Kiki
New Yorker
I know there's a remembrance tribute thread for 9/11/01, but I thought I'd ask the question.....where were you when you found out? How did you handle that day and the days after?
For me, I was in Nursing school at the time (first try in Nursing school...now back for my 2nd and final). I had the day off of class actually and didn't have to work. I was getting up to go study at the library, and for what ever reason I'd left my cell phone charging in the bathroom over night. I was blow drying my hair when my phone started flashing at me. My best friend was calling, so I answered. She was hysterical. I couldn't understand anything she was saying or asking, she finally just said..."TURN THE NEWS ON".
I turned the TV on and saw smoke and flames and just.....confusion and a mess in New York City. She kept going on and on saying something about Washington D.C. and I couldn't understand how she was so confused about D.C. and New York. I was dating someone who lived out there and while I was at work the night before, he had messaged my best friend on aol and was chatting with her. He told her that the next day he was going with another one of our friends to see their friend who worked in the Pentagon. I knew he was planning on going over there...but I didn't know he was planning on that day. So he was actually at the Pentagon that day, and thats 1 reason why my best friend was freaking out.
I still couldn't quite understand who or why or what was going on. My mom had taken my grandma to the hospital for an MRI that day and she went in for her test just as the first tower was hit. She had no idea what was going on for that entire hour. When they got home they found me standing in front of the tv, just in complete shock.
My mom was a travel agent at the time and had a huge clientele of business people. She left to get to her office to check on all her clients and to make sure all were accounted for. My dad was working in the Crown building directly across from the Sears Tower in Chicago. He was the head of the credit department for an international business based out of Europe. His office was a corner office over looking Union Station and the Sears Tower. He said that he watched as people ran frantically for the train station, not knowing for sure where the next attack would take place, but following the recomendations of the news anchors to evacuate cities and high rises. He had to wait for everyone in his company to evacuate their departments before he could go. When he finally got to the train station and got on a train to get home, both towers had fallen.
The phone started ringing off the hook at our house, every time I picked it up, it was another accent from another country on the other end, frantically asking if my Dad was accounted for, who I knew of from the company that was in New York City or D.C., what was going on in the States?
Not knowing what else to do and not knowing when I'd get through to my boyfriend or where he was or when I'd get through to any of our friends or family....I drove out to my campus and sat in one of the buildings watching on the big screen, everything that was going on.
Phone lines were down all day, I couldn't get a text message to him, couldn't get a call through. I couldn't reach any one out in the D.C. area.
There were all these news reports going on and on about this man named Osama Bin Laden, and reports about how they kept moving the President and Air Force One, and how the vice president was in hiding.
I remember watching the Presidental address that evening and listening to my Grandma tell me, "Kristen....you woke up in one world this morning.....and you're going to go to sleep in a completely different world tonight. The world you used to know doesn't exist any more. America's been attacked."
That still sends chills down my spine.
I went out for coffee with some friends that night and we just sat outside and looked up at the sky. There were military planes flying over head and surrounding a lab near by.
I finally got a call that night, my boyfriend had been there, he had gotten hurt and had been taken to the hospital...but it was nothing anywhere as serious or life threatening as everyone else.
For me, I was in Nursing school at the time (first try in Nursing school...now back for my 2nd and final). I had the day off of class actually and didn't have to work. I was getting up to go study at the library, and for what ever reason I'd left my cell phone charging in the bathroom over night. I was blow drying my hair when my phone started flashing at me. My best friend was calling, so I answered. She was hysterical. I couldn't understand anything she was saying or asking, she finally just said..."TURN THE NEWS ON".
I turned the TV on and saw smoke and flames and just.....confusion and a mess in New York City. She kept going on and on saying something about Washington D.C. and I couldn't understand how she was so confused about D.C. and New York. I was dating someone who lived out there and while I was at work the night before, he had messaged my best friend on aol and was chatting with her. He told her that the next day he was going with another one of our friends to see their friend who worked in the Pentagon. I knew he was planning on going over there...but I didn't know he was planning on that day. So he was actually at the Pentagon that day, and thats 1 reason why my best friend was freaking out.
I still couldn't quite understand who or why or what was going on. My mom had taken my grandma to the hospital for an MRI that day and she went in for her test just as the first tower was hit. She had no idea what was going on for that entire hour. When they got home they found me standing in front of the tv, just in complete shock.
My mom was a travel agent at the time and had a huge clientele of business people. She left to get to her office to check on all her clients and to make sure all were accounted for. My dad was working in the Crown building directly across from the Sears Tower in Chicago. He was the head of the credit department for an international business based out of Europe. His office was a corner office over looking Union Station and the Sears Tower. He said that he watched as people ran frantically for the train station, not knowing for sure where the next attack would take place, but following the recomendations of the news anchors to evacuate cities and high rises. He had to wait for everyone in his company to evacuate their departments before he could go. When he finally got to the train station and got on a train to get home, both towers had fallen.
The phone started ringing off the hook at our house, every time I picked it up, it was another accent from another country on the other end, frantically asking if my Dad was accounted for, who I knew of from the company that was in New York City or D.C., what was going on in the States?
Not knowing what else to do and not knowing when I'd get through to my boyfriend or where he was or when I'd get through to any of our friends or family....I drove out to my campus and sat in one of the buildings watching on the big screen, everything that was going on.
Phone lines were down all day, I couldn't get a text message to him, couldn't get a call through. I couldn't reach any one out in the D.C. area.
There were all these news reports going on and on about this man named Osama Bin Laden, and reports about how they kept moving the President and Air Force One, and how the vice president was in hiding.
I remember watching the Presidental address that evening and listening to my Grandma tell me, "Kristen....you woke up in one world this morning.....and you're going to go to sleep in a completely different world tonight. The world you used to know doesn't exist any more. America's been attacked."
That still sends chills down my spine.
I went out for coffee with some friends that night and we just sat outside and looked up at the sky. There were military planes flying over head and surrounding a lab near by.
I finally got a call that night, my boyfriend had been there, he had gotten hurt and had been taken to the hospital...but it was nothing anywhere as serious or life threatening as everyone else.