Re: Where we you....

Re: Where we you....

Posted by MrsMessina

I was in the Trade Center that morning for about 45 minutes, taking some 'me' time to just sit and read (my dad had dropped me off really early at the subway that morning b/c we were living in Queens at the time, near where my dad works, and my (then BF now) DH was working on Long Island that day so he couldn't drop me off for my 'normal time'.
I got into the WTC early, and went to Borders to sit and read. I bought a book and left. Then I started up the escalator, then went back down to get some breakfast, but then changed my mind and went back up to head to my office in the World Financial Center. To this day I'm sure it was my grandma who died when I was 7 pushing me out- I remember it so well.
I walked across the bridge and into my building- and when I got in the elevator and started up to my floor the whole building shook. I got out and a coworker who I knew, but not well, was running at us crying and pushing us all back in the elevator, which was still going up, not down to the lobby. I remember her panic as she told me she watched a plane hit the WTC and that we all had to get out now. I remember a banker coming by and telling us we had meetings to go to and to get to work, and I remember telling him that my dad had made me promise when I took this job that if anything ever didn't feel 'right' to just get out of the building and that if it meant being fired this was something I had to do. I remember getting out of the elevator and waiting for one that was going down (I was 29 floors up and wasn't thinking about needing to take the stairs).
When I finally got outside I remember seeing hundreds of people just staring up at the building and I remember pieces of paper coming down like confetti. I remember looking up and seeing people jumping out of the building, and I remember just falling back onto the seat b/c it was all too much for my brain to absorb at once.
By that point I put my bag down and I actually had my camera with me, but I didn't know if it was appropriate to take photos. I finally started to take a couple of pictures b/c I couldn't believe what was happening and then I heard it... that awful and terrifying noise of the 2nd plane, a sound I will never forget. Then I saw it hit and at that point just grabbed my bag and started running for my life.
About 12 (or more- who knows how many) blocks away I bumped into 2 women who worked in my building but I wasn't in their group. I had covered for someone in their group the week before and helped the one out with a lot of work... which thrilled her. She took me home with her, and allowed me to call my family so my dad could come pick me up. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and I remember stopping to take more pictures.... I still have them, but can't bring myself to look at them often.
My cell phone didn't work and I couldn't get through to anyone- so once we got into Brooklyn aways I found a payphone with less than 10 people on it, so I told them I HAD to stop and call my mom. They waited for me and I still can't talk about the moment on the phone with my mom without breaking into hysterics. I remember her just screaming and crying, and that nothing I could say could calm her. She thought I might've been dead and said people were calling her all morning and everyone was panicking.
I finally made it to this woman's house and she gave me mangos, which I had never had before, and will probably never have again. I remember her letting me use her phone and calling my (now) FIL to tell him I was ok and that my dad was coming to get me. I remember him crying on the phone also. I wasn't able to get through to my DH until much later in the day b/c he's freelance and his cell phone wasn't working either. Once I got back to Queens I was able to see him and my DB and SIL. We all just fell on the floor holding eachother and crying. We drove out to where I live now that night to see my mom and DH and I stayed with my parents for days. This day always makes everything feel like it happened yesterday.
God Bless America today and always. May all of those who lost their lives rest in peace and never be forgotten. For all of those who are fighting for our country as well as those who do their part to keep our country safe, God Bless You All.

Re: Where we you....

It was my second week teaching. My phone kept ringing and kids kept getting dismissed, I had no idea why until my boss sent a teacher down to inform me what was going on. I will never forget how scared I was and how horrible it was not being able to get in contact with people right away. Hope I never see anything like this again! Hope our country is safer now than it was then.

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I was living in Brooklyn right by the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel at the time. I worked on 23rd St between 2nd & 3rd Ave. I always took the tunnel in because it got me to work the fastest. I decided to go in late that day because my laundry had not been done in a month due to my work schedule.

I remember looking out of my bedroom window and seeing smoke coming from WTC. I turned on the news and saw they were reporting a small plane had hit the building. I looked out my window again and saw the next plane hit. I stood there for what seemed like forever in shock. I started to think who do i know there, who should I call. I was glued to the news watching as people so desperate to get out jumped to their death. I can't even imagine what they were thinking.

My house phone rang. It was my mom. I will NEVER forget the sound of her voice. She broke down as soon as I said hello. I told her I was ok and I decided to take the morning off to do laundry. Just then I saw one of the towers collapse and my mom and I just bawled. The second tower collapsed and the sky turned black as night. I could not see out my window for the next hour. I decided to go outside. My doorman warned me not to go but I went anyway. I remember walking outside and seeing all the debris and papers falling from the sky. One of the papers had fallen on my head. I looked at it and it was a fax cover sheet from Cantor Fitzgerald.

I would never look at my amazing view of the city skyline the same way again.


My heart goes out to everyone who lost someone that day.

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I was working in a small firm dowtown...two blocks away from TWC...I don't even want to write about it anymore...

Re: Where we you....

On my way to work. I was late that day. For no particular reason. My boss was out so I took some extra time. I was never late before but for some reason, I didn't care. I was running 15 minutes behind. If I had been on time that day, my bus from Brooklyn would have left me off right in front of the towers at 8:45. Because I was late, I was still on the bus and as we drove along the BQE to the Battery Tunnel, I saw smoke coming out of the tower. Then, we were stuck at the toll booths as I watched the 2nd plane hit. I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't reach anyone. No one could reach me. Then, as we sat at the toll, I watched, one after another, fire trucks and police cars going into the tunnel. It was an endless line of them. I always wonder how many never made it back. I always wonder what would have happened if I had been on time that day. They turned my bus around and when I got off at my stop, I ran all the way home. All I heard was the fighter jets flying in the sky and I thought it was the end of the world. By the time I got home, the first tower was down. I got home, the first tower was down.

My office, which was 2 blocks away, was closed for weeks. When we got back, I checked my e-mails and read the frantic e-mails I had gotten from my sister that morning. She knew where I worked and where my bus left me off. She knew I would go shopping in the morning sometimes in the WTC if I got in early. I can't even think about it now. She had to hold herself together b/c she's a teacher and she had students whose parents worked in the towers. I'll never foget thos e-mails. She thought I was dead.

Re: Where we you....

I was at work in Midtown. Left early and walked home to the UES. Tons of people just walking uptown, every so often there would be a clump of people gathered around a radio.

Sat in front of my TV for awhile, just trying to process. After about an hour, I felt like I needed to do something. I walked down to the blood center on 67th Street to try to donate. The line was around the block and 5 deep. They could not handle the crowd. It was amazing...they are always trying to get people to donate, and here were tons of people and sadly they did not have the ability to utilize it.

One thing I will never forget about that walk..as I walked down 2nd Ave, there were tons of people sitting in the outdoor cafes, smiling, laughing, having a good time. I was horrified...how on earth could these people be laughing in light of what had happened? I dont know...maybe they just hadnt grasped the reality of it...I'm sure they all went home and cried that night.

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It was my first day temping at an office in Melville. The permanent staff was in their conference room, crowded around a television watching what was going on. They came in and sent me home, not really telling me what had happened.

I got in the car, and turned on 880 am, and heard all the confusion, horror, and questions of the unknown. Immediately started to worry about my good friend who worked at 7 WTC for NYC OEM. Tried calling him on his cell and got a busy signal. Tried calling his work, call could not be completed. Tried emailing, and got an email back 24 hrs later saying that it was unable to be delivered. Heard from him finally after 4 days. He had left the building with Mayor Guilinai, and went uptown to the temporary command center and hadn't slept at all. He called me on his first day he had been given a break. I collapsed to the ground crying when he called.

I also remember not sleeping that night and listening to WBAB throughout the night with the djs giving updates, and people calling in to tell them what they saw.

I also remember when the smell reached us in the Huntington Area on Thursday. It was that acrid electrical fire smell. I will never forget it and every time i smell something similar now, I am brought right back to that day.

I actually feel guilty for not having seen it on TV live. I think its a form of survivor guilt. And each year now, I think in part b/c of that guilt, I watch the rebroadcast on MSNBC in its entirety.

Re: Where we you....

All alone, away at college - 3 hours away from everyone I loved, on my own for the first 2 weeks of my life.

DH (then just BF) was 3 hours Northwest of me, and my entire family was 3 hours Southeast of me.

Landlines were all tied up with busy circuits, cellphones weren't functioning....

It's nothing compared to what some of you suffered that day, but it was still the scariest day of my life.

Re: Where we you....

I was working at Stony Brook hospital at the time. Since it is a trauma center with a burn unit, they began discharging patients left and right anticipating that we would need the beds for the injured. Unfortunately, we did not get a single patient.

In addition to that, there was a nurse who worked there...sweet lady. She was frantic b/c her 2 daughters worked at WTC...one was like 23 and the other was about 28 or so. She lost both of her girls that day. It was so heartbreaking. I still think of that nurse often.

Re: Where we you....

I was at my DH's house- boyfriend at the time. We both were sleeping because we both got laid off and werent working.

We get this knock on the door from his father, screaming...you guys need to see this, something is happening.

We run up stairs and just sat and watched and sat and watched this entire thing happen on tv.

All I remember was within a min of us getting in front of tv, tower 1 went down.

We were GLUED to that tv for hrs and that nite, seeing all the ppl, women, men, CHILDREN holding signs/pcitures of their loved ones who didnt come home and asking, Where are you?
I cried

Re: Where we you....

I was in the shower when my friend who was in Australia at the time called me to tell me. I put the tv on and turned on the radio to hear what they were saying.

My friend gave me a keepsake that sunday before and told me to never forget him in a joking way... he worked in the wtc. I tried calling and calling and calling him for hours but couldn't get through. I remember sitting at the tv counting the floors hysterical crying, calling everyone to see if they heard from him. I was an hour late for class and got sent home right away. I didn't want to be alone. I finally heard from my friends hours later. All I could tell him was that I loved him.

He was working on the 92 floor and when the first tower got hit they made an anouncement to go back to work. he said effff this and left. Thankfully he did. By the time his building got hit he was on the 50th floor... the plane hit around floor 74.

He lost many friends that day.

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I was at my parent's house. I had stopped working in NYC just two months before 9/11 to care for my Mom who was terminally ill. I will never forget that day for so many reasons.

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I was in midtown...

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I was in New Orleans, sleeping in the hotel room while my husband was out getting us coffee. He came running into the room saying, OMG, something bad has happened. Apparently, he was watching what happened on the TV at the coffee shop and said there were so many people just crying in the street while running back to wake me up and fill me in.

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I was at school- st Johns, watched the entire thing from the 3rd floor of marillac hall.

Re: Where we you....

It was literally my second week of college. I went to Tufts University in MA (but came from LI, where my whole family lives except my aunt who lives in NYC). I was coming back from math class on that gorgeous day, walking with my roommate. We heard people talking about something as we were walking but just ignored it as we chatted. Once we got back to our room we turned on the TV and it was all over.....couldn't believe it. My roommate's dad worked in NYC some days so she was freaking, and I was worried about my aunt too....they were both fine. My friend who went to NYU (also in her second week) was on AIM and I talked to her there as she told me about her story. That night there was a candlelight vigil at Tufts which was amazing.


Later (a few days) I found out that my Mom's first cousin, who she grew up with (same age as her, 50 at the time) who was a Battalion Chief in the FDNY was missing. Battalion Chiefs are not supposed to enter the buildings, they are supposed to command from outside. Obviously he went in, and was never found. RIP Thomas DeAngelis, an angel in our lives

Re: Where we you....

working it the city, watching a lot of it happen from the street...unable to get home. I'll never forget there was a foreign exchange student sitting next to me on the train on the way in with his "host"--he had never been in the city and she said to him, "You just want to get there now, right?!" He was so excited. I often wondered how shocking and tragic that day must have been for him. I mean it was for us ALL...but I have wondered about him often.
DH worked at NYSE....basically saw the entire thing. We hadn't started dating yet.
When I finally got home (living with parents)...my dad had been waiting for me outside, pacing on the driveway

Message edited 9/11/2008 1:17:30 PM.

Re: Where we you....

Posted by BellaRock

I was still living at home with my parents. I was asleep when the first plane hit. My mom came and woke me up. I got to the tv just as the second plane hit.

Re: Where we you....

Posted by MrsMessina

God Bless America today and always. May all of those who lost their lives rest in peace and never be forgotten. For all of those who are fighting for our country as well as those who do their part to keep our country safe, God Bless You All.

Re: Where we you....

I was in the hallway in High School getting ready to go to homeroom. One of my guy friends got to school late that morning and told me what happened (he heard it on the radio) I walked into HR not believing a word he said and then they made the announcement

Re: Where we you....

Re: Where we you....

I was at work...about 20 blocks away. One of my employees called to tell me he was stuck on the subway. Someone came to my office and told me about the first plane that hit. We walked outside and looked down the street, where we could see the plane sticking out of the side of the building like a scene from a movie. Then, we saw the second plane crash into the second tower and a big ball of fire and heard lots of screaming.

Went back into the office where my phone was ringing with my parents trying to reach me. My dad told me to get out of there...but I was too scared. I didn't want to go near Penn Station for fear of something else happening. He told me that all trains were not going anywhere and to start walking, he would pick me up at on the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge.

As I was getting ready to leave the office...I looked out my window and saw people running down the street and heard screaming...the first tower had just fell.

I remember walking towards the bridge and hearing more screaming and saw the second tower collapse and thinking to myself, this can't be real.

I remember that I was wearing flip-flops and my feet hurt from all the walking.

I remember walking down streets and small store owners were outside handing out plastic cups with water for anyone that wanted a drink.

I remember getting to Brooklyn and going into a deli where the owner was letting people use his phone because there was no cell service and I called my dad. I met up with some people I knew and they were going to drive me home.

I got home in the evening and I probably was on the phone most of the night...people who I rarely talk to on the phone called me to see if I was ok. I remember every detail as if it was yesterday

Re: Where we you....

I was a senior in HS.

I was in the auditorium -- chorus -- and the speaker system was turned off at that point in JUST the auditorium so I missed the initial words from our principal. I had NO idea what was going on -- left that class going to my next class which was PIG (people in gov't) and I was looking around at other kid's faces -- everything was strangely quiet. I mean, even HS kids - and I was thinking 'what in the hell is going on here?' -- then, I came into my PIG class and saw a picture of the twin towers with smoke coming out of them on the computer.

Our teacher, then, told us.

Message edited 9/11/2008 1:10:15 PM.

Re: Where we you....