10 years later

[Jonathan]

September 11th.

Emotional day for many of us, in many different ways. A good day to remember what is important in life, and to thank the people in your lives that make that happen.

I was at the Boston airport that morning, waiting to fly home to Toronto after working the previous 5 weeks in Hudson, Mass. Scary day. I managed to secure a rental car and made the 10-12 drive home to Ontario. All I wanted to do was be around familiar faces.

I never saw the Twin Towers in person as I had never been to NYC. I would go in 2008 to see the old Yankee Stadium before it closed as well as Shea. I saw the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Ground Zero. One of the most fantastic trips I have ever taken. I think very highly of those in NYC.

There have been many tributes on TV in the last few days, reminding us of how that day affected all of us. I saw a tribute on the people of Gander, Newfoundland who accommodated 7,000 airline passengers for a few days. And the images of NYC in the aftermath with the Yankees getting back on the field, and George W. throwing out the first pitch of game 3 of the World Series in a kevlar vest after giving the thumbs up to the crowd.

I give a big thumbs up to all of those that persevered from that day.

[Spittybug]

I was sitting in Dahran Saudi Arabia on that fateful day (afternoon for us) working at the Aramco headquarters on a big petrochemical project. The JP Morgan analyst assigned to me was a young Palestinian kid named, of course, Osama. He yelled for my partner and I to come see what was going on as he had one of the news agency feeds on his computer. Feels pretty scary watching that so far away from home and family, never mind the information that started to trickle in about Saudi Arabian perpetrators. The short ride back to the hotel was tense sitting listening to an Arabic broadcast of the events and the "limo" driver mumbling and carrying on.... I did't know if he was sympathizing with them or me! Once back to the Dharan international hotel and its plexiglass encased patriot missile remains in the lobby, I began working the phones to find out what was going on back home. I spent more on my phone bill than the room that night. All the expats sitting around at dinner were all quiet and visibly nervous that night. Despite the client's plea to do otherwise, I hired a car and driver to take me across the causeway the next night into Bahrain. Nothing new there since that was always our weekend escape to sanity, but this time it was a little more appreciated. My Gulf Air flight (or Goof Air as we call it) to London didn't leave until something like 2 AM in the morning, so the usual dinner at Krums and a few "knock out" drinks in the business lounge to get ready. I love this part; despite the whole rest of the world now 10x more vigilant and in the case of the US still grounded, my fellow business class passengers and I not only still had real silverware but were actually escorted AROUND the additional security because the "lines were too long for us to have to wait in" according to the Goof Air officials. UNBELIEVABLE. I spent the next week or so working out of the London office (where I was probably at greater risk than if I had actually stayed in Saudi, but at least I could get good beer) and then the best part of the whole trip: I took the chunnel crossing to Paris and attended the wedding of my "little sister" that grew up across from me in upstate NY. She got married on a private barge on the Seine river in the shadow of Notre Dame cathedral. While her wedding party had already been in Paris and not affected by flight cancellations, virtually none of her guests made it. To see me there after my eventful trip really made her day. That was my silver lining from that horrible event.

[sdg3205]

I was in my first year at the University of Western Ontario.

We had just finished the usual frosh week shenanigans. I had come down to the cafeteria in our residence to get some breakfast when i noticed everyone around the TV in the common room/cafe.

My roommate walked toward me from the crowd and told me what had happened.

There vibe that day was eerie. No professor knew what to say or do for class and they told us to go home, except for my philosophy professor who spent three hours scratching his head try to reason "why" this had happened.

Perhaps the most eerie thing was looking to the sky and seeing and hearing no planes. The only day in our lives when the sky was totally quite. Like Jonathan, I just wanted to be with family, but my folks were a long way away and all our transportation was suspended.

It was the day the world stood still, but I can't even fathom how you Americans must have felt that day.

[tyb323]

I remember being in 6th grade (I'm a young one) and we were prepping to celebrate his birthday. I was living in Toronto, Canada at the time, but was an American Citizen. He came in, we started to wish us happy birthday, but he told us about some building in New York being hit by a plane. We thought it was an accident. We flipped on a radio and were able to find a live broadcast.

We listened for about 15 minutes when the second plane hit. At that point I had no idea what to think or do. A lot of the school officials started to become concerned that the CN Tower might be next (we were all a bit panicked). We stayed in school the entire day, I spent most of it except for lunch and recess sitting in front of that radio listening. When I got home was the first time I saw any video of what had happened and by then it was all long over.

I feel like being in 6th grade, I will have been one of the few in my generation that remembers those events vividly, as I am the oldest of 4 and the only one that remembers most of the details.

Still though, watching some of these videos today brings me right back to it like it happened yesterday.

[08087]

I, my mother in law, and my aunt in law all worked there every day. It just happened to be my RDO and they called me for OT, I declined it to hang ouot with a friend on his lunch truck on the Palisades in Jersey City. My mother in law didn't feel good and took a sick day and my aunt was on vacation.

I cannot tell you how lucky we are as a family that none of us were anywhere near those buildings that day! God bless to all those that lost a loved one and to all those that came to the aid of others during that time.

The scars still have not healed for many, I still don't like using the number 11 when I do anything volume setting on TV, posting here etc... Lucky my mother in law and aunt both retired during the aftermath, I go back to work everyday in the shadow of the bathtub and new building. I'm not often at the site itself anymore but am required at times to go.

[Kenny_Z]

I was still living at home and mom woke me up to tell me a plane hit one of the towers. She didn't tell me it was a large plane so I thought it was just a smaller plane whose pilot may have lost control or worse. I went back to sleep. A little later she woke me up to tell me a second plane hit the other tower. That woke me up and I went to watch the tv. I couldn't believe it. Later that day I went to work at a Black and Decker in the local mall. We ended up shutting down early when the mall was too scared something was going to happen there as well.

I wanted to go to New York for vacation during that September but due to an employee upheaval at the store I cancelled my plans. I always wonder if I'd of been near or in one of the towers that morning. Or worse, one one of the flights.

[Renee_1632]

Like Tyler, I was in 6th grade as well. We were slated to take a test called the OLSAT that morning. Our teacher prepped the test and then closed the curtains and muted the phone "so we wouldn't be distracted". About 30 minutes in I think, the phone rang, (which I thought was weird since she'd muted the ringer) and our teacher answered. After listening a few seconds she said, "a plane hit the World Trade Center? Was it small? A jet? Okay...thank you." She waited a few more minutes, collected the tests and turned on the news just in time to see the second plane hit. Every class that day watched the news. (Except algebra. Even terrorist attacks won't stop algebra.) I never really watched the news before that day. Now, not a day goes by I don't check it.

[08087]

I, my mother in law, and my aunt in law all worked there every day. It just happened to be my RDO and they called me for OT, I declined it to hang ouot with a friend on his lunch truck on the Palisades in Jersey City. My mother in law didn't feel good and took a sick day and my aunt was on vacation.

I cannot tell you how lucky we are as a family that none of us were anywhere near those buildings that day! God bless to all those that lost a loved one and to all those that came to the aid of others during that time.

The scars still have not healed for many, I still don't like using the number 11 when I do anything volume setting on TV, posting here etc... Lucky my mother in law and aunt both retired during the aftermath, I go back to work everyday in the shadow of the bathtub and new building. I'm not often at the site itself anymore but am required at times to go.

I forgot to add, sitting on the cliffs of the Palisades in NJ you get a great unobstructed view of Manhattan, I saw both planes come in and I cannot describe the feeling in my chest watching it happen. The first not so much cause you didn't expect it, the second you just knew where it was going.

[Ryan]

I remember being in 6th grade


Like Tyler, I was in 6th grade as well.

Y'all are making me feel really old. I'll never forget that morning as long as I live. I was in college and staying with a friend and his family. His dad, a former marine, came in and woke us up by saying "planes have hit the twin towers and the pentagon, this isn't good". The whole day was so surreal.

[dmcjohn]

I was on a roadtrip around America at the time with some friends. We had spent the morning of Sept 10th fishing in Yellowstone lake, and decided that afternoon to drive straight to Chicago. So, we drove all day/night and were passing through Wisconsin as the sun was coming up when we heard it all unfold live on the radio.

We really couldn't believe it, especially when they said the towers had fallen. Only when we saw the images on TV after arriving in Chicago a few hours later did it sink in. Went out in Chicago that night and it was a really somber vibe around the town. We saw a passenger jet fly over Chicago later that evening (after the FAA had grounded all flights) and wondered who was onboard. It made people jumpy to see a jet in the sky.

The following morning we had planned to go to the Jerry Springer show for fun - we had booked tickets weeks before, but we heard filming of the show was cancelled due to the events in NYC. However, we got a call that morning (12th) that the show was on afterall so we went along to the studio.

Jerry came out and gave a brilliant impromptu speech before the filming about how he had initially wanted to cancel the show, but then realised that was giving the enemy exactly what they wanted - to disrupt every aspect of American life. So, Jerry said "F*** them, America will prevail and the show goes on". I guess you had to be there to appreciate the speech, but it was brilliant. Whatever about his show, I've always had a lot of respect for him since.

As others said, watching the scenes being replayed on TV last night, it was just as jarring as the first time I saw them. My thoughts to anyone who lost someone that day...

John

[stevedmc]

Ironically I was sitting in a college history class when it happened. No one knew of the incidents or said anything about it during class. This was before facebook, twitter, and texting.

After class I went to work and everyone told me the news. I didn't believe them, told them to quit messing with me, and that I was too busy for their games that day.

Someone insisted that I read about it on the internet. First I tried going to www.cnn.com. The website did not load. Next I tried going to www.foxnews.com. The website did not load. Then I tried going to another website which did not load either. I new something was obviously wrong because no news website would load.

After 10 minutes or so a website finally loaded up and the first thing I saw was an image of one of the twin towers on fire. I didn't believe it until I saw the picture.

I spent the next few days saying, "Stuff like that isn't supposed to happen."

[Patrick C]

I was in high school. We had a fire drill (totally unrelated to the events that day), and standing outside someone mentioned a plane had just crashed into the WTC. Supposedly it was a small prop plane. Going back inside after the fire drill we started to hear more details and classes were cancelled. I went into the library where all of the TVs were on and ABC news was covering the events live. I soon found out it was a passenger jet and shortly saw the next plane crash into the second tower...live. The reporters were silent, and the entire library was silent as flames burst out of the tower. I will never forget that feeling. Also will I never forget the footage of people holding hands and jumping out of the WTC from hundreds of stories up so as not to burn to death. Seeing that footage live changed me for the rest of my life.

[Jonathan]

On the way to the Boston airport that morning, I was listening to Howard Stern on the radio in the rental car. Same like you guys said, Howard mentioned it like it was a small Cesna or something. That's about the time I got back to Hertz and at no time did I or anyone think all the flights would soon be cancelled. So I proceeded to return my car (bad move) and take the shuttle to the terminal. Right about that time all the monitors go from showing ON TIME to DELAYED and then CANCELLED. Like you'd see in a movie or something. Then they started closing the barrier walls which I would assume was to lock down people since some bad guys could have still been there. That was my queue to get the heck outta there. I take the shuttle back to Hertz where I swear I was about 300th in line. It was chaotic and cars were going fast. They were running out and asking people to pair up if possible. I managed to get a Taurus stationwagon and in went my bags and off I went back to Canada.

Now keep in mind cell phones weren't super available at that time and I think I actually had a loaner from my company but I couldn't get a line out. I would later realize how panicky my Mom was that morning as I was supposed to fly out of the same airport that two of the planes originated from. Your mind wanders at times like that. All they wanted to do was hear I was ok. I can't remember who I finally reached after I started my drive, but I did get the message through that I was fine.

For all I know I could have walked right by the lunatic's vehicle that was later found in the parking lot. I got back to the point outside of Boston where I had started that morning at about 1 pm and got back to Toronto about midnight or so. The border was fairly quick believe it or not as none of the security changes had taken effect yet. I finally found someone to return my car to as the whole airport was deserted, and same for trying to get an airport taxi.

I finally reach my aunts house in Toronto where I used to park my car when I travelled and only then did I see my first images on tv. Unbelievable considering I had listened to it only on the radio for 10 hours previous. Shocking. But by God was I glad to be back home. I made that drive across Massachusetts and new York state in one shot with stops only for smokes, gas, coffee, chips, and chocolate bars.

I only did one more job after that in Phoenix in October to December 2001 and then took an office job after retiring from my travelling role. I remember once upon a time when flying was fun and people used to clap and cheer when the pilot made a landing. Not anymore. The whole experience now is just a colossal pain in the butt. Added security and rising prices make airlines lose business and go out of business. So in some ways the G$&-damn terrorists won. But persevere we do. Each in our own way. It has made me do a lot more vacationing and travelling reachable by car. I guess it makes you appreciate different things in life a little more.