STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I was in my senior year of highschool.  I normally didn't watch TV before school, but for some random reason I happened to turn it on right after the 1st plane hit.  I watched the 2nd one hit and watched the towers collapse.  I never went to school that day.

It all felt very surreal, especially since on 8/11 we had flown out of Newark airport on an American Airlines flight headed to L.A. - all the same stats as the planes that had been crashed into the towers.  I couldn't shake that 'It could have been me" feeling.

I remember everything about that day - what I was wearing, the weather (it was beautiful), running out the door to work at 8:45 because I was late.

As I ran out the door, I saw the Today Show coverage of the first plane, and thought for sure it was some jackass in a private plane, probably committing suicide, and what a horrible thing to do.

By the time I got to work in downtown DC, all hell had broken loose.  There were rumors of bombs by our office, my cell was ringing nonstop from family members.  I have a friend who is a pilot for American, so I lost it, worried about him.  I walked home (got scathing blisters), met my husband halfway and just started crying when I saw him.  The rest of the day was nonstop CNN with friends and neighbors coming over.

We were planning our wedding at the time, and we were supposed to leave for Arizona the next day for a planning trip.  We could have easily have left on the 11th instead of the 12th, and I was a mess.  I wanted to get out of DC so badly, I tried to talk him into driving to AZ (he didn't bite).  I was already a nervous flier, so when we finally went in October, I desperately tried not to fall apart at security or while getting on the plane.

I am so thankful that nobody I knew was hurt on that day.

it was really interesting, and somewhat comforting, to read all of these stories.

i had lived in nyc (queens) for only 2 months when it happened. i was alone at my office in the empire state building (with only two north-facing windows) when i received a phone call from my boss's son. he told me that he had just seen a plane fly into the wtc tower and that i should leave the building *immediately* - he sounded freaked out and so of course i felt like he maybe knew something (by way of the news, maybe) that i didn't. so i picked up my bag, locked my office and literally *ran* into the hallway. i wondered "should i take the elevator or the stairs?" - i mean, there hadn't been any kind of announcement or anything in my building and i assumed i could get down to the lobby from my office on the 35th floor in the elevator in a matter of seconds. so i chose to take the elevator. when i got down to the sidewalk, it was completely business as usual - no one seemed phased at all. so i walked over to fifth avenue and looked down in the direction of the wtc. that was when the second plane hit and you could see the smoke. at that point i felt complete panic. i didn't want to be anywhere near the empire state building, so i started walking towards the subway. i stopped at a pay phone and called bill and he said that he hadn't heard anything. so i kept walking and stopped in a bar that had opened its doors and had the TV on. there was a crowd of people watching the TV and that was when the media started speculating on a terrorism act. my heart was racing. i had seem the smoke. obviously this was on the news, so i knew i had to call my mom to let her know i was ok. my cell didn't work. so i had to ask people on the street to break a dollar for change for the pay phone. it took about 20 people before someone agreed. all i wanted was a quarter. and i gave them a dollar for it. i called my mom. she was freaked because in all of the photos they were showing on the news, you could see the empire state building and it looked like the two buildings were right near each other (in reality they are about 40+ blocks apart). so she was relieved to hear from me. i finally made it to the subway at 32nd street. it was closed. so i started walking up towards bill's building. i had no more quarters and no cell service so i just stood outside his building for an hour waiting for them to be evacuated (his office was in midtown). when i finally saw him come out i was so relieved. we walked 65 blocks uptown to 110 street where a friend of bill's lived. then we watched the news in horror. we saw the footage over and over again of the buildings collapsing, of people running through the streets, of people walking across the brooklyn bridge. we didn't know what to do with ourselves - we were all in such shock and so sad and scared. so we just started drinking. we all got drunk while playing cards and watching the news. the subways reopened at about 1 am, so we were able to get back to queens and back to our home. on the subway ride i completely collapsed in hysterics over the stress of the day.

we knew two people who worked in the wtc who lost their lives that day. the week that followed was really hard, emotionally and physically. the empire state building was completely surrounded by men with huge guns, there were check-ins and bag scans in order for us to get to our offices. the subways ran sporadically. but it was so wonderful to see people banding together to help in any way that they could. we gave blood, we participated in a candlelight vigil. anything that we could do.

it's still a sad day, but i can think back on the cooperation and selfless giving that we saw in the greater NYC community during that time and it actually makes me feel somewhat safer here. no one can break the spirit of nyc.

I was 16, in the second week of my freshman year of college in Virginia. The girls at my gifted program were all 13-16 and most of us had never been away from home before. I had just finished decorating my dorm room, which included (most prominently) a shot of the Brooklyn Bridge and the WTC towers. I was sooo proud of that poster and of being a native New Yorker. One of my roommates was from northern NJ and my other roommate was from Illinois, but her best friend lived in NYC so we all had this common love for New York bonding us.

I had a 10:50 class that Tuesday morning (Intermediate Composition...required English course) so I slept in until 10. I then woke up to the alarm, which was tuned to the local pop station. They were just starting the 10:00 news update and the first they they said was that two planes had hit the World Trade Center towers. I was just in a total and complete stupor. My dad works for the MTA in NY and often they would have meetings at the Port Authority HQ at the WTC. I was FLIPPING OUT because my dad goes into work at 8 am-ish and I had no idea if he had a meeting there today (he usually works in Brooklyn). So I didn't know where Dad was and I knew i was gonna be late for class if I tried to call.

So I got ready for class at 10:50 and when I got there, my teacher cut it short that day. She talked about the WTC and the Pentagon with the 10 of us in the class and let us out early. A lot of the girls were from the DC area so they were really distressed about the Pentagon. Meanwhile, WTC was all I could think about. At this point I still didn't know if my dad was OK.

After class I got a lunch to take back to the dorm and then started to make one of a million attempts to call my dad. I was watching CNN and I kept trying from the office of the the gited program I was in all day, but couldn't get through to my dad until 3:30 pm. When I got through I was so happy to hear him tell me that he was in Brooklyn and safe, although he was having trouble getting home that day. But he was alive, and that was the important part. I also called my mom and brother back home and they were relieved as well to hear that all was well in our family, but very saddened by the whole situation.

The Calc 1 lab I had with two of my friends that afternoon was cancelled, as was my first private voice lesson. So a bunch of the girls and I went down to the local coffeeshop, ordered a round of drinks and then started to contemplate all the possibilites of what the future could be like, as well as digesting every single newspaper we could get our hands on. We all had very mixed political opinions...some were for going to war against the terrorists and others were against it (I was one of them).

That evening, they held a candlelight vigil for everyone to remember those who passed away and for us all to heal as a large family. During the vigil, we were all given white candles and inivited to speak...to get our feelings out. I was one of the first to speak and I spoke about how earlier in the day, I didn't know if my father was alive. I was crying and crying as I spoke and when I was done and went back to where my friends were, we all came together in a group hug.

After the whole day was done, my BF called me (we had only been dating two day at the time) and he was very worried and consoling as well.

To this day, the stains from the wax that dripped that night from all our candles at the vigil remain on the steps.

I was a junior in high school. It was second period (Math class) and I overheard someone saying that the boy I was seeing on and off since my freshman year was going to ask out another girl. I started getting a little teary-eyed and then the bell rang... the principle came on the loudspeaker (which I thought was odd because usually a secretary makes the announcements between classes). He told us that a plane had crashed into one of the buildings. At this point, we didn't know it was an attack or anything, so we all went to our next classes like nothing was wrong. I went to my Chemistry class and there was a tv on, but muted... and Katie Couric was on. I knew what time Today ended, and that's when I knew something was terrible. I was getting annoyed with the people who were joking around, like "We could be next... I bet they're gonna come fly a plane into our school... nobody would ever expect them to hit RI" They acted like it was a joke. We wathed the tv, trying to understand what was happening, and we saw the second plane hit (I think we had changed the channel by then, but I'm not sure.) I was so upset... my friend was asking me about that boy, and I remember yelling at her, telling her that it doesn't matter, and asking how she can think about something so unimportant at a time like this. We watched the news in the rest of my classes that day, and when I got home I remember talking to my parents about it for hours. I was so scared for all those people who were unable to make it to safety, and I was so sad for their families. The state airport is in my city, and it's normal to hear planes go by every 5 minutes. The planes stopped flying by, and it was surreal... it seemed silent for days. At lunch on that Friday, I remember getting mad at my friends for talking about going to a party that night... there was a vigil at the State House that I planned on going to, and I couldn't understand how everyone else didn't care as much about it as I did. I was glued to the tv for weeks. I still can't believe that it happened, sometimes. When I went to Ground Zero last week, it was so weird to think that I was in the same place as I remember it to be just a few years ago. I thought about the nice lady who showed me where a bathroom was on a field trip in 7th grade, and I wondered if she is ok.

Mine was a long one... sorry

Gosh, I feel old too!

I was working at my job as an office manager in CT, probably planning my wedding or doing homework instead of really doing my work, when the head IT guy came in and told me what happened.  I thought it was an accident until my boss told me about the second plane.  Then about 5 people came running in to tell me about the Pentagon because they knew I was always in DC on the weekends. 

I had to call our NY office office manager to see if everyone in our office was fine (they were), and then I went to go sit in the bathroom and called everyone I knew who worked at or near the Pentagon to make sure they were ok (they were).

My husband called me and told me not to come meet him for lunch because the base was locked down and they weren't letting ANYBODY on.

I sat at my desk until my boss closed the office right before lunch.  I then went home and watched CNN and BBC News for the next 4 days.

When the 1st plane hit I was just finishing my morning routine and was about to head out the door to work.  I wanted to stay and watch, but I couldn't be late to work.  I was on the bus on the way to work (I worked in the Sears Tower-44th floor at the time which many thought could also be a target) when my bf called me and asked if I had heard about it.  I said yeah, but didn't think anything about it because as dc said they didn't know what to make of it when I saw it on the news.  He said it was a terrorist attack and that in no way should I go into my office because it wasn't safe.  I was only a block away so I went anyway.

When I got to the building it was nuts.  They were trying to get people to stay out, but I am a hard head and I went in anyway.  When I got upstairs our Office Manager told me to get anything that I needed and go home.  My boss was there and asked me to take some stuff home because we had a client meeting the next day.  While I was gathering it my bf called my work line and was like "What in the hell are you doing in that building?  Get out right now!" 

Well, I left, but I had to take the bus all the way home and because they shut down the entire Chicago Loop traffic was a nightmare.  When I got home my bf was sitting on the couch crying.  Because of what happened and also because he couldn't reach me (so many cell phones were going crazy he couldn't get through to mine) and he thought something happened to me. 

I didn't go back to work for a week.  I just worked from home.