Where were you when the world stopped turning?

[Joe Williams]

IMHO, the best of the songs remembering 9/11

YouTube - Alan Jackson-Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning

We were on our first vacation since getting married, sharing a beachside condo with my Mom and step-Father. Cathy came into our bedroom to wake me up and tell me that a plane had crashed into the WTC. I went to watch the news, scoffed at the newcasters talking about how a Cessna flying the Hudson corridor must have crashed into it. I knew that an airliner must have gone down, a horrible accident. As we watched, the second plane hit, and for the only time in my life I didn't believe what I'd seen. Cathy said "Another plane, another plane hit it," and I told her no, it hadn't happened. Such denial could only last a few seconds. I knew we were at war, a long and bloody one.

Then they started showing the scenes where flight 93 went down, and they were familiar. They looked like where Cathy's sister lived, because they were, very very close. Diane had watched the plane go in. Cathy tried calling Diane, and the lines were down. I'll never forget the look on Cathy's face, watching her cry, because we couldn't tell on tv whether or not Diane's house had been hit, and Cathy couldn't help but think the worst.

I can't forget seeing Robby, my step-Father cry. First because of what we'd just seen, and then because he realized his Marine son would soon be going into harm's way.

I can't forget trying to explain to my two year old son what had just happened. I can't forget watching him gain an awareness of what evil was at such a young age.

Thankfully, Christ has promised to forgive my sins, because I'll never be able to forgive those who did this to us, and not just the ones in the planes.

 

[IndyGunworks]

I was home sick from school.... my dad called and told me to turn the TV on, two hours later i was on the phone with a recruter, joined the infantry and did three tours of duty, joined the fire department as well... 9/11 shaped my adult life.

 

[colt45er]

I was sitting at Avon High School taking the ISTEP...

My phone vibrated in my pocket but I didn't check it right away. When I had a chance I saw that it was my Dad, he is an Air Traffic Controller and was working when it happened. The text said, "Planes Hi-jacked, being flown into buildings in NYC" I got up from my seat and walked up to the teacher. I explained what I had just heard but she asked me to have a seat.

During our break people were talking about it in the hall. When we went back to the classrooms the teachers didn't know what to do other than ask us to concentrate on the testing. They finally agreed to turn on the TV's and pospone our testing for a little while.

They later decided that the ISTEP Scores would not be recorded since we were all distracted.

In addition, at lunch we had the TV's turned to the News. One of the student teachers came over and turned the TV off and said it was inappropriate to watch and it was scaring some kids. We turned the TV back on and said if it is scaring them then they need to watch it. We were threatened with being sent to the principals office but we didn't care....

Sad day in America...

 

[Indybeer]

I had only been working for Chautauqua Airlines for less than a month, and I was in the first day of training for the EMB 145 aircraft when we heard about the first A/C that hit the WTC...after the second hit they grounded every aircraft in the country! It remained that way for a about a week. After my training class was over, I ended up getting laid off for 6 months beacuse every airline in the US went to reduced scheduling which made them all lay off people.

Luckily I was hired back after the 6 months and have worked for them ever since.

 

[level.eleven]

I was at work, nothing too exciting from a story sharing standpoint. I remember one of the receptionists at the facility I was working at was allowed to keep a small tv tucked away in the back corner of her huge desk. She is/was always very concerned about the weather and since she had been there longer than any of us, management allowed her to keep it. I remember all of us huddling around that little tv. Very quiet, no one knew what to say. The place was dead for the rest of the day. Phones didn't ring, emails sort of stopped, the only thing that really kept moving was logisitics.

 

[esrice]

I was in high school. I remember sitting in class when a teacher came in and turned on the TV. We tried to continue the rest of our day, but people kept getting stuck watching the TVs.

Our family had been through a house fire the month prior, so we were staying in "Mother-in-law" quarters at a neighbor's house. We all sat on the couch and watched the news for the rest of the evening.

My jaw still hangs open when I watch the anniversary footage.

 

[printcraft]

Beautiful day out much like today. I was on the way into work
and turned on the radio to Q95 to listen to Bob & Tom.
They started talking about it and we saying what the ______ is going on in New York.

I called the wife who was taking my son down to his well baby check, he was
about 2 weeks at the time. Told here to turn on the radio and be careful.

Listening and no work got done that day. Second plane hit and people that
came into the shop were in shock. Sad.

 

[matthock]

Freshman in college, second week of classes. I had been in the habit of turning the news on in the morning while I was getting ready for class, and had gotten up shortly after 9:00 for a 10:00 class. Turned it on not long after the second plane hit. Ended up skipping my very first class of college to watch the news all day. I remember trying to get on CNN's web site to figure out wtf was going on... along with half the rest of the country, CNN's servers were totally overloaded and it was impossible to get to anyplace online with current information because so many people were trying to do the same thing.

 

[SavageEagle]

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, I was up, dressed and on my way to work. I was working at a little Car Dealer on the east side of Plainfield as a mechanic's helper/lot attendant. I would also clean up the lobby when I got there and make sure the visitor TV was on. I always turned to the morning news to see what the world would bring each day. I turned on the TV and put it on Wish TV....

I sat down. I couldn't believe it. They said the WTC Tower had exploded. Maybe a plane had hit it. They just didn't know. 10-15-20 minutes, an eternity later, I watched in horror as a second plane hit lower on the second tower. I couldn't believe it. It's not true. Three of my co-workers and I watched in disbelief. The towers burning, the idiot reporters on TV babbling about how this was merely a criminal act. I turned to CNN since we had cable. They said the airliners had been hijacked by extremeists. My boss came in and told us to get to work. I told him to shove it. If terrorists were going to strike there, who's to say they wouldn't strike here? Plainfield only houses the control center for Duke Energy. They could shut down over half the state by taking out that building.

Then I watched, crying my eyes out as the towers fell. I left work. I went home. I didn't know what to do. I was scared out of my mind. I was pissed and seeing red. I went to my ex-gf's house to see if they had heard. They had not. We cried together. I also remember, the birds seemed to not be singing anymore. It might have just been me.

I'll never forget that day. I'll never forget the stories. I'll never forget the following days sitting anxiously by the TV waiting to hear what we were going to do. We were at war.

 

[mdroz3]

I had worked overnight and had just gotten to sleep. My wife comes in the bedroom and wakes me up telling me that "We are under attack!" I jump out of bed and check the windows expecting an army to be marching on my house..remember i had just fallen asleep. She yells from the living room that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. I rush in there to see what is going on. She had the TV set on the Today Show, and Matt Lauer and Katie Couric doing the best they could to sort out what was happening on live tv. In the background I saw the second plane hit the south tower.
We both sat on the couch holding each other in shock watching what was happening. Couldn't believe what was happening. Crying. Worry. Fear. Uncertinty. Love. Anger. Heartache.
The phone rings. Its her boss telling her not to go to work today. The phone woke up the boy(almost 2). I go and get him. He is sitting on my lap when my wife comes back with the phone. We start calling family and friends. Everyone is in the same emotional state that we are in. We tell each other how much they mean to us, and go on the the next person in the rolladex. The entire time watching the news. My heart cried out when the Towers fell. My son didn't understand what was happening, but he knew Mom and Dad are scared.
I have to be at work at 2pm. I was loss prevention for Wal-Mart, and they had CNN on every TV in the store. By the time I got to the store there was no canned food, water, or bread left in the entire building. There was also no ammunition, and very few firearms. I couldn't help but wonder, "Is this how America felt after Pearl Harbor?"

 

[Lucas156]

In middle school but hardly understood what was going on. My parents and sister and brother and I watched the news all that evening when I got home from school.

 

[United]

was working in downtown indy in a very tall building! Watched the coverage on the tv in the exercise room.

Remember them talking about trying to land all planes and there were some not answering or unaccounted for, looked out my 10th story window to see a lone plane in the sky heading east. Was spooky.

Every company in the building basically sent everyone home, quickly. I had to secure some network stuff and was one of the last out. Went home and sat with the kids/wife watching the news in total shock and disbelief.

It's one of those days that you will never forget where you were, who you were with and what you were doing for the rest of your life.

edit -- also remember on the way home my truck was on fumes, so I decided to stop at the BP gas station in Westfield there on 31. It was a madhouse. The Shell there was in total chaos, but the BP people had employees out directing people in and out and trying to keep things organized. Was a big kudos day for them that day.

 

[Boilers]

At work. My Dad called me. My Dad never called me. Since he was hard of hearing, Mom usually did the talking. He said that a plane had hit the tower. This was before the second strike. So, I started looking at news. Surreal.

 

[misconfig]

Taking my 11th Grade ISTEP

 

[NateIU10]

7th Grade Social Studies class. We watched as the second tower got hit. We heard about the Pentagon, then were excused from school the rest of the day (I lived in a MD suburb of DC at the time.) There was some crazy talk after that, about the White House was next, talk of a dirty bomb. I'll never forget that day.

 

[spartan933]

When the first plane hit, I was still at home, getting ready, listening to a CD just like always. I worked in Merrillville and lived in Valpo and my routine was to have a cigarette on the way to work as soon as I passed Sportmart, and switch to Mancow on Q101.

I did so, and he was going nuts, saying we were at war, get to a tv, etc. At first I thought he was joking around. Then, he kept talking about it and I switched stations and they were saying the same thing. I got to the office ten minutes later and asked if they heard anything.

I was directed to the conference room and saw what was going on the TV.

I then called my Aunt who had landed in New York from D.C. an hour before the first plane hit, and asked if she was okay. While I was on the phone, another person came into my office and said the Pentagon was hit and another plane was down in Pennsylvania.

I then went back to the conference room and watched, and realized that we were under attack. It was a horrible feeling. It was the realization that the country and world had changed in an instant. I had never experienced such a feeling of dread in all my life.

I then tried to get hold of my brother in Norfolk, VA, but I was informed that every ship in the Navy was immediately deploying including his Cruiser and that the length of deployment would be unknown.

I then received a phone call telling me that my meeting in the Loop had been canceled and that they were evacuating Sears Tower. I spent the rest of the day, with the entire staff, in front of the TV in the conference room. We watched the towers collapse and little to no work was done that day, for obvious reasons.

At the time, I just couldn't believe it. Now, I still wish it hadn't happened.

 

[RachelMarie]

I was visiting my Mother in NE Indiana. We were sitting on the couch having our morning cup of coffee. When the news broke on the TV of the first plan crash we sat in shock, watching the second plan crash felt like slow motion. We cried, and prayed. While watching everything unfold we called family, we called friends.

My [now] husband was in Chicago for the day and I'll never forget how much I wanted him right beside me. After numerous times calling him he finally picked up...Never have I been so happy to hear his voice on the other end of that phone.

It seemed so un-real to me. Still does. It's something no one can forget. It's something that no matter how big, or tough you are...you drop to your knees and cry. We lost so many.....

 

[speedweapon]

Heading north on HWY 41 just north of I-74. Turned around and went home.

 

[wmitchell]

I was running a cnc machine at work. It was also my 20th birthday.

 

[22rssix]

I also had Bob & Tom Tuned in. They started talking about it and I got to the parking garage at school and lost radio signal so I made my way to the rec center and watched it on the news. I called up my brother and buddy who were on campus and we all gathered around the TV until the college shut down. We stuck around as long as we could then walking out the only air traffic was the fighter jets.

At the time we were all in shock and no one spoke, but you knew what everyone was thinking.