8 years ago today...

[DaemonSeid]

Where were you? How has your life changed?

[ihearttrisigma]

I was in transition from my first to second class of the day as a Sophomore in college.

Since, I was in class when it was happening, I didn't know about it - and when I got to the second class and the information started coming out - at first I think we all thought it was a joke, atleast those of us who had a prior class. We were let out of class, and I ran back to my room and turned on the TV - and there is was. I'll never forget that day, that roommate, everything about that day.

I come from a HUGE family of firefighters, both cousins are now in the FDNY, so while I may not think of September 11th, everyday - I think of our first responders (firefighters, police officers, EMTs) daily.

So today, I honor the 343 FDNY who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and those who continue to do a job, often without pay for those they don't know personally but only as their fellow man:

"Firemen are going to be killed right along. They know it, every man of them... firefighting is a hazardous occupation; it is dangerous on the face of it, tackling a burning building. The risks are plain.... Consequently, when a man becomes a fireman, his act of bravery has already been accomplished."

FDNY Chief Edward F. Crocker 1908

[cheerfulgreek]

I was in my dorm room. It was my freshman year and I remember seeing the first tower on fire, and then I saw the second plane crash into the other one. I just remember being totally freaked out and calling my mom and dad right away. I can't really say it's changed my life though. I still like to travel and I still do pretty much the same things I've always done. Sometimes, I do fear another attack though. Something much worse. Just kinda scary, that's all.

[ThetaPrincess24]

I was in my car listening to my morning radio show (Rick Dees in the morning) driving to campus.

I remember thinking I wasnt in too much shock when I heard it happened to the first tower (tall buildings have planes fly into them sometimes) but then as the second tower was hit, then the pentagon was hit, then the plane went down in PA, Congress and the White House were evacuated....it started freaking me out.

When I got to campus it was a mass panic outside. People were running and crying. It was club day outside. I was manning the table for Theta. Across from us the International Student Union had a table which looked to be manned by students from the Middle East. My sorority sister and I felt sorry for them because no one was going to their table and they were gettign dirty looks from passers by. So we went to their table and talked to them for a while until they decided they needed to close down their table. Instructors and students alike were upset that classes werent being cancelled. I went up to my sorority's dorm floor to find another panic. One of our sisters was in the sky that day flying cross country and we couldnt find her until the next day. That evening a lot of people were in the student center watching President Bush speak on the days events. When he said the line, "Freedom will be defended" a roar of applause and cheers broke out.

A kid showed up to my anthropology class the next day drunk. His mother was apparently on the plane that flew into the Pentagon. So in his understandible drunkeness he was of course disruptive and campus security and someone from the student counseling center came and got him. People were very concerned that Richmond (where EKU is) would be on a target list for a terrorism hit because of all of the mustard gas and what not that is being stored at the Army Depot there.

I'm more aware now about surroundings and suspicious people. I am more likely to call the police when I see suspicious behavior/activity. The only major inconvience I experience is at the airport going through security. It isnt too much trouble for me to take off my shoes (thanks to the shoe bomber) but it is an inconvience to not be able to have a water bottle in my bag, have fluid volume restrictions, and having it all fit into one plastic baggy. Since 9/11, I am a lot more proud to be an American citizen and I am just sorry that it took such a senseless act of violence in order for me to realize that. I was iffy before 9/11 but now I have a much deeper respect and admiration/support for our troops and emergency workers.

ON a happy note. On this day in 2003 my husband's divorce from his ex-wife was finalized. On this day in 2004 my husband and I had our first date and became an official couple the next day. So for me, this day brings back crap memories of panic and anxiety, but also very happy ones with my husband.

[ThetaDancer]

I was transitioning between classes in high school. One of my friends told me in the hallway that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. I remember thinking "what a horrible coincidence," because I thought a plane malfunctioned and just happened to crash into the building on its way down. By the time I made it to the next class, our teacher had the t.v. on and we all watched as the second plane flew into the second tower. Everyone was confused, scared, and just sort of frozen. I think we spent the rest of the day, in every single class, watching the news and/or discussing what had happened.

[DreamfulSpirit]

I was living in Arizona at the time, I was in my junior year of high school at the time. It was 6 AM, and I was just waking up to get ready for school. My mom was up, and I turned on the TV and right there were the towers both with smoke coming out of them. We just sat and watched and couldn't believe what was going on.

I didn't have a car at the time so I was taking the bus to school. I went to the bus stop, and there was a landscaping truck parked right there, but they left the windows open, and the news on the radio was turned up loud. We all stood there in silence as we listened to what all was going on, and that's when the towers started to fall.

I got to school and a lot of students were in random classrooms watching the news. I watched the news in my first hour class, as the class was AP US History.

[nikki1920]

I was on my internship, at a house visit. We watched in amazement when the first plane hit. In the 15 minutes it took to get to the next house, the second plane had hit. We left the home and went back to the office in stunned silence. A 45 minute trip home took me THREE HOURS. I live in the DC area, so everyone was scared. I have never heard the Beltway so quiet. It was a very long day. I kept trying to call my mom and the daycare center where my daughter was and couldn't get through. My now ex-fiance will forever have a place in my heart because when I called him hysterical because I couldnt get through to Mom, he had her on the other line.

We will NEVER forget.

[Jill1228]

I was living in the Seattle area at that time. I woke up thinking, "my wedding day is exactly 3 months from today!". I was stoked. Then I heard on the radio, "if you have a flight out of Seatac today, don't even THINK about heading to the airport"
WTF? I turned on the tv and saw a horrifying picture. My joy was killed REAL quick! I lost a buddy in the WTC that day. It still sends chills down my spine when I see 9/11 images. I will never forget!

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Jill1228

I was living in the Seattle area at that time. I woke up thinking, "my wedding day is exactly 3 months from today!". I was stoked. Then I heard on the radio, "if you have a flight out of Seatac today, don't even THINK about heading to the airport"
WTF? I turned on the tv and saw a horrifying picture. My joy was killed REAL quick! I lost a buddy in the WTC that day. It still sends chills down my spine when I see 9/11 images. I will never forget!

You just reminded me, my friend almost had to cancel his wedding plans that following Sunday because the majority of their families were flying down from...where else? NYC. (Nikki, that was Smu's wedding) Most wound up renting cars and driving down instead.

[Jill1228]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

You just reminded me, my friend almost had to cancel his wedding plans that following Sunday because the majority of their families were flying down from...where else? NYC. (Nikki, that was Smu's wedding) Most wound up renting cars and driving down instead.

I went to a coworker's wedding that weekend on Lake Union in Seattle. One of her bridesmaids was absent because she was not able to catch a flight back home to Seattle.

My doctor at the time has a son who worked in the World Trade Center. He was running late for work that morning because he overslept. He saw the events happen while he was commuting to work. For once, he was glad he late for work!

[alum]

Driving to Andrews AFB when the towers were hit. There was a higher alertness and lots of DOD planes were in the air when I entered the base but they still let ID card holders on post. When I arrived at my destination, the Pentagon had been attacked and I (along with everybody else) was trying to contact our people in that building. There was a rumor (ended up being true) that all bases were going to lock down so I left quickly so I could get home before my kids' schools ended. As I crossed back into VA on the WW Bridge, I could see the horrible, thick, black cloud of smoke up the Potomac. It was just hanging there, not dissipating at all.

My son's school kept the news from the children. My daughter's school did not. She and many of her classmates were in hysterics as they had parents who worked in the Pentagon.


Our lives were disrupted to an even greater degree in October of the following year when we had to deal with the DC Sniper for 3 weeks.

[ThetaDancer]

Originally Posted by alum

Our lives were disrupted to an even greater degree in October of the following year when we had to deal with the DC Sniper for 3 weeks.

Not to hijack this thread too much, but I remember the sniper, too, and was constantly worried about my mom, who was living and working in D.C. during that time

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by ThetaDancer

Not to hijack this thread too much, but I remember the sniper, too, and was constantly worried about my mom, who was living and working in D.C. during that time

I wouldn't call it a hijack....heh!

What I remember from that incident is that everyone just KNEW it was tied around the 9/11 attacks and that those responsible were Middle Eastern terrorists. Surprise, surprise.

[AGDee]

I was sitting at the very desk where I'm sitting now when a co-worker came by and asked if I could get the all news radio station in on my radio. She said a plane had hit the WTC and the internet news sites were so swamped you couldn't get to them. I turned on my radio and she and I were listening to the news coverage when the second plane hit. Initially, we figured it was an awful accident. The realization of that second plane meant that it was deliberate, quite a shock. Someone ended up pulling a TV out (we only use TVs to show corporate DVDs and stuff around here.. not many of them around) and getting NBC News in with a very fuzzy signal. Right about then, they were reporting about a plane hitting the Pentagon and that was when I started to feel really scared. They were attacking our government. If the Pentagon wasn't safe, what was? We were all crying and praying at work, watching the towers collapse, hearing rumors about 250 more planes unaccounted for, car bombs near the White House, so many rumors going around. Then the plane in PA. It was just all so shocking, horrifying and terrifying. Some of the images will never leave my head and make me really sick, especially the ones of people jumping from the WTC. How awful must it have been in there to even consider jumping? So scary. In the afternoon, I went into the sundry shop in our building and saw a newspaper from that morning where the headline was "Michael Jordan Coming out of Retirement" and I very clearly remember thinking "That's from when the world was still normal". My ex-husband had my kids that week so I went home to an empty house. My sorority alumnae club had a meeting that night and I was glad they didn't cancel it. I didn't want to be alone that night. For the next several days I had a very hard time NOT watching the coverage on CNN/MSNBC/FOX news network. I kind of had to force myself away from it. I was coaching soccer at the time, it turned out that Todd Beamer's niece was on my soccer team and we took up a collection for his family. His wife is the one who wrote the "Let's Roll" book. The next several months were really difficult for everybody in this country, I think. However, over time, things feel "normal" again. I feel just as secure as I did on 9/10/01 at this point in time. And, that's probably dangerous for all of us.

My life surely hasn't changed much at all with the exception of more inconveniences when you fly. The incident with the Coast Guard this morning doesn't help my confidence that our Homeland Security Department is really improving communications among all of our first responder agencies. I kind of figured at the time of 9/11 that it would be a while before any more terrorist attacks were attempted here.. once we relaxed, once we got complacent again. That's probably the biggest concern at this point. Have we become complacent again?

[nikki1920]

I couldn't see the smoke, as I was coming from VA into MD. But everytime I pass the Pentagon, I say a prayer for all those that were lost that day. I also get extremely angry at the balls it took for the terrorists to attack us on our own turf! I can't imagine what it must have been like for the drivers who SAW the plane hit that morning.

UGH, the Sniper. I had to call and check in with mom and the ex fiance for that entire episode. That was scary, too. And I worked across the street from Union Station, at the time.