Do You Remember?... What Were You Doing On September 11th?

I remember what I was doing on september 11 I was on holiday to ireland And my mum dad sister granny and I went to a glass factory I was 4 at thetime and I still remember it clearly My mum went home with my sister to the cottage we were in. They watched it on bbc news my dad granny and I stayed they made an announcement throught the inter com telling us what had happened and we realised americans were in the factory and they running and screaming around the place I can still remember what a woman said over the phone im guessing her husban or a male relative of hers was in the world trade centre She said '' no matter what happens hunny I will always love you but you're gonna get out so it will all be ok let me know when youre out hunny love you'' thats the words I remember there was a tv on the american tourists were crying watching the attacks and hugging each other One lady had to led outside as she was in hysterics screaming about her husband I dont know why I remember it so clearly I will never forget that day

September 11, 2001 where was I/what was I doing?

At the time, I lived in El Paso, TX. I was working as a third-shift waitress at Denny's Restaurant. I had just finished my 10PM to 6AM shift (ironic, it was 6AM there in TX and 8AM in NYC) and arrived at my sister's apartment. After the usual getting ready for bed routine, I turned on my TV and set the TV timer to shut off in 120 minutes. I always did that; it was routine.

I started to drift off to sleep watching Headline News (or CNN) and heard something about a fire at the Twin Towers or to that effect; I was already drowsy from my sleep medication. I had just drifted off to sleep when my pesty neighbor came knocking on the door. He saw the remote control on the small table next to the hide-a-bed I slept on. His next words were "You have got to see this. I just found out that an airplane of some kind flew into the World Trade Center." Then he turned on the TV.

I looked at the screen and thought "No, that is not what it looks like. There is no way an airplane could have crashed into the World trade Center. No way possible." I then looked at my neighbor and asked him "When did this happen?" he then told me "Just about 15 or 20 minutes ago. It is on every channel too, even the radio is playing it." As I turned to go into the kitchen to give him back something I borrowed the night previous, I stared at the TV. Blank faced. "Who would do such an act? I've heard of small planes before, but what would leave a gaping hole like that?" As the word 'that' came out of my mouth, the second plane hit.

I was instantly awake then. "Holy *expletive* who is...what is....why? there were people on those planes and there are probably 1,000s of workers in there. What is going on?" I literally screamed. Some neighbors walking by the apartment peeked in and pretty soon, we had about 10 people staring with blank faces at my television.

The Twin Towers, The Pentagon, Shanksville...Then later on, the collapse of World Trade Center #7.

What was going on? What evil has just invaded my country, my homeland?

I immediately was wide awake. Forget sleeping that day. Even though I had to work another 10PM to 6AM shift, I didn't sleep the whole day. I figured I'd grab a bite to eat and then head over to the local Plasma center to donate plasma. Certainly a good idea at the time.

The Plasma center had done something very nice & thoughtful at the time. They had hastily made a sign and said that any donors who came in to donate plasma would be given $100.00 for plasma and the plasma was going to be shipped directly to NYC for possible usage. As we all know, less than 20 people were eventually pulled from the rubble.

But still, the plasma center later earned a letter from the mayor thanking our center for the generous donations of plasma. The plasma will be used by anyone who needs it.

I couldn't offer anything more. I felt a part of me could have gone to someone that day. and, it did. I was called back a few weeks later to be shown a letter that one of the few seriously injured survivors was indeed given the plasma I had donated. (there is a serial # that ID'd me as the donor). But, I never found out who it was. It was someone who remained unknown. But I wonder, would it have been one of the 2 men from the Port Authority that were trapped? I will never know, and I really wouldn't want to know. I just know that I gave and someone used it.

On the bus ride over to the plasma center, there was a group of Arabic men who were sitting together and talking in their language. One of them grabbed his briefcase and hugged it like a bear when I got on the bus. It was a strange sight indeed.

But, after donating, I had gone back downtown to transfer to another bus, and it was then that I had looked skyward and noticed an errie silence...no aircraft at all; save for the military jets that were circling around the entire city. It made me feel like I was a prisoner in my own city. I knew they were doing a job, but it felt very strange inside.

As I stepped off the bus, I glanced up at the 40-some story tall Wells Fargo bank building and had a flashback in my mind's eye to seeing the Towers on fire. I shuddered to think could it happen here too? Could an airliner crash into this building right here? I know and think a lot more people were looking at their respective tall skyscrapers and thinking the same thing.

Reflecting back to the day Spetember 11, 2001 or as it is called, Patriot Day, I am thankful to be an American citizen. This country does have it's ups & downs, but all in all, we are a very good country.

God Bless You. If any survivors happen to read this, God Bless You Too!!!

I had just got in my car to drive to the tv station where I worked in promotions for local news. The radio station I usually listened to normally played music and loaded up on high-intensity rock-n-roll humor, but on this day there was no music and they were awkwardly stumbled through a very uncomfortable announcement about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. Shortly afterwards they gave way to ABC news who began talking about terrorism. I listened in horror as I drove to work. When I got there no one was working. ABC had taken over and for the next 2 days Peter Jennings would tell the dramatic story through the eyes of New Yorkers. I sat in silence until my GM asked if I was alright. I remember saying that our world has just changed forever. She asked how, but I couldn't articulate... It was just a feeling. For weeks I had nightmares that I was in one of the towers. Very vivid feelings of falling from the top amongst the rubble. I still work in news and think that day has had a dramatic impact on our business. Like it raised the bar of what's really important and people have said they don't have time for the "false sensationalism" that local news had made a habit of projecting. Maybe the feeling I was trying to articulate to my former boss was, "Most of the things we think are important have become less significant today." Sometimes I wonder if we really still remember.