1) I was working in Greensboro, the receptionist told us to come and look at the TV that a plane had just hit the WTC. All of the sudden, the second plane hit and people I worked with started going to pick up their kids at school. Denny and I had just gotten back from a Carribean cruise on the 9th. I was thinking what would have happened if we had been on the cruise ship when it all took place. That night I went to meet a soon to be new roommate for dinner and the tv's were all on in the restaurant and everyone was very somber.

I am thinking about all of the families that lost their loved ones.

2) I was working for a small ad agency in Springfield. I heard word of this just after the second plane hit. I think that once the first plane hit, it wasn't obvious that this was anything larger. But once the second one hit, someone gave us a call or something and we headed up to our tiny, cramped, hot attic to turn on the only TV we had. We sat up there and watched in horror as we learned about the other planes.

At one point, they said that there were still some planes unaccounted for. I remember that time being particularly scary, 'cause it seemed like other attacks were imminent. Then at some point the towers fell, and that was just plain surreal.

I've never felt so 'American' as I did in the weeks that followed. I created a poster of signs that local companies had put up in support of America, and I had 1000 of them printed. I donated the profits to Red Cross. I really wanted to get in my car and drive to New York. My friend Jennifer was down with that, but we bailed at the last minute.

Anyway, that was a crazy time for sure. Good blog.

3) I was working for a software company and had to fly to Philly out of Ohare the night before. I think it was like a 10pm flight and I almost missed it.

We had a training session going on and they brought in a TV so we could watch after the first plane hit. Fortunately, I was able to hitch a ride back to Cleveland with someone else in the class and was able to secure my own rental car there.

4) I was working in Garner,N.C. for Water Plant Equipment Distributor. When I found out about WTC,I became very sad. I realised that I was in a group of Americans that had seen two symbols of America's might destroyed twice in my life time. I had lived in Hawaii for a year in my years and I remember going to Pearl Harbor and the other items destroyed by the Japanese on 12/07/1941.

5) I was sound asleep. My husband of 3 weeks was getting ready for work and heard the news of the first plane on the radio...at that point they thought it was a small plane (like a Cessna), that it was a mistake. He ran into the room and asked me where the remote for the TV was and I yelled at him because I didn't have to get up for another hour. He told me what had happened and we turned on GMA. He went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready and I saw the 2nd plane hit live on TV.

He didn't know what to do so he went to work. We talked during his commute and were on the phone when the first tower fell. I told him and he thought I was mistaken, but then someone else on the el announced it to the commuters in his car. He got to work, only to be sent back home...and I sat in our front window, staring at the Sears Tower, wondering if that would be a target as well.

I wasn't working at the time and spent the next 4 days glued to the TV. I finally made myself leave our apartment, it just wasn't healthy. I bought some red, white and blue ribbons and tied them on every light post and tree trunk on our block. I also spent a lot of time tracking down my friends who lived in New York City, making sure they were ok--they all were. My brother and Dad lost several friends that day.

Amazing that it was 7 years ago. In so many ways it feels like it just happened.

6) I was working at my folks house in Asheville. They called us in after the first plane hit and we watched the towers fall as it happened. I was in a fog for days, at least, and I agree with Dave that I have never felt more patriotic in my life. I too, was ready to go to NYC, but had no skills to help or means to get there. I stayed glued to the tv and radio and mentally prepared for an all out war. I'm a worst case scenario kind of guy.
The image of people jumping out of the towers is so horrifying that it will likely stay with me for the rest of my life.

7) I was working for the Asheville Arts Council. The Director came in and told me that one of the WTC towers was hit by a plane. We rounded everyone up and went next door to the Habitat for Humanity Home Store and started turning on all the television sets trying to get a picture. I remember thinking it was an accident and then saw the second plane hit. It was quiet in the store and everyone was huddled around these old tele sets. I remember feeling nervous and sad. Then, both towers fell. As news came in of the Pentagon and Flight 93, everyone begin to panic even more. I started thinking about my brother working in downtown Charlotte at the time. It was horrific. God Bless all the victims, families, and those that helped in the recovery efforts.

8) My story is very similar to Jules. I got woken up by a phone call telling me to turn on the TV. That's when I saw the second plane hit. I think I realized when everyone else did what was going on. I went into work like I was supposed to about 10 am. No one could think or talk about anyone else. Not a lot of customers that day. I'm glad I didn't have kids at that time. Not sure if I would have insisted on picking my kid up from daycare or what.

9) I was a senior in high school (in PA). As the first plane hit we were outside having our class picture taken. It took a while and all of us were complaining about how our knees hurt from kneeling and we wanted to go back in. (Later I felt so selfish about complaining about such trivial things.)

After the photo was over we went back into the school. By this time is my my newspaper/journalism period (class) and teachers were buzzing about the plane that had hit. So my teacher, Mrs. Pletcher, turned on the TV - about 10 minutes later the 2nd plane hit. It was awful. Then news broke about the plane that crashed in Sommerset, PA - where Miss Pletcher's family lives and she grew up. Turns out, pieces of the crash made it into her family's land. At that point it hit a lot closer to home. (Not that we weren't all in a daze already.)

My sister was at school in NY at the time - luckily she went to school on Long Island and wasn't in the city that day. And calling someone was futile because all of the phone lines were tied up -- all day.

All I can remember from that day is the shock and horror of watching those people jump out of the buildings. To think that's the better of the two options. (Each teacher left the TVs on pretty much all day, so we saw everything happen.)

At the time I was dating a guy in the military, so I started thinking about that too - about all the men and women we're going to lose fighting this new war that would happen. Everyone was so somber - like in a trance as we shuffled from class to class.

Today when I passed Walter Reed on my way to work, there was a very long line to get in. I never would have imagined back then that this "war" would still be going on today.

It's also obvious that many people in the District took off or were given the day off from work. For remembrance. I remember those stickers everyone had that said "never forget" when this all first happened - but I think we never needed a reminder: We'll never forget.

10) I was at work in MN. I remember someone saying there had been an accident in NYC and a plane had hit the WTC. When the second plane hit, we knew it was not an accident. The TV stayed on in the kitchen area all day and everyone would drift in and out watching the news as work allowed. I remember feeling numb and disoriented and like Dave and some others said, scared. We were a potential city like Chicago and certainly felt threatened.

I remember all planes being grounded and sitting outside and noticing the planes being eerily absent. You don't realize you notice them until they aren't there. I remember being glued to the TV too until I would have to turn it off in exhaustion and anguish over it all. I remember my friends (and neighbors thankfully) and I would keep gathering and being together to feel some sense of order and normalcy and closeness.

I think I tended to feel more alone and needing company than I normally feel. It was very surreal and hard to accept even with the graphic images before us.

11) I woke to my clock radio on NPR reporting the first plane hitting. My roommates and I spent the morning watching the coverage as the second plane hit and the buildings fell.
Everyone on campus was very somber as I walked to work (Montana State University library). When I arrived there were several frantic people using the public computers to get any sort of information about the flights...they had family scheduled to fly that morning.
What a sad day.

12) I was teaching high school at the time. I had heard about the first plane before I left for school, then the second plane hit while I was driving to school so when I got there I had to tell people about what was going on since news hadn't reached there yet. I'll never forget the looks on their faces as I told them.

I kept the television in my classroom on all day. First period I was telling the class about their homework when I looked around and realized that not one person was looking at me. All eyes were on the television as the second tower collapsed. That's the last time that day that I worried about school work.

I echo what Dave said. It was very scary that day to know there might be more planes up there which weren't accounted for. We didn't know what was going on. The idea that our country could be invaded in such a way was unbelievable. I still get nervous when a plane goes overhead. No, we will never forget. My heart goes out today to all the victims.

And after all the blame games and endless commentaries that we listened to for years afterward, I really liked how Colin Powell explained it: "We never had a sense of how determined they were to strike us in this way."

13) Teaching first grade in Houston. I didn't know anything had happened until I happened to walk through the library after dropping my kids off at PE. I had no tv in the room, and I couldn't turn on the radio. I didn't want to scare the kids. So, I was glued to cnn.com. Almost all the parents came to get their kids right away. There were only a couple left in the room. They wanted to know what was happening, and there was absolutely nothing I could tell them.

I had a friend teaching at the local high school who came from Puerto Rico. She was terrified, simply because she was so far away from her family. She slept on my futon with me for an entire week and wouldn't let me turn on the television at all.

It was probably for the best, I saw almost no media coverage of it until much, much later.

14) I was in our bedroom upstairs, 7 mo. pregnant with baby #2. I never ever turned the tv on in the morning but felt the need to . Paul was in the bathrrom getting ready. Just as I turned on the TV, the first plane was getting coverage and then I watched live as the 2nd plane hit. The news anchors were shocked and kept saying oh my god, did you see that? I could't believe what I was seeing. Sept. 11th affected me a lot. I just remember crying so much the next couple of weeks thinking about all the terrified people that died. I'll never forget. RIP!

15) I was at work. One of my coworkers was walking down the hall saying his wife just called and said a plane crashed into the WTC. Of course we thought it was some little Cessna or something that was out of control and got toasted when it hit the building. We had a small TV in the office that we were glued to for the rest of the day. At some point that morning, we got a frantic call from another former coworker who couldn't get in touch with his son who worked in the North tower (heard from him later that he was fine--relatively). I personally know one other person who was in the 2nd tower who survived--he verifies that security told people to stay put; fortunately many people didn't listen and got out-- but I have a few friends and acquaintances who lost relatives.

The other odd thing is that my husband and I were in downtown Manhattan two days before. It was a beautiful afternoon and we thought about going up in the towers. We decided it could wait for another time.

16) I agree, Matt. The people jumping out of the buildings was horrifying.

17) I was two weeks into my freshman year at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. I woke up and my freshman roommate entered the room and told me that the WTC had "blown up". I shrugged it off, thinking that that couldn't be right. I went downstairs to go to my Calculus class, and I noticed that there were several people in the multi-purpose room, and that the television was on. This was after the first tower had collapsed but before the second. I remember everyone staring agape at the TV, unsure of how to react. The room became more and more full until it was almost packed.

Since the school was in NY, several of my classmates were from the city, and several were directly affected by the events. I myself was in the city just a week earlier.

18) I have no idea what I was doing on Sept. 10. But Sept. 11 is as clear as yesterday. I was in my first month of grad school at ISU. That morning I was getting ready for my Statistics class at 9:30. I heard about the first plane going into the WTC over my shower radio. Like most people, I thought it was a small plane that had gone off-track. I was getting dressed, listening to the Today Show, when the second plane hit. Then the Pentagon. At that point, I was afraid to look outside, thinking that the sky would be falling. I got in my car and went to my Stats class with Dr. Leonard. Looking back, I don't know why I went to class. The professor acknowledged that our country was under attack, and then we did some chi-square tests. After class, I heard from another professor about PA and the collapse of the towers.

At some point later in the day I talked with my Mom on the phone. She said that her, my Dad, and Dave were together watching the news and asked if I wanted to come down. I've always regretted not going. I'm not sure why I didn't make the hour drive. I lived alone at that time and stayed in my apartment the rest of the day. I wish I would have been with my family.

19) I was in the same situation as most people... got up and heard on the news about the first plane, then watched live as the second plane hit. I was went in to work at Pease's and my co-worker and I sat near the back listening to a little radio all day. It was crazy surreal whenever a customer would walk in seemingly unaware. I just wanted to shake them and say "What are you doing here?? Don't you know? Go home and be with your family! No one needs chocolate that bad!"

I didn't know anyone personally who was in the buildings or really even anyone in New York at the time, but I do remember that I called Jim in England (not even my fiance yet) just to hear his voice. And my dad (who lives in Iowa) called. He never calls, we rarely speak, but he wanted me to know that he was thinking about me and to say he loves me.

I remember wanting to say "I love you", with more purpose like that.

20) I was at the intersection of North Avenue and Route 83 on my way to work at the Elmhurst Park District. We had our volunteer recognition event the night before, so I planned on getting to work just a bit late.

I always listen to The Score 670AM on my way to work. My show, Boers and Bernstein, used to be on from 8 a.m. until noon. While I was listening, they mentioned that a plane hit the WTC, but assumed it was a small plane. Pilot error or something insignificant. A few minutes later they mentioned that CBS was assuming control of the station, and that something much larger was happening.

When I reached the office, I pulled up the Chicago Tribune online. Our executive director had someone bring in a television and everyone watched the day's events unfold. Very surreal thinking back.

21) I was visiting Nickie (my wife, then-girlfriend) at Illinois College, where she was living on campus. I was due to fly to back to Pennsylvania that day (Sept 11). Needless to say, I didn't fly home. I ended up driving my rent-a-car all the way back. I still find it crazy that I was supposed to fly that day, when I've only flown less than a dozen times in my entire life.

22) As Joel said, he was visiting me at the time. The interesting additional part to that story was the part that since all of my friends knew that he was suppose to fly out that day, and was from PA, a huge rumor started that Joel was on one of those planes. I was really massively confused when people were looking at me strange for still being around campus and asking if I was ok. But like Joel said, it was really strange/surreal that he was suppose to fly on that day.

23) I was in my second year at Eastern. Some of my friends pounded on my door at 8:30 or so to tell me. I didn't really think anything of it because when I looked at the clock, I realized I was going to be late for class. When I got to class, my prof. was crying. She said we wouldn't be talking about the reading, but we'd turn on the television and talk about what was happening. Shortly after that, the second plane hit. We all looked around at one another like, "Did you just see what I saw??" We went home after that.
I have a cousin who flies for United, and he was on that day. I also had quite a few friends whose parents/relatives worked in downtown Chicago, and at that point, no one knew where they'd hit next. So, we sat in our lounge, watched tv, and worried and cried together.
I don't think the huge impact was apparent that day, but it became apparent soon after.

24) I had just arrived at my work place in Minneapolis where I ran a small digital imaging department in a commercial photo lab. The receptionist came into my room to tell me a plane had crashed into the WTC and, like most people, I thought it was a light aircraft. Then when she came in and told me about the 2nd one, I was shocked of course.

My managers had a little tv in their office and we saw the towers fall. I remember looking up in the sky the whole rest of the day thinking how weird and still everything was because there were no planes in the sky. The sky was rich blue and the clouds were white and fluffy, it seemed very peaceful and surreal. Driving home I was just looking around at all the cars and people and knowing that everyone must have been constantly thinking about the events of the day while in a perpetual state of shock.

That evening a group of us from our apartment building gathered in a circle in the parking lot and prayed together.

Like everyone, I'm sure, I'll remember that day vividly for the rest of my life.

25) I was at work and first heard over WYMG here in Springfield that a tower had been hit. For a second, I thought it was a joke. A rather bizarre, twisted joke, but a joke nonetheless. About 5 minutes later I wandered down to the lounge to see what the hubbub was. They had the television on.

Seeing the WTC on fire was the most surreal image I think I'd ever seen in my life. Until I actually saw the second tower get hit on live TV. I never dreamed I'd witness something like that, even if only on television.

The entire rest of the day, nobody really said much of anything. It was so quiet in the office, yet deathly quiet outside, what with all planes being grounded. I can't even describe what I was feeling that day. Sadness, helplessness, anger, a bizarre sense of patriotism, hatred...

A state of shock is really the only way I can think to describe 9-11-01. There are images in my head from that day that I will never get rid of.

26) On the morning of 9/11/01, I was unpacking from a vacation that my husband and three sons and I had been on, returning the day before.

Less than 24 hours before the first plane hit, we were flying out of New York City. My husband called me from work to tell me to turn on the news and I remember feeling so sad even when "only" the first plane had hit and it was thought to be "just" an accident. We had just been there!!

What's creepy is that my husband and oldest son, then 5, were looking out of the window of the plane trying to identify buildings in the Manhattan skyline. After finding the Empire State, my husband was kind of stumped. But then he pointed out the Twin Towers and gave a way too long, way too age inappropriate lecture to my son about the importance of the World Trade Center. Now 12, my son still remembers that conversation vividly.

Understanding that a plane from New York bound for the midwest was not the route targeted by the terroists, it was still impossible not to feel like we were extremely and inexplicably lucky and had escaped a tragedy.

My son was back to kindergarten that morning. As subsequent planes hit, I felt an urgent need to have all of my family nearby. (My husband had already been evacuated from his state office building.) But my son's school had gone into lockdown and they wouldn't let me bring him home. That's a helpless feeling for sure.

In retrospect, my husband and I recall seeing two Arab men aboard our flight (we had to answer questions about the turbans). It's been reported that the terroists were scouting planes ahead of time. Could they have been on ours? Maybe. Was it just a couple of innocent men that had nothing to do with it? Probably.

27) I was in Black Moutain doing errands and had NPR on-at first I thought it was like War of the Worlds with Orson Wells and then I heard the commentator talking as the second plane struck. The day John Kennedy was assinated flashed through my mind. Sarah and I and one of her coworkers attended a service in downtown Asheville. Our minister, who is one of the most upbeat people I know, looked awful. He had been up all night consoling people but knowing him, his personal grief had to be very real and deep. I remember praying, "God help us all."

28) Funny you mentioned Kennedy, Dannie, the day I saw this blog reminded me of how I never forgot the day we heard about Kennedy being shot. I remember where I was and who told me. It also reminded me of my mom talking about Pearl Harbor and showing us the place where she and some friends were parked in a car in front of a store when they heard the news. Our minds really do lock certain moments down and engrave them forever in our memories.

29) LGrant, Kennedy was on my mind when I wrote this. I remember when I was younger people asking each other, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" Since I was not around at that time I never fully understood how so many people had such a clear memory of a single moment until September 11th.

30) Yeah, it does sharpen the moment, Joe. I remember watching the funeral procession too--very memorable. I felt the same way when my mom talked of Pearl Harbor before my time with such clarity of what was happening, who was there and what was said.