#1568 | Monday, August 19th, 2002
I woke up on September 11th and was all alone at my house. My parents had gone to work and my sister had gone to school, but I didn't have class that day. I sat around for a while and ate breakfast and then got online to check my email and stuff. My boyfriend sent me an instant message and told me to turn on the television. I turned it on NBC because I was always watch the Today show. Right when I turned it on the second plane was hitting the WTC. I just sat there in horror. I couldn't speak or move or do anything. I was just in shock. I remember crying because I was so scared and so sad for all the people in those buildings and on the planes. I immediately started calling everyone I could think of and making sure that they were all safe and okay. I have several friends who are exchange students from Turkey and India, and they were unable to leave their rooms on campus because prejudiced people kept yelling threats and derogatory remarks at them.

I was also very scared because they released a warning on our local news because we live near several chemical and power plants, and they were concerned that our area might be a target. I was so scared. I never thought there would be a day when I was afraid of being attacked here in little southern Ohio.

That day changed my view of the world and helped me get my priorities back where they should be.
Jessica | 20 | Ohio

#1569 | Monday, August 19th, 2002
On September 11, my husband and I left for work on time for a change. We managed to make it to the 7:52 train from River Edge to Hoboken. We must’ve arrived early to Hoboken, because when we took the PATH train from Hoboken to the World Train Center we arrived probably around 8:35. At the top of the escalators, in front of the J. Crew store, my husband and I would say goodbye to each other. This morning was only slightly different than other mornings. The day before, my husband had received word that he had passed his final architectural licensing exam and was now a registered architect. He also had a root canal scheduled for that day, so we had a long, loving goodbye. I stopped off and made a deposit at Charles Schwab and walked up to Devon & Blakely to get an iced coffee (decaf, because I was 8 months pregnant). The guy behind the counter was about to hand me my coffee when we heard this incredible crack of thunder. I think everyone in the store was confused because it was such a sunny day, it didn’t really make sense that a thunderstorm was starting. Then we looked outside and saw debris falling all around. Someone ran inside from the street and said that a plane had hit the tower. We’re all thinking that some small plane or helicopter has hit. Then the guy behind the counter said that it was a bomb and that we should get out. We all ran out of the building. I ran across the street to my office at 90 Church Street. They were not allowing anyone to go upstairs. I sat on the floor and cried. I was completely hysterical, knowing that my husband had walked out of the opposite side of the building, and I didn’t know what had happened to him. A cleaning woman who worked on my floor and knew my face sat down with me and told me to get it together for the baby’s sake. After a few minutes, we were allowed to go upstairs to our offices. I rode the elevator up with Director of our MIS department. I said to him, “Oh, thank God it was just an accident, not a terrorist attack.”

My office was on the 15th floor (top floor of the building), facing the North Tower of the World Trade Center. I saw a couple of my co-workers on my way to my office. I went inside and checked my voice mail. I had one message from Mom, one from my husband. I called my husband first and told him I was okay and was so relieved to know he was okay. We spoke very briefly because I wanted to call Mom. I called Mom and she was also relieved to know I was safe. She had been in my office and knew just how close I was. She wanted to know what it was looking like outside. I looked out my window and saw people jumping. I was so close to them I can tell you what they were wearing and just how their ties fluttered in the wind. I was screaming into the phone and I told Mom that I just had to go. When I hung up the phone with Mom, it was must’ve been 9:03 a.m., because I watched as the second plane crashed into the South Tower. The fireball exploded in my direction and the explosion shook my building and my window sounded like it was going to shatter before my eyes. At this point, my co-workers and I decided we needed to get away from the windows. Then an announcement from building security came over the PA system. The man was hysterical and told us to evacuate the building immediately. Some people started to walk toward the elevators, but I said, no, we have to use the stairs, so we all walked down the 15 floors. I was walking very slowly. I was 8 months pregnant and I was in some pain after my run out of the World Trade Center. We finally made it all the way down the stairs and they evacuated us out into the street, but no one was telling us where to go. It felt like we were being sent straight into Hell. I felt much safer inside the building. The police just moved us along. I didn’t really have a set place in mind to go, since my method of commuting was blocked. I just started walking away. There were abandoned bags and shoes in the street. People were screaming and crying and rushing away. Some were staring in awe at what had happened. I decided to walk toward the subway, which was in City Hall Park. When I got there, I saw a woman who worked for me and sent her home. She was probably on the last subway that went uptown the entire day. I decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to my doctor’s office because the pain in my abdomen wasn’t getting any better and I wasn’t sure that I wouldn’t have the baby that day. I walked slowly across the bridge. A woman tried to get me to take a cab, but after the lack of control I’d had since 8:46 a.m., I wanted to at least be in control of myself. So many people offered to carry my bag and many stopped to see if I was okay. I must’ve looked pretty huge. It’s so funny because just that morning on the train into the city, so many people had run me over to get a seat and now everyone was trying to help me. When I’d made it almost to the other side, I saw someone I knew and he told me about what had happened in Washington. He looked at me like I had 3 heads because I didn’t know that had happened. I’d been a little too busy to watch the news! I walked a few steps further and I heard a collective scream from the crowd. I didn’t turn around. I was sure that it was something too horrible to see. That was when the first tower collapsed. I made it to my doctor’s office and he said that everything was fine. The baby wasn’t coming. He was in shock, too. The second tower collapsed while I was in his office. Since this was my old neighborhood, I had a couple of friends I could go to see. Our friends had taken our apartment when we moved out of the city. They work with my husband, so I thought that maybe they’d all be together. I went to their apartment, but they weren’t there. I went to another friend’s apartment. They weren’t home. I walked all the way over to another friend’s apartment on the other side of Brooklyn Heights. They weren’t there. I wandered around for a couple of hours. I heard the fighter jets flying over and saw others look up in fear. We knew that it would never feel the same to hear the sound of a plane again.

I went back and tried my old apartment again. My friend was there. She had no word on her fiance or my husband. Her fiancĂ© had been on jury duty that day so he wasn’t at the office. I called my parents to tell her I was okay again. My cousin answered the phone. Apparently their phone had been ringing off the hook with family wanting to know my whereabouts. When I identified myself, she gave the phone to my Mom. This was around 2 o’clock. She called my husband’s Mom, but she had not heard from him. I called back a couple of times, but no one had heard from him. We watched with horror the collapse of the towers on TV. I had no idea whether he was living or dead and looking at the destruction, I really doubted that he’d survived. I told my friend how glad I was that I'd had that long goodbye with my husband that morning. A while later, we heard from my friend’s fiancĂ©. He made it home around 4. I finally got a message from my husband at 6 o’clock that he left on our answering machine. He was safe and headed home. We spoke after he got home. He left his office on Wall Street and walked toward my office to search for me, but gave up pretty quickly. He saw papers flying through the air and he’d picked them up. Some were boarding passes from the planes. He also saw some of the plane parts on Church Street. He watched the tower collapse from the top of a building in TriBeCa. He walked from downtown to 42nd Street to the Port Authority, which was closed, then over to the river to get on a ferry to New Jersey. He was hosed off and checked by a doctor, and he boarded a train for home. I came home the following day. It was quite a day, but we were thankful that we both survived and that our baby was safe. We were quite lucky, but we didn’t know it for so long. I was convinced he was dead. We stayed at home for a couple of weeks while the smoke cleared from downtown. My office building has still not reopened. Contamination levels were too high. We had a beautiful baby boy October 15. We are very fortunate and grateful.
MM | 30 | New Jersey

#1570 | Monday, August 19th, 2002
I live in Canada and on the day of the attacks I was rushing to get to work. I had stopped for gas and a young man came rushing in to the station while I was paying and said a plane had crashed in New York. I went to my car and turned on the radio. As I dropped my daughter at work I heard that there had been two other planes involved . When I arrived at work they were setting up a television to see the news reports. We were all in awe and terror. My first reaction was to call all my children to tell them I loved them. I had recently lost my fulltime job in Ontario and had to move back to Alberta where the children were until I could find other employment. On that day I was very thankful that I had been 'forced' to move home and be near my children.
Dawn | 52 | Canada

#1571 | Monday, August 19th, 2002
Now, even though it has almost been a year since the attacks I still think of them as if they were yesterday. I first learned of a plane hitting the world trade center on my way to get some food during break. I met up with a friend there and we remarked that it was probably just a misguided cessna. Nothing to worry about. I proceded to study hall in the library when I leared that a second plane had hit the other tower. Teachers were huddled around a monitor in the other room. This was no accident. My first glimpse of the destruction was from my schools home-page. Shock. I needed to see this for myself. I headed to the television in the cafeteria
When I arrived, classmates and teachers alike were standing around the television watching, wide-eyed at the events unfolding before them. I got a seat and soon after the first towere had collapsed. The room went silent after a collective gasp. One of the largest structures in the world had been reduced to a mass of smoking rubble. Soon after they cut away to the pentagon on fire. "This is unbelieveable" said many of my classmates. The period ended and I went to my next class not knowing what had just happened or what was going to happen. I told anyone in the hallway, spitting out words that I was too afraid to think about. It was another two periods before I learned that the second towere had collapsed. My classmates were crying now. Fathers, mothers had been in those buildings. I had lost my appetite for lunch and sat glued to the television since classes had become optional. It would be a day I will never forget.
S | 17 | Connecticut

#1572 | Monday, August 19th, 2002
The pain, even now 11 months later, is still with me. In an odd way, it is comforting to read that others ache as much as I still do. That we're not "over it" yet.

My first knowledge of the horror was heard via a friend of mine. She called, and woke me up. It was my day off from work, so I smiled at the fact that I could sleep in. I turned on the TV, as she requested, and the rest of our conversation was filled with tears and silence. After our conversation was over, I had to call my Mom. There is just something that was SO necessary about hearing your mothers voice. I needed to hear it. I needed a hug even more. I felt a bit of relief when the planes were grounded, as I feared for what might happen next (the Statue of Liberty? The White House? ANYTHING!) I was glued to the TV for days afterward-- with each repeat of the images seeming to hurt more and more, as I realized the magnitude of it. The friends, families...innocent lives stolen from us.

I was comforted, in part, the following weeks by the flags at half staff, the messages of unity on marquis (even the local Whataburger), painted fences, lines to donate and help, that all echoed signs of our collective patriotism. It was like the world had been muted. People were subdued, and traffic seemed to move a little slower than normal. Wierd.

My perfect day, as I know realize, was September 10, 2001. Since then, I see the world, and my life in a new way. I am a better person. I am better friend. I am more patient, and am more tolerent of others. I have learned we are a COUNTRY of heroes, and we really do need each other. But, I still ache....so much... and will forever.

God Bless-


Allison | 27 | Texas

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