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#1973 | Tuesday, September 10th, 2002
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That day seems like it was a week ago. I remember that during first period religion, I had to take the attendance to the office. I walked into the office, and the TV was on. I found this strange because the TV is never turned on at St. Xavier High. I initially thought the burning tower was footage from the bombing 10 years ago. Soon later, I pieced together what was happenning, just as soon as I had done that, another plane came swooping into the screen. I thought "Oh, no!",and my worst fear was realized. I ran back to class and tuned the TV to NBC on channel 2, my teacher began to scold me, then she saw the screen and cried. As the day unfolded, everything was in slow motion, all we did was watch the coverage. Since that day, anything that is remotely related to 9-11 brings thoughts only to that, and I feel deep sadness. That feeling keeps recurring.
My Dad was supposed to be in the towers that morning, but he missed his flight early on 9-11 morning. I thank God every day for my Dad's tardiness.
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Guy | 16 | Kentucky
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#1974 | Tuesday, September 10th, 2002
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My daughter missed the school bus on September 11, 2001, so I had to drive her in to school. Since her first class was P.E. I was in no rush. We sat in the car talking with a CD playing in the background. At 8:55 a.m. my daughter got out of the car and went to class. As I drove away, I turned on the radio and Peter Jennings was on the air. I thought, what's going on, where's our local news guys. Then I heard what had just happened. It was like I was in a dream for a moment. I called my husband at work to let him know what had happened. By the time I got to Walmart and picked up a few things, another plane had hit the Pentagon. When I got home, I picked up my baby and began rocking her and I was glad I was so far away from it all. A few hours later, my daughter got home from school and said, "Mom do you know what song was playing on the CD before I got out of the car?" "The Next Five Minutes" by Steven Curtis Chapman (the jist of the song is the next five minutes may be your last five minutes).
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Caroline | 37 | Florida
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#1975 | Tuesday, September 10th, 2002
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I woke up sick with a high fever that morning at 6 a.m. and decided to call in sick at 7. I slept for a couple hours, waking up at 9:11 a.m. (this is true - I couldn't believe the significance of the time when I realized it later) I turned the TV on to try to wake up enough to get breakfast when I saw the coverage of the attack on the first tower. Because of my fever, I couldn't make any sense of what I saw. Then I saw the live coverage of the second attack. By that time I was wide awake and horrified. The large number of lives lost sickened me. When I saw the towers begin to collapse and realized hundreds more had died, I was almost numb with horror.
I stayed glued to the screen for the next hour. Just when I was about to get up to get breakfast, the announcement was made that there was an attack on the Pentagon and possibly the White House. I only live about 70 miles southwest of D.C. and know several people who commute to work there daily from my area. The realization that this could involve someone I knew began to hit me and felt like someone had punched me in my stomach.
I didn't realize the worst was yet to come. When the towers began to collapse and reporters said there were countless rescue workers and police killed in the line of duty, I had to fight back tears. I am almost in tears while typing this.
I never got up from the TV except for brief trips to the bathroom or for medicine until after my husband came home from teaching at the local community college. I felt less afraid with him home, and finally turned off the news at 2 that afternoon.
On my way to work every day, I pass by the National Guard Armory in Winchester. When I returned to work on the 12th, I saw tanks and barb wire surrounding the building. I think that's when the full enormity of what happened hit me and I knew we really were at war. I don't think I felt truly safe until the barricades were finally removed weeks later.
For the next several weeks, I was extremely nervous when I heard the roar of an airplane overhead and my head would jerk up in an attempt to identify what kind of plane it was. If I could tell it was a National Guard plane, I felt better but often the plane was too far away for me to tell.
One year later, I still feel a hole in my heart because of the deaths of my fellow Americans. The only way I know to honor them is to remember them in ways like this. May they live on in our hearts.
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Karen | 53 | Virginia
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#1976 | Tuesday, September 10th, 2002
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On the morning of Sept 11th I was working at my customer service job since 8:30 am. It was just a normal day with me talking to customer’s explaining details of their charge accounts with our jewelry company. A few minutes before 9 am the radio had a news break announcing the “accident” of a plane flying into the World Trade Center. I started wondering how big of a plane and how high the plane hit. Customers were still calling in to my department so most of us went back to work, knowing people would keep us up to date as news became available through the day. A few minutes later we of course heard the news of the second plane hitting the towers, and we started looking at each other convinced we were being attacked.
As the morning slowly progressed we heard news reports of the Pentagon, as well as Flight 93. Of course we also heard many other landmarks in Washington DC that were falsely reported as having been attacked such as the Dept of State, the Capital building and possibly even the White House.
By noon we had very few customers actually calling in for credit information so I got the chance to go home early. I stopped by a local restaurant and grabbed a bite of lunch because I knew they had tv’s available and obviously they would have CNN on. I just sat there as I watched replays of the Twin Towers collapsing. After lunch I drove home while listening to coverage on talk radio. At home I finally got to see the coverage in private and was very surprised that I was able to get into the Internet. I had heard warnings that due to phone traffic being so heavy that I probably wouldn’t be able to get into the net. I immediately started to collect information about the attacks from different web sites.
Over the last year I have been very thankful for the Internet, as it has given me the ability to learn about some of the Hero’s of 9-11, such as Todd Beamer. I am currently reading Let’s Roll by Lisa Beamer, the story of Todd’s life. I highly recommend this biography.
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Jeff | 32 | Ohio
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#1977 | Tuesday, September 10th, 2002
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I realize that no one is going to believe this (I still have trouble believing myself) but anyway. I went to bed on Monday, September 10. I dreamed that night that I was riding on an airplane, and we crashed, but I woke up before I died.
Then, a handful of months later, I dreamed that I was on an airplane again, we had severe engine problems, but we managed to land in the terminal. That next day, the shoe bomb near-tragedy occured.
Finally, in April of last year, I dreamed that I attended a funeral. That next day I found out that one of classmates and good friends had died.
I have had no similar dreams since. Take it for what you want, but it is true.
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Neil | 16 | Illinois
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