Last updated on September 12th, 2016
(Hint: Please share your own 9/11 memories in the comments section below.)
I’ve not written about September 11, 2001 until now, because even though “the day” was 15 years ago, it still feels like yesterday to me. I lived in New York City at the time, in a pre-war apartment building located at 174 West 76th Street.
I remember that horrid Tuesday not only for the terrorist attacks, but for the weather, too. After weeks of insufferable heat and humidity, September 11 brought blue skies and crisp, inviting air. At 7AM, after Silver Fox departed for his office on bicycle, I opened all the windows in the apartment. Then I grabbed some paint and a paint brush, and set about “touching up” a closet door. I also turned on the television set. The Sci-Fi channel was airing the most influential series of my youth — “Dark Shadows.” The apartment building rumbled when a plane flew too-low over the Hudson River. Yep, that plane.
Apparently the Sci-Fi channel doesn’t interrupt broadcasting for anything, ever. No sooner had I finished my painting job than Silver Fox burst through the door. “I tried to call you from work,” he said. “Terrorists flew a plane into the World Trade Center. It’s pure chaos downtown, and the phones are dead.”
We switched the TV channel to CNN, and discovered — to our horror — that yet another plane had flown into the WTC, this time the South Tower. Silver Fox returned to work (lucky thing he used his bicycle, because public transport was shut down), while I remained glued to the television. Not one my piano students showed up for lessons that afternoon. I didn’t blame them.
The next day, I and my friend Judy Katschke did what every New Yorker tried to do: Help the rescue efforts. We walked downtown, only to discover that no one was allowed below Union Square. Armed guards told us that first responders were in need of toothbrushes, toothpaste, sanitary wipes, socks, and surgical gloves. We purchased all these items from a nearby Duanne Reade, and handed them over. We didn’t care if our efforts amounted to anything. We simply had to do something.
Union Square looked like a scene from a World War II film. Army tanks were parked at every corner. Uniformed soldiers stood guard, too. I remember asking Judy “Where are the Andrews Sisters?” Well, the whole thing was surreal.
Not surreal were the photographs of missing people. These were hastily taped to posters with the words”Have You Seen __________?” scribbled up top. At that time, we all believed that survivors would be found in the rubble. Our hopes were dashed in a matter of days.
In closing, I’d like to say that in the months leading up to 9/11, I’d lost a lot of weight on the “Atkins Diet.” The diet permits you to eat bacon and other fatty meats, but no pasta or other carbs. After the terrorist attacks, the thought of dieting seemed silly indeed. Why deprive myself of the things I love when the future is so unpredictable? I stopped at Fairway on Broadway, and filled my cart with several “family-size” boxes of Stouffer’s frozen Macaroni and Cheese. These I consumed while watching CNN over the next few days.
Much has happened in the 15 years since 9/11/01. Silver Fox and I purchased a house in New York’s Hudson River Valley. Silver Fox became a grandfather first to Emerson, then to Piper, then to Cole. I started a blog. And today, on this special anniversary, I ate chocolate cake for breakfast.
xKevin
Anne says
You truly have a way with words… I remember being glued to my tv as well, gasping when the first tower fell and knowing the second would follow but hoping against hope that it wouldn’t. I have chocolate, chocolate chip zucchini muffins in the freezer. I think they will make a nice dessert tonight. Chocolate seems a worthy remembrance for such a tragic day.
Linda says
I like that. Chocolate cake for breakfast. What a celebration of great that is in our life. My celebration of life today is chicken soup and banana cheesecake with a coconut crust.
Love your blog Kevin, came on here today to find out how to freeze zucchini. I’m going to have some zoodles in my homemade chicken soup, and then freeze the rest.
Adriana Fernandez says
Left me speechless, a knot in my throat. I was having breakfast with my partner at the time, my husband now. We were leaving in Argentina, we couldn’t believe what we were watching, we flew to the US to visit friends two weeks after (we have had the tickets for some time), we arrived to a quiet, sad place, lots of hugging and crying. Lest we forget.
Merry Mindy says
Thank you, Kevin. Very touching and appropriate. Love your blog.
Delores says
It’s a day we all look back with very sad thoughts-we should never forget-so many beautiful lives gone, family never to be together again in this world. -I was watching TV and getting ready for work -It was unbelievable
Joni D. says
I was at work (in Minnesota) when this happened … it was horrible. Everyone wanted to do something – but what? I can’t imagine being in New York – it had to be horrific. It also was our oldest grandchild’s 9th Birthday! Not a very nice present – a wake up call to reality! One thing I did notice was that people seemed to get along better and the United States seemed truly “united” . . .
leslie says
At the time, I was working in the World Financial Center, which was adjacent to the World Trade Center. Jury duty in Newark, Nj spared me that day. I saw the towers burning as I approached the courthouse in Newark. It was so obvious something terrible had happened, and yet, people drove by oblivious to the unfolding tragedy.
Mary says
An unbelievable day in our history. I understand wanting to do something to help. We are in NY State but miles away. We wondered the same thing. The country pulled together and we all sat glued to our tv sets just the same way when President Kennedy was assasinated. We were shocked and saddened. Even watching some of the films shown today, 15 years later, we shed a tear. I think chocolate is appropriate to celebrate our lives….life can change on a dime.
Jo says
I remember that I was at a local donut shop before work and an employee said something about an explosion in New York. It wasn’t until I got into work- at a local hospital- that I realized what had happened. I am sad today, planted a few fall flowers… “Never Forget “
september ryan says
i also remember what i was doing as well.. very sad day indeed …. Thanks for sharing.
Joan says
What a touching remembrance. Even after 15 years, the horror of that day still makes me cry. Don’t have any chocolate cake around, but I’ll head out into the garden and gather something for dinner.
Elly says
We we stationed in okinawa Japan.
My husband stationed at Kaden’s AFB.
We watched Good Morning America at 9 pm live. When they broke in with the aftermath of the first attach we were in shock. When they showed the 2nd plane hit the tower I turned to my husband and said “we are being attached”. My husband was deployed 6 months out of the year every year till he retired with 30 years in July 2005.
Cherry says
How fast life can change in an instant! I was on my way to work,sitting in bumper to bumper traffic,outside of Wasington,D.C. The DJs were trying to convey what they didn’t even understand was happening. My dear gentleman friend called on my cell and relayed what he was seeing on tv. He died suddenly 6months later. I some how always associate 9/11 and his tragic death.
Life goes on and I have since married and have a very happy life,but you never forget….
Julie Woos says
Thank you Kevin, what an experience to be in NYC on 9/11, and so well written. In California it was unreal to see what was happening on CNN and not be a close part of the event. When we were told there might be other planes in the air, my mind clicked over what we could possibly do in case the west coast would also be hit. Going outside there was a feeling in the air I could not identify until I realized there was NO, as in Zero air traffic overhead. Silence. Frightening. I put my 5 year old son in a tub full of bubbles and tried to explain why school was closed.
Yes, now’s the time for chocolate cake!
Keila says
On September 11, 2001 I was at work at Farm Bureau Insurance in Boone, NC. We didn’t have the radio on that morning. I remember a client coming in and asking if we had heard yet about what was going on in New York. We immediately turned on the radio and listened to the news. Today, 15 years later, may we all take a moment to remember those who lost their lives that tragic day and say thank you to our heroes.
Mary Jouver says
I will never forget that day! As a born and raised New Yorker who had moved to Washington State, I felt completely devastated and helpless.
My son came running into my bedroom and told me to turn on the TV.
I just cried my eyes out watching what those evil animals were doing to my city, my country! God Bless America!
Oh, I ate a chocolate donut for breakfast!
Barb says
Thank you Kevin. I live in Vancouver, British Columbia so the time difference meant that I was just getting up and ready for work when the first plane hit the tower. By the time I was ready to leave, the second plane had hit, a tower had fallen and the Pentagon building had also been attacked – the magnitude of the horror was becoming clear. It was a very sad and quiet commute to the office with fellow commuters sitting in stunned silence. My office window faced south toward the Vancouver International airport and for what seemed like hours planes were landing every few minutes as the skies were cleared. A very spooky and sobering sight. I remember a day spent trying to work but …really just going through the motions.
On this day of remembrance, my thoughts and prayers are with those lost during the attacks and their families. It is also with the survivors, rescue workers/searchers and clean-up workers many of whom suffered physical and emotional trauma that may never heal. Lives forever changed.
Frangel says
What a shocking experience that was. I was sitting on an airplane in Reno, NV, waiting for my 7:00 am flight to takeoff to my home in Wisconsin. I did not get home until Friday since planes were grounded, airport services were shut down – no water to drink, no food. In retrospect, the inconvenience paled in comparison to the horror across the other side of the country. We recently come upon previous photos of a trip to New York when the Twin Towers still stood proud in the skyline. I took the photos from aboard the ferry on our way to Ellis Island. So grateful that several friends and family had moved to other parts of the country prior to that fateful day.
J Reid says
My husband called me to the tv when I returned from walking the dog, in Maryland near the DC line. We stayed glued to the screen while intermittently trying to contact our sons at work. Our older son was working at the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall near the Capitol building, and his wife was in her office near Dupont Circle. The boys eventually contacted us by email thanks to the redundancy in that system, though all phones were jammed. My son walked up to his wife’s office and they eventually made their way home to Alexandria, where they lived under the smoke from the Pentagon for several days. I have always been especially grateful to the heroes on United 93, since they may have saved my son’s life as well as who knows how many others in downtown DC. if that plane had continued to the Capitol and then missed …
Jane says
My twin grandsons were born that day. Second was born when the second tower fell. I was frozen in disbelief. I thought we were special because of that event only to learn there were several dozen twins born that day. Their birthday will always be remembered but for a terrible event but it will always be special to me.
Kat says
That day will always be in my memory! I was at work but covering another person’s job and in a different building that morning. I received a call saying a plane hit one of the twin towers to go find a tv to watch. From then on more and more people gathered in a community room in the building and we saw the second tower get hit and immediately realized the first plane had been an act of terrorism. Things got harder as an elderly lady came to me and said her grandson worked at the Pentagon. No one in their family had been able to reach him. It turned out he was someone I had know since the day he was born. Our parents were close friends and while I am at least 10 years older than he I saw him often when he was very young. We didn’t find out until the next day that he had taken a long weekend on the spur of the moment and was away and out of cell phone contact. We found out the next day he was safe but his poor grandmother must have suffered horribly till that call came. Then knowing another plane crashed due to the brave passengers who took it down before it could hit another target. All I could think of for months was what so many families were going through. Locally volunteer firefighters, and emts went down, also a very close friend left within the first couple of hours with rescue equipment he sold to try and help. We live in cental NYState so not only did we know some of the people lost in the Twin Towers but so many who went to help. So many of the rescuers died many years later from what they inhaled during those first few days. Our country lost so many people that day and for years after. I still start crying whenever I think about it. I am grateful you wrote about that day because we must never forget how our country came together during that time and how many innocent brave people lost their lives due to the actions of those terrorist. I think eating cake is a comforting thing to do on the anniversary of the terrible events that happened on that day.
Kate says
Thank you for such a beautiful and heartfelt reminiscence. And how lucky you were to be close enough to make even a small difference in the lives of the responders that day. Many of us were too far away, and feeling so very helpless. On 9/11, I arrived at my office, eager to share the joyful news of the birth of my first grandchild the night before. Before I could do so, the world changed utterly. And throughout that terrible day, all I could do was cry and think of that verse from Ecclesiastes: ‘To everything there is a season… a time to be born, and a time to die.’ Cake for breakfast is very wise indeed!
Laura says
I was visiting my sister in Orange County, due to fly home 9/11/01. Her birthday was Monday, 9/10 and we had had an indulgent spa day followed by an indulgent dinner out. Her husband left for work very early Tuesday morning and called us with the horrible news. We also were glued to the TV all morning. What kept running through my mind was “Eat, drink and make merry, for tomorrow we may die”. Well, we had, (the eat/drink/merry part). And at that early hour, not knowing how widespread the attacks may be, we thought it possible that LA could also be a target on that day. It turned out to not be the case. I finally made it home on the 16th.
beth says
Sept 11th 15 years ago was a terrible day. It is also a reminder of the many innocent people living in war torn countries who DAILY endure & experience this Sept 11th level of death, destruction & tragedy. May we all live in peaceful times.
Anne says
It was my daughter’s twelfth birthday. We had been at Yankee Stadium the night before for a Yankees/Red Sox game (as we are a divided household). The game was called for rain four hours after the proposed start. When I look at a picture a friend took of us that night of September 10 at Yankee Stadium, I marvel at how innocent we were. Our world was turned upside down less than twelve hours later. I am still angry at what our children have had to accept as “normal” life since then.
Maraya says
My son and his wife were visiting from out of town and planning to stay for another week. It was their anniversary (!), and we had reservations for a festive dinner, but I had to go to work. I was on my way, with the radio off, when the first plane hit.
Entering the office, I was greeted by a strange silence. Everyone was in the cafeteria watching the events unfold on a small TV. Like Mary, who wrote earlier, I was reminded of the shock wave when President Kennedy was assassinated. I was at work then, too, and, like then, we were all sent home. This time, though, I cried alone in my car, instead of crying with a group of people on the subway.
My son and his wife were devastated. They packed up and left for home.
This morning, like you, I was thinking about enjoying life more. There is much to fear and/or look forward to in the future, but we always have TODAY. Carpe diem!!
Louise says
I teach and heard from a colleague who had a cell phone. I didn’t! When I went to my second period class I could see the towers. Both were burning, and I saw the red fire turn to black. My students and I talked about family, crying for our city, hoping that some people got out of the towers.
If you know NY Public High Schools you know the windows, that you need poles to open and close from the top. That was how I experienced the scene from about a mile away. My school became a Red Cross Shelter where people who lost homes downtown could stay for a few days.
Walking home, with my toddler daughter I’d brought to my school when her preschool had closed, the painful scene was of ash covered people walking north through the NYC streets. We knew life would never be the same. I too, had celebrated the beautiful blue sky September morning as I dropped my daughter off on the way to school.
Bette says
Thank you for sharing your story.
That morning I boarded a plane from Boston to Washington DC. It was a most beautiful day. I was picked up by a business colleague and we went to his office. Everyone was watching the TV and we saw the second plane hit the tower.
Shortly after the plane hit the Pentagon my colleague apologized and said he had to leave as his twins were in a nursery school situated next to the Pentagon.
I went to the office I was planning to visit and watched the TV in shock as we also had an office in one of the Twin Towers. Additionally, we had employees working at the Pentagon. All of our folks in both places were able to escape safely however one of our colleagues was on the Boston plane that hit the first Tower. It was a tragic loss for his family and our company. Another colleague was in one of the Twin Tower elevators about to go up to the 101st floor for a meeting when someone grabbed her and pulled her out and told her to run. She lost all of the members of her team that day. I drove home that night in with another colleague and we listended to the radio the entire drive back. It was so incredible driving through NY as there was almost no cars on the road. The toll takers told us to just pass through and get home safely. It was 2 AM when I reached Boston and called a car service to get home. I was lucky enough to find a company that would pick me up at that hour.
Every year I reach out to my colleague who picked me up at the airport and we reconnect. His children are in college now and we realize how lucky I was that I was not in one of the planes that hit the Towers as it had left Boston bound west.
This is the first time I have written or told anyone this story in such detail. Thank you for letting me share this.
Jody Hibbs says
Thank you for you amazing story. My late husband worked not far from the Pentagon (as the crow flies) and I worked a few miles from Dulles Airport (outside of DC). He felt the ground shake when the plane hit the Pentagon, and I will always remember the eery quiet of no airplanes for days. May we never forget, and maybe someday soon, we can find that sense of unity as a nation once again. God Bless The United States of America.
Beverly, zone 6, eastern PA says
The disaster caught me teaching in my kindergarten classroom, completely oblivious until the principal entered unexpectedly midmorning to inform me of the tragedy unfolding about 100 miles away. I had no access to TV, radio, phones or colleagues. Upon delivering the morning class to their bus at 11:30am, I was informed by the driver that the twin towers had fallen. I did not believe her. I raced back into the building, a considerable hike from the bus platform, and found my thunderstruck colleagues glued to a hastily set up TV in the faculty lunchroom. No one said a word. I saw a replay of plane #2 hitting the tower. I naively thought it was an explosion from within until I saw the second angle of the plane actually flying directly into the building. This was incomprehensible to me.
The afternoon session of kindergarten was not cancelled. No one really knew what was happening and those incoming kids were picked up by the same bus that was taking the morning kids home. I think I ate my lunch, but I am not sure because I was so numb, longing to be home under a pile of quilts feeling safe. When the afternoon class (every child but one whose parents kept him home) was led into the building from their brief arrival recess, the tallest girl in the class led the line. She was always trying to be first at everything and her long legs allowed her to run faster and be the line leader nearly every day. She was a Russian orphan adopted by older parents, a talented but forceful child. When she got close to our classroom door and I appeared to greet the kids, she said, “Mrs. P. – A lot of people died today.” I crumpled into a little pile of broken bits at those words coming out of the mouth of a 5 year old. I took my usual place in the classroom and taught the afternoon lessons as normally as possible because that was what was required. It was my last year of teaching.
Sue Smith says
It’s kind of a need to tell where you were that morning. My husband and I were in a Pocatello, Idaho motel room, on our way home from a Montana vacation. He was in the shower. I turned on the the TV just in time to see Brian Gumbel saying something like…..wonder what that smoke is on this gorgeous blue day. You could see that it was indeed a gorgeous blue day in NY city and you could see a tiny bit of smoke floating horizontally along. By the time my husband was in the room, all hell had broken out. My jaw was almost on the floor, my eyes bugged out. We then went to the breakfast room passing a room where lots of people had congregated around a TV set. That is when we found out about the second tower. The world just stood still.
All the way across Idaho and then the Oregon desert, we prayed for NYC and for those lost. We tried to hear things on the radio, but there wasn’t much. Not until we got all the way home did we see how horrible and devastating it really was. Sad times, indeed.
Willa Nemetz says
I was in California with friends when I heard the news. We turned on the TV immediately and just sat there, stunned. I had worked in the financial district, on John Street, in the 80’s. Every day when I came up from the subway I’d see the twin towers. I have never been back to the site and never will go back. It still hurts too much.
Carolyn Webber says
I was in DC teaching a class only a few blocks from the Pentagon… I was living in Montana and found myself thousands of miles away from home in a world gone utterly mad. I remember feeling the ground shake as the plane made impact. In the insanity of it all I tried to go home but all flights were grounded. Somehow I managed to rent one of the only remaining rental vehicles out of the DC metro area. I drove the thousands of miles home to Montana seeing the American flags people had hung over the interstate overpasses in every state and listening to the radio intently as more information emerged. I was even afraid to rent a hotel room along the way so I found seemingly quiet places to sleep in the minivan. Frankly, I don’t even remember stopping to fill up with gas but I know I must have. When I finally turned onto the street that would take me a few miles to my home, I began to weep. Pulling into my driveway and seeing my husband on our porch I lost all sense of the 2 prior days and my weeping began to be sobs. Other than my fathers death I have never collapsed more fully into the embrace of my husband than on that day 15 years ago. If I had had chocolate cake to eat this morning, I most certainly would have… life is short after all as this date makes us all aware of. I did however, go for a long walk – remembering those who I never met but who’s memory will be etched in my heart for all of my days. I, for one, will never forget-it is marked in my soul. Next year… chocolate cake for breakfast 🙂
Donna says
Yes Barb, we were stunned as well we live in victoria. I think it’s important that we remember that many Canadians lost their lives during that attack as well. Both in the building and responding as medics to the scene. So many people
Julie R says
That was very well put Kevin, thanks for sharing your memories of that day. I was busy at home that morning getting ready to take my youngest daughter to school, and had the tv on in the background. When I heard the news come on, I stopped to listen and could not believe what was happening. I felt so helpless and wished that I could have helped somehow. The rest of that day, and for a long time after, I felt so sad for all of those who had lost loved ones. Many prayers went out to those who lost loved ones and for those who helped. God bless of the firefighters and volunteer helpers who helped out. That day was a real eye opener that life can change in an instant and that we need to enjoy every minute and never take anything for granted.
With that said, I don’t have any chocolate cake here, but I did have a piece of cherry pie for breakfast.
Gay , Dutchess County ,NY says
Kevin, like you I remember the most beautiful September day as I drove to work. As I walked in a colleague called me to the radio as the 1st plane had hit. My first thoughts were not terror but disbelief that a plane could be so off course and then……..#2 hit and the rest is etched in my brain. I was working in a hospital just outside NYC we were in emergency mode…no outside calls. When I got home there were multiple messages from my son wondering where I was. I will always hear the panic in his voice. I will never forget.
Belinda says
Your essay and these comments remind me that I was safe in our old home in Southern California that morning. My husband had car trouble on that day, so his secretary had dropped by to pick him up for work. A Today anchor; Katie Couric I believe, was delivering the news of the first tower plane crash as live footage started to play in the background. I seem to remember she was reporting it as a terrible accident. Then as the footage continued, the other plane came into view in the background. So there we sat, the three of us lining the couch and taking it all in with tears welling while the Today show team was coming to the realization that they were indeed delivering the worst news imaginable. Within a day, the newspaper had printed a full page US flag which seemingly every home in our town now wore taped inside a window. Like you, we were just looking for anything we could do.
Deborah R says
I was at work at a call center 1,500 miles away. An underwriter who was normally the model of warmth and grace said a swear word and hung up the phone, and the next two calls I made wouldn’t go through. By that time, a coworker had heard about the first plane while she was on hold, and, even before we knew it wasn’t just a tragic accident, we were stunned. As the news got worse, I went outside and wished I hadn’t quit smoking. I remember how quiet it was; I didn’t see a single airplane. Outside Waco, there is always air traffic. None of the smokers were outside, either, so obviously they were all in shock too. Before I got off work, my husband had donated blood, and team leaders at work were collecting for Red Cross and organizing different benefits. We all knew instinctively that the world had changed.
Leslie D says
I was watching a morning show when the news broke and immediately switched to the coverage of the first plane crash. I called to my husband that there had been a terrible accident, and then, to my horror I saw the second plane hit and called “It was no accident.” As the news spread, the city seemed to come to a halt – all attention on the continuing horrific events. I was worried about friends who lived only blocks away. They were safe, but we later learned that a young husband and father of two young children, members of our church, had been there on business and had perished. I remembered standing on the observation deck a couple of years earlier and thinking that it must be the safest place in the world. How ironic. We mourn still.
Karen says
On 9-11 I was at work, taking cuttings of petunias for propagation. I was working at a wholesale nursery in the production area. We were listening to N.P.R. It was all terrifying and heartbreaking hearing what was going on. I also felt the irony, here I am in Oregon propagating and planting flowers while it seemed the world was ending.
Chuck says
Kudos for buying the supplies needed. I live in the Mountain Time Zone. We’ve a hot tub on the outdoor patio. Rural dwellers, I ve always enjoys sitting in the hot tub at night, watching planes fly over our valley, trying to guess where they were going, where they came from.
Flights stopped. Several days…..no flights. No contrails crisis-crossing our Colorado blue skies….. I wondered if life would resume as normal.
It has, but not as what was once normal. I no longer take contrails for granted.
I hear an approaching plane overhead now. I welcome it.
Just Joan says
Thanks for sharing. Your story is better scripted than any reality tv. And I thought I was the only one eating chocolate cake for breakfast. It just screams celebrate every time. XOXO
Kay says
I was on my way to work when I heard the report of the first plane, then at work, the 2nd and then the Pentagon & the field in Pennsylvania. I was the only one with a radio on and would go to the outer office to tell the others. They finally told me to stop coming out there as every time I did, it was more bad news. My teenaged children were home (we homeschooled) & I called them to reassure them and asked them to not watch the news until either I or Dad got home to be with them. (Let them be “innocent” for a while longer.) Our office was along the flight path for the local airport and we watched plane and after plane landing as all flights were pulled from the skies. We are close to Offutt AFB and heard President Bush was heading there. We wondered if we were safe, here in middle America. Later that day I watch the news and cried for all those who lost their lives. In the following days, we gave monetarily at donation sites; offered to give blood and Prayed. Today we continue to pray for those families and give thanks for the courage and bravery of the first responders and the passengers and crew of the flight that crashed in PA.
Sara says
I was in the grocery store parking lot, stocking up for the road trip we were about to take to take our only child more than halfway across the country to Oregon, to start her freshman year at college. It gave me chills to realize that terrorists had struck the U.S. inside our borders and to wonder where else and when they planned to attack. As we drove mile after mile after mile, the knowledge of what was happening in the aftermath, in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania cast a sickening feeling over us, even so far away from the horrific tragedy that was so much more personal to the thousands affected directly. Our life returned to “normal” pretty much after the first month, but my heart aches for those whose lives were so needlessly and wrongfully changed.
Kathy B says
I was on an idyllic island in the Pacific NW off the coast from Seattle. I was leading a retreat when my husband called (7:00 a.m. Pacific time) and I simply couldn’t believe that anything so horrible could be happening when I was in this peaceful paradise!! When we sailed back into Seattle, we all held our breaths till we could see the (iconic) Space Needle which somehow made us feel safer.
Kevin, I said Hi to you on Tuesday last week as we drove by the Hudson exit from the NY Thruway. Couldn’t understand why you didn’t respond. 🙂
Chris says
I remember being at work in a suburban Long Island campus student health office when the plant facilities manager called me on the emergency radio and told me to turn on 880 news. (,New York City radio). The first tower had been hit, and the radio commentators were theorizing what happened. Then the second plane hit, and I said to my coworker ” this is no accident, this is terrorism”. Within an hour or so, all the students on campus had heard as they had set up a few TV monitors in the library. The surrounding communities were closing down the schools; many older students were parents and were leaving; everyone else was so upset, including faculty, that by around noon the college president shut down the college. I , along with the Security officers, had to stay, in the event that there was a campus emergency, especially because we had a huge building on campus and it was conjectured that it could become another target. By 3 o’clock, I was told I could leave. Driving home on that beautiful 80 degree and sunshine day, there were no other cars on the parkway. In my neighborhood, there were no other cars, no school buses dropping off kids. There were no kids playing basketball, or even dogs barking. Silence; Only birds. Weird. I drove past numerous houses, car parked in the driveway, living room draperies open to show a darkened living room, with a big screen TV, showing the towers fall, over and over again. I myself, who had not had access to a TV all day, went into my house, and sat with my husband in silence for hours, watching the towers fall , over and over again, tears going down my face. That night , we could hear the roar of the fighter jets overhead, flying up and down the East Coast. I had not heard the sound of fighter jets like that for over 35 years, when i grew up near an Air Force base, but I knew what they were and I knew that they were OURS. I was numb when I went to work the next day.
lise says
i have just read all the letters, they are so sad. I am a Canadian,that day my spouse now, called me from her home in the U.S. and told me about that dreadful day, that 1 of twin towers had been hit, and then as she spoke with me , she found out that a 2nd one had been hit, we both couldn’t believe it..!!! just couldn’t … so my u.s. friends this has changed our way of how we go through customs, etc. and I’m happy that it has! We must protect ourselves. This event has never been so devastating as anything else i can think of, except for the Assassination of President Kennedy. I am truly sorry this had ever happened.! thank you for sharing everyone!!!
PaulaK says
Kevin, thank you for writing this, your writing opened up experiences we could not have shared otherwise. Reading so many stories brings us together again. I was at my daughter’s high school meeting with the principal over repairs needed to the hot dog stand for football season. Twice the secretary ran in and turned on the TV and twice the principal watched for a few seconds and shut it off. We (another marching band mom was there too) got up and said we had to go…we didn’t realize what was happening. In the outer office the TV was on and we watched in horror. When i got home, my husband met me in the driveway….just standing there. I said “What is it?’ And he said ” There’s one more”– Meaning the missing plane in Pennsylvania, our state. He was standing guard in the driveway—i will never forget that.
Kay says
I was in my little house in the middle of the forest in Idaho when my husband called me from town 100 miles away and said that,”the World Trade Center had just been hit by an airliner.” I turned on TV in time to see the second airliner hit the buildings. I have never felt so helpless in my life. The rest of the day was spent living with what the New Yorkers were having to go through. I will never forget it, I will never forgive it, I will never get over it.
Debbie King says
My son and I were heading into Boston for my doctor appointment. It was very eerie when we appeared to be the only one southbound and there were three lanes completely full of bumper-to-bumper traffic swiftly pouring out of the city in the northbound lanes! We hopped off the highway and stopped at a Barnes & Noble to collect some information. A woman with a cell phone was talking with someone in NYC and the woman was kind enough to repeat what she was hearing. The second jet had hit, she said……. If I live to be 80 and someone asks me what major world event stands out in my life, it will be the 9-11 tragedy, and also the assassination of JFK which happened on a school day when I was 14…..For a reference point, my 80 year old dad said that his event was learning of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Someone with the reputation for being the class clown at Dad’s job site broke the news and no one believed him. My mom’s event? The first successful flight across the Atlantic! Thanks for providing this forum, Kevin. X
ElPico says
I was living in Honolulu on September 11, 2001, and my two daughters had moved to Brooklyn a few years earlier. I was the first student into the classroom where I was enrolled in a medical-related program. The program director had a television on. It was hard to comprehend the chaos I was seeing, but the growing sense of terror coalesced into my first organized thought. I had to find out if the girls were okay. I could only contact the one who worked in Queens, and she told me her sister, who worked a few blocks from the towers, had called her to say she was all right. She was sick for a week afterward from the smoke and dust, unable to eat and having difficulty breathing, and has since had cancer.
But we are the lucky ones. Tonight we are eating real NY pizza from our neighborhood place in Brooklyn, and I am sure we can find some chocolate around here somewhere.
Pat says
Beautifully written blog Kevin. I believe no one will ever forget that day. I sat in my downtown Albany office frantically trying to reach my daughter who worked in 3 World Fi and spent much time in the north tower. Our future son-in-law chose to attend a meeting in Philly instead of the breakfast meeting at Windows on the World. I waited to hear if the architect who was supposed to be in our temporary office at the Pentagon had actually arrived there. When all flights were grounded I wondered where our architect out of our NYC office who was headed to a project in South Carolina ended up. I am one of the lucky ones. After several agonizing hours I learned colleagues and my loved ones were safe. Sadly not so for my contact at Cantor Fitzgerald. I listen each year to hear his name read. No, I don’t think we’ll ever forget that day. BTW my daughter and son in law lived on West 7th and Amsterdam. Visited many time.
Your flower arrangementioned is beautiful as is your home.
melody rae says
It was a horrible day for us all, wherever we were that day. However….no one can imagine the horror of what it must have been like for those of you in NYC. and adjacent areas.
May this be our once in a lifetime horror.
Pat says
That’s West 78 th and Amsterdam…..
Liz says
I was teaching a second class that year. In Canton, Ohio. They had just gone to gym class so I was grading papers. Our librarian came into my room and told me to turn the classroom TV on. We watched stunned as the first tower was burning then we saw the second plane fly into the second tower. I turned to her and said, “This is war.” We both started crying. All of those people who died or who were dying right in front of our eyes and we could do nothing to help them.
I had to go get the children from gym and I knew that they would be the ones who would be going to war and how their lives would be changed forever. They knew that I had been crying so my next dilemma was should I tell them. This was a tragic event in history in their lifetime. I sat them down and talked to them about the attack. I turned the TV back on briefly so they could see the events. I then turned it off. I later found out that the brave souls on an another plane had crashed in a Pennslyvania field. That plane had made the turn almost over top of Canton heading back to Washington DC.
I will never forget that moment in time. chocolate cake sounds good!
Linda says
Thanks Kevin for inspiring the sharing of stories about Sept. 11 tragedy…I was touched by all the accounts and reminded of all the kindness in the world and the myriad of reasons for gratitude and celebration of the present moment…especially with chocolate cake.
Susy b says
Somehow, it seemed very raw to me today. I never eat breakfast per say. Last night i made cinnabons. Ate 3 then ate 3 agaain this a.m. Somehow, things seemed different to me today, as i feel things such as this,,, could very easily happen again. I really dont know where this country is headed, but we do need a healing again. I will never ever forget that day. My son literally ran over to my home, as he know how emotional i am, and spent good part of the day with me. We had a candlelight vigil where i worked at ( moose club) that night. I remember calling my Daddy and telling him how much i loved him. That day the sky was so eerie with no planes. I sat outside for awhile just looking into the sky. At one point id looked up, and i saw one plane in the sky. Flying low enough that you could actually see it. There was only authorization for one plane to fly that day…..that plane was Air Force One
Geri Gerry says
Good evening, Kevin and to all of your readers. Remembering 9-11 is still a nightmare to me. That whole month and the week of the attack was a nightmare. My siblings and I were struggling with the unofficial diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease in our little spit-fire, 5’2″, German-decedent mother. Two days prior to the attacks on the WTC my son’s high-school sweetheart lost her ten-year old little brother in a hunting accident. Then the attacks occurred and it felt like the earth stopped moving. I think most of our country thought the earth stopped moving that day.
I was working a job that in and of itself was hell. The managers were telling us to keep working, and to quit listening to the news on our radios. And they were trying to keep me from being on my cell phone with my sister and our mother. Mom had been watching the news of the towers but in her mind is was Pearl Harbor.
My church was holding a special prayer service later in the afternoon for the those who were affected by the attacks. A member of our congregation had lost her brother in the United Airlines Flight 23 plane that went down in Pennsylvania. He was one of the heroes who foiled the attack on the White House. To this day I still say and pray, “Oh my God!!”
Sherry k says
This day would have been my 51st wedding anniversary for me & my dear late husband. He died of cancer in 2013. Each year since 2001, we celebrated our anniversary very soberly, remembering that horrid day on September 11. I am a nurse & my husband was a deputy sheriff. We were used to emergencies and tragedy, but that day caught us and our country in shock. Now, as a widow myself, I truly feel the pain and numbness that so many have experienced from that day. And for the first time in my long medical career, I have nothing but prayers for our countrymen!
Olive Goold says
I remember 9/11 well here in UK, my Mother-in-law had broken her hip so after work (mornings) I took her evening meal, walking in and her watching the news and saying a plane had hit the Twin Towers and I said to her, watching, ‘No that’s another plane, there’s one Tower already on fire’ and the rush to get home to e-mail my husband’s cousin who is married to an American and both she and her husband work in that area, luckily her Nanny was late arriving that day otherwise she would have been walking past the first Tower when the plane hit it, so pleased when she finally e-mailed me to say they were all OK, distance makes no difference to feelings.
Judy Holman says
Thanks for sharing Kevin xx
Jan says
I was working at the University of Maryland at the time, ten miles as the crow flies from the Pentagon, hearing that there was another plane in the air, wondering if I should evacuate the office. Trying to get information online, finally making a connection to an Australian news feed. Sitting in a meeting that suddenly was unimportant in respect to what had happened. At home, hearing a plane in the sky, knowing all commercial air craft were down, wondering was it Air Force One. Glued to the tv until my husband finally said, “I can’t watch any more.” Knowing life had just changed for all of us.
Donna J. says
I was learning my new bookkeeping job for our small town grocery store. The next day was my sons 16th Birthday. My husband and I left our respective jobs early to come home and make sure that my parents were okay (they lived next door to us, now my mom lives with us, my dad is in the Soldiers Home with dementia, he is 91, she is 90, just celebrated 72 years of marriage in June.) I remember driving to the grocery store the day after, and people standing in the street collecting money to send to NY. In my heart and mind feeling so good, but sad at the same time that it took a tragedy to bring people together and care about one another again. It lasted a few weeks, and now this world is as nasty as ever and falling apart and it makes me so sad.
Linda western Pa says
Kevin , I think it takes some time to heal before posting and talking about an event like this. I did a similar post on my Facebook page yesterday as I am Merchant Marine who was employed on a civilian manned military ship in Newport News, Va. The Merchant Marines in the NYC area employed every vessel possible including tug boats, ferries and work boats to help evacuate NYC.
Then 9/11/2008 my tanker drove 100 miles from the eye of Hurricane and i was tossed like a rag doll sustaining injuries that would take 2 years to rehab. That same day my friends left on a epic trip around the world.
9/11/2010 I went back to work as a merchant marine officer against all odds.
Yesterday I reminisced as to the significance of a date as it repeats itself as to reminders good and bad.
I have another date of which my brother was murdered/ burned. It may take me 15 years before I am ready to post and talk about it.
We keep ourselves from things to let us heal enough to allow the memories and feelings to be felt with out harm to ourselves.
Thank you for sharing and I am so glad you and Silver Fox have been able to move on.
Sue Rewerts says
I stayed home from work on 9/11 to stain our deck. I had just delivered my kids to school when the first plane hit. I didn’t know about the second plane until later when, out on my deck, my sister called me. She told me to get inside, close the doors, and stay inside. I just remember the panic in her voice as she explained what was happening and the horror I witnessed when I turned on the tv. And overhead, not a single plane flew. I’ll never forget that day. Nor will I forget the people in those buildings.
Sheri says
Chocolate cake for breakfast….for some reason that made me cry…..and smile.
Louise McGrattan says
September 11th always makes me think about how small our world really is. I was at work, (in a Canadian School) when a very anxious parent called to say a plane had flown through one of the Twin Towers. Shortly after hanging up I received another call from a young woman who was crying and just needed to talk to her Mom. I asked if she wanted to hang up and I would have Mom call her back and she said, “No, my Mom probably won’t be able to get through to me, I am in New York City and I am scared.” I took the teacher’s class and let her have my office. It was a lesson for all of us to be thankful for each day and each other.
Sally Seidel says
As I wipe the tears from my eyes…Thank you for your story, Kevin.
Nancy J says
Thank you for sharing and for putting in to words what so many of us felt as well. I was at work in a hospital outpatient unit and it had to be business as usual for our patients sake. We took turns slipping out to the lobby to watch the events unfold on the only TV available to us. We do remain connected to those we were with when we heard the news that changed things forever.
Cheryl says
I was getting ready for work at the hospital when the first plane hit. I told my youngest Children, a senior and Junior in High School to stay home even though we lived in rural Montana. I regret that now as they should have been with their peers working through what happened. At the hospital we watched the second plane hit the other tower and spent the day together talking through the horror. Two days later at work we received a man who was so stunned by the tragedy he just drove until he got to Canada and had a mental breakdown and they brought him to us to care for. He had known people who had died in the tower. It was a turning point in the history of our country and our countrymen. Such a sad time.
Kris Fox says
I remember this day well. After watching the terror unfold on TV, I turned my attention to the day’s Boston Globe. On the first page was a story of forgiveness–a father’s struggle to come to terms with and forgive the man who had murdered his daughter. On that beautiful , crisp Tuesday morning, I will never forget reading this story and pondering its juxtaposition with the horror that had just unfolded.
Jan in CA says
September 11th is my birthday and this was my 49th. We live in CA so I was listening to the radio trying to wake up when they started talking about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. I got up and turned on the television and saw the 2nd plane hit and then the buildings fall down. I had to get my sons ready for school and was trying to explain what had happened without really knowing. It was shocking and terrifying. They grounded all planes from flying in our area and it was very quiet and strange outside. We visited New York to go to the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, and the World Trade Center area was still smoking, even in November! The signs asking if anyone had seen their loved ones with pictures of them were still on the fences. It was so devastating to see, but we wanted to support New York City and the wonderful firefighters and police officers.
Addie in Florida says
I was living in England at the time. One of my husband’s work colleagues rang him and said “turn on your TV NOW”. We did and saw the second tower being demolished – I just burst into tears, not wanting to believe that could happen, and that some people’s thinking could be that twisted. All these years later I still feel angry, even though I know it’s very “spiritually incorrect”. On reading the responses to your blog (always wonderful, by the way), I have hope that something good came out of that awful day.
Janet Metzger says
I was teaching at Palm Beach Atlantic University. I had just finished a lecture in Nonverbal communication about the structure of boundaries using architecture from the ME and USA as examples. I went down the stairs to the first floor for a break between classes. A TV was on at the foot of the stairs. I saw the 2nd plane crash. I thought this MUST be a movie all the while knowing that this was for real. The rest of classes that day were spent first with debriefing, second with whatever we could do with the material. So many students had family in NYC. We were stunned beyond belief. After one year the lectures had to change to take into account this new world. Kevin, thank you for remembering.
Sue says
I live in Brisbane, Australia, and it was around 11pm our time. Got out of bed to watch the extraordinary news report and saw the second plane hit the tower, it was like watching a movie, so unreal. The next morning I caught the bus to work in the city, no one had their head in a book or listening to music as was usually the case. We all turned and spoke with the other strangers on the bus. The sense of sadness over the loss of so many lives was palpable half way around the globe. There was an outpouring of support in Australia but we also felt helpless that there was not much we could do to help. Kevin, thank you for sharing your experience – I think chocolate cake is an excellent idea.
Anne says
I was teaching in a Middle School when we heard what was happening. We did not have the kids watch it all day long as some schools did, my children’s school middle school being one that did. By the time I got home from work, they were there and in an emotional turmoil. We huddled as a family and tried to make sense of things. Ironically, 15 years later, my son reported to duty to Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island to embark on a career in the United States Navy on 9/11/16. Two weeks prior to reporting, he spent a long weekend in NYC taking in Ellis Island where his great grandparents entered this country from Greece for the first time as well as a visit to the National Memorial … of course a couple of Broadway shows too! I often wonder how the events of that fateful day impacted his decision to serve his country.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Judy Pennington says
I was at the Dr.’s office I worked at then and the tv was on in the waiting room. When we heard the commotion in there, we went in just in time to see the second plane crash into the other tower. We were in shock; no one could believe what was going on. People wanted to know if we were at war now. It was like something out of a movie. I’ll never forget that day.
cecile says
In the Netherlands it was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon when my neighbour told me that a plane had hit a skyscraper in New York. I turned on the tv at CNN and watched a thick plume of smoke come from a tower I recognized as being part of the world trade center. While watching I saw the second plane hit the other tower and I understood it was not an accident but an attack.
My first thought was: Who is doing this? It must be the CIA with the Israeli’s or with the Saudi’s.
I watched the panick stricken people looking with disbelief, going to the towers at first. Running away from it later, when the towers started to come down. I saw the horrible images of people jumping to their deads to go away from the fires.
But the most shocked I was when I saw how those buildings came down. controlled demolition was the only way it could be described. So it must have been largely an inside job.
That a government or a part of a government could do such a thing to its own people shocked me deeply. Even being it the USA that is known worldwide for cruel interventions in other countries.
I prayed for all those who died that day, but I also prayed for the other American people. It must be terrible to be manipulated to feel fear for terrorists attacks not knowing your own government did this. And over the years I kept praying because by now even the majority of the Americains must know they were tricked and manipulated to allow their democracy being stolen from them.
Robin E. says
I was home in rural southern Indiana that day when my sister called and told me to turn on the TV NOW. I was on the phone with her as we watched the 2nd plane hit. I heard myself say, “…but this is an act of war. Who declared war on us?…’ The confusion and the horror were awful. Watching the whole thing on TV was surreal – as if it were a movie instead of real lives. But it was so real. I watched the towers fall, sobbing, hugging my very young children. Hour after hour we watched the stories on TV, stories of real people, real loss, real horror and real heroism. We cried and prayed and listened to the very silent skies. For weeks afterward, every conversation with every other person eventually touched on that day, whether we were in the grocery store, job, school, with strangers at the gas station. A defining moment for us as a nation.
Joan Rottkamp says
Dear Cecile from the Netherlands,
To say that our own government caused 9/11 is an insult to all Americans.For your information, a total of 19 terrorist hijacked four planes on 9/11. All of the men were from nations in the Middle East.They belonged to a terrorist group called Al Qaeda,led by Osama bin Laden.Al Qaeda practices an extreme version of the religion of Islam.
I am proud of my country and the way we came together to help one another that day,many at the cost of their lives.America is a land of freedoms…we even let you express yout uninformed opinions!
cecile says
Hi Joan Rottkamp,
Because my view differs from yours does not mean my opinions are uninformed. A lot of years have passed and I did have lots of time to study this case. For starters you can have a look at this you tube movie ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jYMsB-ehok) but since then many facts are added to the list with questions and to the list of answers.
If you think that me thinking the government ( more esp the CIA) is involved is an insult to all americans , you are proved wrong by different polls in the USA. Last poll I saw showed over 40 % of your fellow-americans are thinking the same. Did you know that Osama Bin Laden is part of the royal family of Saud? Dir you know that when all planes were ordered to stay on the ground only planes with members of the family Saud on board were allowed to leave? Did you know that The FBI was forbidden to make a note of the names of those people in those planes? And maybe now you know that Al Qaeda people were trained by the CIA to oppose Russia in Afghanistan and that a former agent of the CIA has written a book about being stopped to arrest Osama Bin Laden?
No it is not I who has uninformed opinions. Maybe my opinions are not the truth, but they are based on undinieable facts. And I still pray daily for all americans that their country may stay the land of freedoms and not the land of mis-information. Blessed be.
Linda says
I was on my way to work in Philadelphia, listening (I didn’t usually) to Howard Stern on the radio. They started talking about a small plane hitting the WTC. That was right about the time I got to work, and by the time I was changed into scrubs word had spread about all that was going on. There were nonstop rumors that day that perhaps Philly was a target as well. The phone lines, both cell and landlines, were completely jammed. I felt totally helpless because I had no way to reach my children (in school) or family. I work in a city hospital operating room, and they started asking for volunteers to stay in case the injured were airlifted from NYC. It’s so sad to think we truly anticipated there would be survivors. I made it home and was glued to CNN 24/7. It was an unhealthy obsession. It was also freakish because my town is in a flightpath for Phila Int’l Airport, and we’re used to the background sounds of planes. First, there were no air traffic noises at all, total silence. Then the patrolling jets could be heard but not seen in those clear skies. The entire week was unsettling, and I hope it’s the worst thing I ever live through. It is even difficult to write about it all here.
I’m also with Cecile (above), and cannot accept the story of 9/11 as told by the US government for a variety of reasons. There has still been no good explanation of the Building 7 collapse, and to be honest I was flabbergasted when the afternoon of 9/11 it was announced Mohammed Atta’s passport had been found blocks from the WTC. I have only learned more over the years that increased my doubts.
Myrtle Miller says
I was sitting down watching T.V. waiting for transportation to pick us up. We had an appointment in New Orleans because Danny was receiving chemo. What I learned was that Americans are not only very courageous but are also extremely resilient.
Dorinda Uhl says
Thank you for your words Kevin. 15 years,18 years,20 years,100 years,all do or will feel like that day to me I am sure. My mind still reals and fumbles with wonder and numbness. It was a most beautiful day you were right and all seemed right with the world for those few early hours on that
clear blue sunny morning as all went about their business. The silence that followed here was deafening and horrific. I experienced for my first time that I can ever remember a sense of such fear and vulnerability that day and for weeks following, it was a true education of what others go through in parts of this world. Peace.