disbelief. At first we thought it was a movie and it couldn’t be real. Then when it hit that it was in fact real, I was literally stunned. Who could do such a thing and was it going to happen to us. I live near San Francisco and was so scared that we were next. I remember driving to work, talking to my mom, balling my eyes out thinking about those poor people and their families. All of the suffering just broke my heart and still does when I think about it. I can’t look at all of the pictures that are circled around from that day. There’s just too much pain and suffering for me to feel when I remember what happened to everyone involved. I hope that my child will never have to experience something like that in her lifetime.
I remember so much of the bad and just feeling absolutely sick. But, in the days that followed, I remember so much of the good, how the nation united, came together in the most amazing, beautiful way.
http://cookingformykids.com/2011/09/11/baking-to-remember-recipe-pumpkin-muffins/
I wrote my story on my blog:
carissalayla.blogspot.com
I was 23 years old, just married, living in NYC, it was such a scary day, but it was so amzing to see such comraderie in NYC the days and weeks after, truly memorable and I can say I heart New York, more than ever!
I was teaching 5th grade at a school about 3 miles from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. We could hear the explosion of the airplane as it hit the Pentagon. I remember thinking this is it. We are under attack, and the novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” came to my mind — I just pictured that we were being taken over. I remember trying to find the words to explain to a room full of 10 year olds what was happening as they watched parents running — literally running — from the sidewalk to the front of our school building to pick up their children. My class that year had children who were Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus. The biggest question they kept asking me is one for which I still have no answer: “How could someone hate that much?”
Later in the day when I finally reached my family in Pennsylvania, I remember my dad saying to me, “Everything is changed.” Such a simple statement but so very true.
I hope there is a way for all those who perished to know that even though I didn’t know them, I think about them. They are not forgotten. Thanks for giving me a space to share.
I just remember getting up and heading out to school. I was a junior in high school that year. When I pulled in to the lot and parked, I remember finding my next door neighbor getting out of his car. The first thing he says to me is “Did you hear a plane hit the World Trade Center?” I told him I had and we made a little joke about it, not knowing at the time how serious it would be. When we went into school, we ended up sitting in classes throughout the day while we heard news updates from TV’s and radios.
I was never so glad to get home where I sat glued to the tv in disbelief.
It pains me to think of my son growing up in a world where things like this happen. I hope by the time he’s old enough and having children, things will be much, much better.
What a wonderful(ly sad) post. It was beautifully written!
I was 6 and a half. I was in timeout in my room when my dad called from the hospital where he worked and told us what happened. We ran and turned on the TV and watched as the plane hit the second Tower and fell. I will never forget that day…and my confusion about what was going on. I had known little sadness in my life, and I can say it literally changed my thoughts of the world.
Across the ocean, in the Philippines, I was a 19-year-old junior in university. I came home to an apartment I shared with my cousins and found them huddled around the TV, speechless and teary-eyed. It was a delayed telecast but it horrified us nevertheless, watching as the cameras capture the second plane crash through the WTC. The collapse, we felt, was inevitable- what truly shook us to the core was seeing the “jumpers.”
We lived (and still do) 30 miles outside of NYC. I was 33 years old and was at our temple for my littles girls first day of preschool. We all sat in a classroom together listening to the radio in shock. My husband was on the last train that made it into New York before they shut down the rails. He ended up walking miles uptown to his brothers apartment and got home late that night. We knew people who lost family. Our neighboring towns lost mothers, fathers, friends, husbands, wives…. it was heartbreaking and infuriating and 10 years later we still live here and it is just as raw when it is relived. We were trying for another baby and for 3 months after that I couldn’t even bring myself to envision bringing another baby into a world that could produce monsters who do these things to innocent people. We ended up having another baby in 2002 and now I try to give my children the age appropriate information about that terrible time. Thank you for your beautiful thoughts and reflections.
Marli~
Beautiful post Kelle, I totally relate to your comment about how it’s all different now that you have kids. Here’s my story: http://www.lightsandletters.com/writing/2011/9/11/remembering-my-week-of-september-11th-2001.html
Dear Kelle,
I am finally leaving a comment because after enjoying your talent and family for so long now I just have to. My Grammy Irene left words of wisdom for me as well. She looked at me softly and saw the hurt in my eyes and said, ” This too shall pass.” Such simplicity and accuracy. I hear it as a mantra in my times of need. Thanks for sharing everything.
Robyn in NJ.
Hi Kelle –
I happened onto your blog in June while my husband and I were in Iowa, adopting our first child. I found out I had breast cancer 3 months after my husband proposed to me and am now a 6 year survivor. A lot of your realizations that whether or not you know it at the time, life throws just the right thing at you in each and every moment, really resonate with me.
With a new baby, 9/11 felt different to me this year too. I was writing about it the next day, and realized that what I hope to teach him is that 9/11’s will happen – we can’t stop or control the crazy and unexpected things from happening in life – but we can control our reactions to these events – and that is what helps define our character.
I was also thinking about that for every 9/11, there is a 9/12 – the day after the tragedy has hit when we can choose how we want to face the future. I guess my hope for my son is that he will choose to focus more on the 9/12’s than the 9/11’s – and that his natural inclination will be toward hope, toward helping in any way he can, and toward seeing new opportunities in the wake of the unexpected.
Thanks so much for sharing your story and inspiring me and so many others.
Kelle-I love your blog and check in a few times a week to read your inspiring, funny, amazing posts. I don’t comment often-but I’m always reading! I am thankful for your blog, your wonderful writing, and the beautiful, honest pieces of your life that you share w/ us.
I was in NYC on 9/11 and here is my story:
http://megiyer.blogspot.com/2011/09/remembering.html
I was only 3 years old when it happened, and I don’t even live in the United States.. I’ve only known about 9/11 for a couple of years now. It truly makes me sad. After reading these comments, though, I feel like I was there and like it really happened to me. part of me is glad that I don’t remember, but part of me wonders what my memories would have been if I had.
~Abbie
On 9/11/01 I was due to have my second child. I had been on home bed rest (spent 6 weeks in the hospital with older sister) with my mom and mother-in-law taking turns flying back and forth bi-weekly from their homes to mine. My MIL had left to take our new kindergartner to school and I flipped on the TV while I grabbed a bowl of cereal (the only time I was allowed to be vertical). I could hardly believe my eyes seeing the towers with smoke billowing out of them. For years I had flown SF to NYC for my employer who has home offices next door to World Trade Center. I had been in those buildings while “cutting through” on slushy cold winter mornings. I held my basketball stomach and wondered what kind of world I was bringing this child into. 19 days later Miss Tess arrived to a new world which gradually brightened and returned to a new normal. Grandmothers eventually flew home. Grief turned to joy. This year, we are remembering 9/11 and looking forward to celebrating T’s entry into double digits.
I usually truly enjoy your posts Kelle but this time, reading that because YOU had children it means more – I feel ashamed for you.
What happened on 9/11/01 is a tragedy and it is no greater or a tragedy because you now have children. Did it really take you having children to realize the horror of 9/11? How narcissistic you sound.
Thank you so much for this beautiful post, as always, LOVE your words, voice and message! I am catching up on your posts. Loved your Grandfather’s quote. So true, we always overcome.
I get it…I know what you mean…I can understand how having children changed your life…how everything matters more since you became a mother…I know many people that feel the same way… :)))
And, YES, teaching your girls about compassion and love is one of best things you can do for them, and the best gift you can give yourself and others is to live compassion and love.
Xox. Sending lots of positive energy your way~
“When one becomes a father, or a mother, one suddenly sees oneself as vulnerable, in the most sensitive part of one’s being; one is completely powerless to defend oneself, one is no longer free, one is tied up. To become a father is to experience an infinite dependency on an infinitely small, frail being, dependent on us and therefore omnipotent over our heart.” ~Louis Evely
I was driving my husband to work when we heard about it on the radio. I didn’t believe it. I remember walking to my room after taking a shower and the tv was on…the tower was burning…and I think I remember seeing the second plane hit. It was very surreal. I remember being at work and wanting to listen to my radio and my boss telling my I couldn’t because it was depressing. I remember watching the footage and crying and thinking that my world wasn’t safe anymore. I cried for those people who had to make a decision of burning or jumping…it was a terrible day. However, the beauty of the country coming together was amazing. We survived and yes we have scars but they mean something amazing. We showed our true colors that day and the following days and weeks and it was good.
I remember 9/11 as my 14th birthday. Even though I’m in New Zealand, and I little bit more removed than I would be if I’d been in the US, it’s still shocking. 10 years later, at 24, I still don’t think I really understand it.
I was almost 12 years old and in the 6th grade on 9/11/01. During lunch, around 10:30 or so, our principals pulled a friend of mine aside to talk to her. Because we were not permitted to speak during lunch, everyone instantly understood that being pulled aside meant something big. However, she broke the rules and frantically whispered to a few of us that she was spoken to because her dad was in NY for something business related and that there was something going on there, but that he was alright. We discussed what it might mean during recess, and soon there were rumors circulating about bombs. After recess, our teacher told us that the principals had given them permission to turn on the TVs. He explained very briefly what was going on while we watched in horror. One of the things I remember most about watching the news was seeing so many people jump to their deaths trying to escape the fire inside. Many parents picked up their kids before the school day was over. I stayed the full day, and when I got home, my family watched the news for the rest of the night. A few months after 9/11, my teacher had us all draw pictures pertaining to that day. I drew the plane crashing into the first tower. I distinctly remember not having my picture finished the day it was due; I had only colored half of the sky. I said to my teacher, “I can’t turn it in; I’m not done! It looks like the sky is falling!!” He said what I have often remembered on the 9/11 anniversaries since then, “That’s ok, it felt and looked like the sky was falling that day”. Now, at almost 22, watching all of those remembrance specials broke my heart more than it did at almost 12.