Twenty five years ago I’d driven 548 miles from Pittsburgh to Rockford, Illinois on September 10th. My sister flew home to New York City from Chicago that same day. We couldn’t plan an overlap although I’d asked if she could wait and fly back the 11th. So I was asleep in my father’s room at the Wesley Willows Assisted Living as he was in the hospital with surgery from a broken foot. My cousin Christopher called on my dad’s phone. The old desk phone kind. Time is Central, an hour earlier than NY. He informed me that the World Trade Center had been attacked. It was only when I got to the hospital in my father’s room and the televisions were on everywhere. It took time to comprehend the magnitude of destruction and loss of human life.
My sister Mary photographed this 9/11 Cross a Symbol of Hope. It was a blog post in September 2020.
It’s “located near St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church near the 9/11 memorial. This statute represents the wreckage of the twin towers forming a cross from the aftermath of 9/11. The original cross was moved in the 9/11 Museum. This cross was sculpted by Jon Krawczyk. Cardinal Egan picked him to sculpt the new cross.”
2011 blog post of FDNY Fire Engine in the Fire House across the street
Interesting question, in my head I think I saw it all happening live, but the reality is I was asleep when it all went down and woke up to the news when it was all over. I spent the day watching the tv in awe and disbelief.
Such a sad day. I went to the beach and looked across at the US border and cried. 🥲😢
After all this time the images are still vivid in my head. Pure disbelief that someone could knowingly and wickedly plan this. How must the loved ones of those victims feel? xx
I was in the office watching it unfold on the television. I was frozen in disbelief and then became concerned about our staff who were over in NYC for a meeting. Luckily, the time of their meeting had been pushed back and they were eating a late breakfast when the planes struck the towers where they were due to meet clients. Our staff survived, the clients didn’t.
I was in my kitchen. The kids were off to school on a clear blue sky day. I was glad in the moment that my wife was not working as she was a flight attendant. She was with me in the kitchen.
I was at Greenfield School out in the hall. Pittsburgh. I had to go outside on the playground with kids. It was first lunch. It was very quiet and dark gray skies .
I went to work at the radio station, and the TV was on. The first plane that hit. As I stood there and watched, the second plane hit.
I had taken the day off on the 10th, and was on the beach. I was thinking “if this had happened yesterday I would not know anything about it”. I was disconnected from the world on the beach September 10th.
I was at Greenfield school wondering what the hell was going on!
At work seeing patients. TV on after first news reports. Unbelievable.
I had just arrived at my office (Omaha, Nebraska) and wondered why everyone was in the conference room watching the TV. What a very surreal and sad day. Later that afternoon I was in my front yard. The skies were so quiet with no air traffic, until I saw one large plane flying rather low overhead. It was Air Force One headed to land at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
At home in southern Minnesota caring for my son, home sick from school, and his little friend. The husband called to tell me about the first attack on the first tower. I turned the TV on and couldn’t shut it off while the boys, five and seven, built towers from wooden blocks and crashed planes into them. That, more than anything, sticks in my memory.
I was at our home in Canada. My husband was still in Qatar where he was employed. I flew back to Qatar about a week later via Heathrow Airport in London. They were still on high alert there with an armed police presence at the airport that I had never seen before.