Where Were You?

I have seen this question asked a lot on Facebook, the news, and in overheard public conversations this weekend.  "Where were you?"  No one needs to clarify WHEN they are referring to...where were you when you heard the news of 9/11/01?

I remember that entire day like it was last week.  It is incredible how just about every moment has been permanently etched into my brain.  I imagine it is the same way for most people.  While I didn't personally know anyone who lost their lives that day, the impact of the day and the overall loss and devastation were so horrible that every man, woman, and child alive that day were in some way affected.  What is more incredible is how the emotions invoked from the images and video from that day have not lessened much.  I would have thought that by a decade after the day seeing the pictures would not choke me up, but they do.  I arrived home late last night and when I got online one of the pictures on yahoo was an infamous picture of a man who was falling from the building.  I remember seeing that picture in the days after and seeing it again last night hit me just as hard, causing a nightmare and an uncomfortable feeling all day.


So I will answer the question, in case you were wondering. ;)

The morning of September 11, 2001 was one of the most beautiful mornings I had seen in a long while.  I was a hall director for Regents Hall at Morehead State University.  My office hours were 10-2 that day and at 8:43 I was sitting on the front steps of the building, praising the beauty of the day and wondering if I could get away with doing my office hours outside that day.   I walked back into the director's apartment a little after 9:00 that I shared with my husband to finish getting ready for the day.  He was bustling around getting ready to go to his job, and the Today show was on the TV in the bedroom.  As I was going back and forth between the apartment and my office, Trevor called to me telling me that someone bombed the World Trade Center, to which I said no way, it's gotta be another story about the previous one and the hearings that were going along with it.  I started watching the news and saw the second plane fly into the tower.  I remember screaming "HOLY SHIT" thinking it was some horrible joke.  I called the main housing office and they didn't know about it yet, but everyone was scrambling for TV's.  Trevor went on to work, knowing he was going to be busy because of the media fallout and Morehead's reaction to it. 

I sat on my living room couch in shock, my jaw on the ground, watching the news.  I kept my apartment door open and gradually my residents were coming by, scared and in shock.  By 9:30 I had about 15 girls in my apartment living room watching the TV with me hearing about the plane hitting the pentagon and how another plane is unaccounted for.  It was a scary morning.

I will say, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there was one moment that had me laughing, which was completely needed and I was grateful for it on that day.  One of the more dramatic girls in the dorm yelled that we were all going to die because they were going to attack the colleges next and kill all the smart people.  That comment struck me as hilarious despite the magnitude of the situation.

Around 10:30  I received a radio call from the main housing unit for all hall directors to remain in their buildings in an on call capacity.  Classes were canceled at noon for the day for most because students and employees were desperate for news of friends and loved ones as all power and communication with NYC was gone by the afternoon. 

I remember I was on the phone with my brother when the first tower collapsed.  We wanted our mom, who worked at the IRS in Covington, KY to go home, just to be on the safe side.  We watched the tower collapse while we were talking on the phone together and I remember Sean yelling "fuck" and I started crying wondering how many people had yet to be evacuated because it hadn't been long enough.  I quickly got of f the phone with Sean and called my mom.  It took a while to get a hold of her, probably because of security, and when I did I learned she was on lockdown, no one in and no one out.  I was pissed.  She promised she would leave as soon as lockdown was over. 

I watched with a sense of numbness as the second tower fell.  I remember the news talking about all the rescue workers and hospitals being at the ready to take in the injured.  I remember thinking that I doubt there would be many injured.  If anyone was in that building when it collapsed they would not have survived...I hate that I was mostly right in that thinking.

The rest of the day continued more like a bad nightmare.  I saw the scene from the pentagon then heard the news that the 4th plane that was intended for the Capital building crashed in Pennsylvania and that all other planes were accounted for.  I had to make a grocery run that afternoon for drinks and snacks for a gathering one of the RA's were planning that night to let the girls process it and I observed local gas prices, that usually ranged in the 1.40/gallon, were up to 4.00/gallon. That evening the college held a candlelight vigil and the rest of the fallout began.  By the evening my TV went to Cartoon Network, completely worn out to seeing any more horror of the day.

Looking back at the official timelines there was one moment that actually put me into speechless shock a while back. Last year when I was looking back at the timeline there was a comment hit me hard.  I found it here:

http://www.911timeline.net/

"52) 8:59 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 completes its 180 degree turn over southern Ohio / northeastern Kentucky and starts heading directly back to Washington D.C. and The Pentagon, 330 miles away."

I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE WHEN THIS HAPPENED AND HEARD THAT  PLANE OVERHEAD!  Having grown up in NKY I never paid attention to planes flying overhead.  As a result, I remember hearing a plane but not thinking much about it.  It wasn't until LAST YEAR that I made the realization that I was probably hearing this plane as it turned to change path to head to the pentagon.