Tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of September 11th. A day we all know changed our lives.
I remember where I was. I was a senior in high school and I had just walked into the doors.
A friend came up to me and said “did you hear a plane crashed into the twin towers in NYC?” I said “planes crash all the time” and walked to class.
1st period I had ceramics. I was working on a project when our principal came over the PA system. She told our teachers to put the classroom TV’s on. Thats when we saw it, a 2nd plane had hit. The a plane hit the Pentagon. Then another plane crashed into a field.
At 17 years old I just didn’t understand the depth and magnitude of what was happening. But in the hours and days to come I did. I saw how it changed our country. I remember a time that you could wait at a gate to pick someone up at the airport. When security screenings weren’t a big deal and when our country was not at war.
One of my best friends from high school was killed in Afganistan in 2009 and I remember talking to him that day. He said that things were going to get bad.
11 years later and we are still fighting a war, we still don’t feel safe when we fly and this summer when I visited the 9/11 memorial I felt the magnitude of what happened.
Where were you?
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I was a college kid. I went to school in a small college right off the Hudson river. The planes from Mass. flew right passed our campus. That always hurts thinking about those frightened people on those planes flew right by. I was working that morning. As I was driving to work the 2nd plane hit. It was a horrible day waiting for your friends to hear from their family or neighbors who you knew worked at the trade center. I still can’t believe it has been 11 years.
I was married and living on an army base in Fort Bragg. Talk about utter chaos. The whole post locked down. No one could leave and no one could get back in. You were stuck wherever you were. I couldn’t call my (ex)husband… he was at work. All the phone systems on base shut down. I didn’t see him until the next night. Apparently our post was having news that we were going to be next… Scary!!!!!!
I was a sophomore in high school and when the first plane crashed, I was getting ready for school and waiting for my best friend and her mom to pick me up. When they arrived, her mom was sobbing and listening to it all happen on the news. By the time we arrived at school, the second plane had crashed and I remember us all numbly sitting around, not really understanding, not knowing what to do. We, like you, had no comprehension whatsoever of the magnitude of what was going on.
I was in 7th grade. I had just gotten done with French class, and headed to Geography where when you walked in, all you heard was silence and all you saw were eyes glued to the television. When I got home, my dad called and told me to turn on the TV and write what I heard, saw, and felt. I will always remember that day.
I was a freshman in college. I remember we were switching classes and some teachers were out in the hall crying and we had NO CLUE what was going on. It wasn’t for another hour or so that they made the announcement and let us watch the coverage on TV. I too, didn’t fully understand how HUGE this was until I got home and talked even more about it with my parents. A best friend of our family was in New York traveling at the time and we were sooo relieved to hear he was okay— he was supposed to have had a meeting in the twin towers that morning, and because they were out late the night before it had been postponed. So crazy.
I was in 6th grade. I feel like we were doing ISTEP..which was our states standardized testing…I remember for whatever reason there was a bathroom break…and I really didn’t understand what was going on. I knew it was bad but I had no idea what the twin towers were. But I had family in NY and that scared me to death…because I was 11 and you just assume that the entire state is in flames. After the initial news though I remember going home from school and sitting on the couch with my brother and sister watching the news. waiting for my mom to get home. We didn’t move from the couch. I remember it being a really somber week.
I was a junior in HS and I remember sitting at the computer with the TV on and watching the 2nd plane hit. I was horrified and terrified.
While it’s sentimental and refreshing to reminisce and take in the tremendous event that happened 11 years ago, I think we, as Americans, need to start looking up at our turnover from the travesty. Where have we come in 11 years? How have we built up and stood strong as Americans after being pushed back like that?
The memorial you went and visited, I’d love to see pictures of that. I know that we all will be paying respects to the lives of those lost and their families tomorrow, but I also hope that our nation can proudly show that the horrific event didn’t wash away our spirits and American pride.
I was student teaching in a kindergarten classroom. It still makes me tear up remembering looking at those sweet faces, so innocent, and knowing that our world had likely changed forever.
I was a senior in high school, too – I heard it on the radio on the way home from class (we’re hours ahead in Germany). At first it sounded like it was a joke. We just realized the extent of the tragedy later. I guess this was our generation’s defining moment, the age of innocence came to an end. Even far away from the states, it has changed many things.
Driving my daughter to daycare, she turned one four days later. Frantically trying to get a hold of my mother who was to fly out that morning…only time I have ever seen my dad cry.
I was in the 3rd grade Getting dressed for school when I saw it on the news…I had no idea what it meant when this happened. I knew it was bad, but I wasn’t old enough to understand that life as I knew it was going to be different from that point on…
9/11 is bittersweet for my family. My dad was actually set to celebrate his big 5-year remission date from cancer on Sept. 11, 2001. We never got to celebrate. We finally celebrated when we hit the 10 year mark, but it’s a rough day because it’s both a happy day and a sad day!
Our family is doing the same tomorrow. Its my husbands 40th birthday tomorrow so we will be celebrating and remembering.
I was a freshman in high school and didn’t even know what the twin towers or the pentagon were yet. It was really early when I heard. Around 6:30 am. Everyone was really quiet, sad, and worried.
I was 17, just graduated that past June and celebrated my birthday about a week before. I remember not having class that day so I was at home chatting online and the person I was chatting told me to turn on the TV. I remember sitting there in awe of what was happening and I couldn’t really grasp it. Now 11 years later, my husband and I have lost 2 of our closest friends and seen a couple friends from our last unit get injured badly.
I was also a senior in high school. I’ll never forget, we were taking our senior class photo and no one is smiling. Agree that no one fully grasped the magnitude of what was happening, but that photo haunts me all the time.
When I was senior in high school, 9/11 happened. I have always been heavy into volunteering and the community service group that I belonged to hand picked 10 people to be flown to NYC to assist with search and recovery and clean up. At 17 I saw things that you would not believe, things that can never be erased from my mind. I heard stories of heroism, tragedy and hope. 9/11 changed my life and my outlook on life.
I was a sophomore in choir. My friend from other class came in talking about. I thought it was something that she was learning in history class. After the bell rung, I went to my next class, Film Literature. Instead, of having class, we went to the library and watched the news. We were watching when the second tower hit.
Also, 13 years ago on that date (2 before THE 9/11), my dad died on Sept 11 but in 1999.
It’s crazy how can remember an exact moment like it was yesterday.
I was a junior in high school and would have been in history class but I managed to convince my mom to let me stay home with her that day. I remember thinking how awesome it was that I didn’t have to go to history that day. And then I heard/saw the news.
And nothing has been the same since.
<3
I was in 7th grade reading class. Principle demanded all TVs be turned off but my teacher refused. He said it was something we needed to see and he was very right.
I was in 7th grade. Another student was coming in late and her dad came in and told all of the teachers what was happening. We didn’t watch much on the news. I remember being confused and not understanding what was going on.
I visited the memorial last summer too. What a somber and moving sight it was. I don’t think we spoke the entire time we walked around.
I was also a senior in high school. In Economics class and we just stayed there for a long time. Tomorrow also happens to be my husbands birthday.
Hailey
http://www.lovelaughterandlipstick.com
what a great post! It’s amamzing how time flies. I was dating a US Marine – who was stationed in Japan. I was driving to work (in Houston) on the beltway.. about to go through a toll booth when my radio stationed started talking about the 1st plane. My cell rang & I heard from my marine that he was safe, but it didnt’ register why or how this would effect him & why i was getting a phone call. By the time I made it to work the 2nd plane hit, the pentagon & the field’s damamge had been done. We were sent home from work to spend time with our families.
– I’ve never been more scared & I’ve never been more aware. It was my first glimpse of pure devestation and loss… and my first experience of hurting for someone else’s loss. I was 19 – about to be 20.
* What an amazing post.. and thanks for helping us put ourselves in a great perspective of the this anniversary.
Amy @ Trials & Triumphs.
Wow I totally have been in another world and forgot what tomorrow is. But I was in class and got out and every student in the bldg I was in was glued to the tv. I will always remember!
I posted my 9/11 story too. It was hard to write, even though I was so far, in distance from the actual events. Ugh, gives me chills.
http://ohwellsinsteadofwhatifs.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-day-unlike-any-other.html
I was in my 9th grade Biology class, and our school wouldn’t let us watch any of the coverage, we had to wait till we got home. Our biology teacher on the otherhand was having a meltdown.
I was in 8th grade history class. I remember feeling numb, as in, how could this be happening?! It’s a moment in my life that I will never forget.
I was a freshman in high school, in Spanish class. A girl in my class had left to use the restroom and when she came back she announced to the class that a plane had hit the Eiffel Tower. Yes… Eiffel Tower. We were all kind of thinking, “well that stinks” but it wasn’t until class was released that we realized what had actually happened and how much of an impact it had on us all.
Great post! Time certainly does fly – On September 11th 2001 I was giving birth to my beautiful daughter. I remember hearing the nurses in the halls telling each other “not to tell the new mums”, and wondering what on earth was going on. Of course a few days later they let us have the tv’s on and we found out!