Scott went frisbee golfing early in the morning and I was at home safely snoozing with Brenden, a week away from his 2nd birthday. Scott heard the early reports on the radio and called me and told me to turn on the TV. In a drowsy half-awake state I saw the awful incomprehensible unimaginable images of the planes and the buildings and the panic and the confusion. We spent the rest of the day together (going to work seemed inappropriate or non-essential at that point) watching the story unfold. At lunch time I remember thinking we need to get out of the house and we went to the Riverwoods. It was eerily quiet and calm outside. Some stores were closed, some were open, no one knew what to do or what to say.
Those of us who were around and cognizant and effected by the events of September 11, 2001 have a responsibility to keep talking about them and teach the kids first-hand.
Where were you when you heard the news? What do you do to actively remember?
9 comments:
I'll never forget because we were in LA scheduled to fly back to Germany that morning. Darin had started ahead of us and was in Las Vegas, at the airport. He called me as I was getting ready to leave for the airport, and told me to turn the TV on, and that I probably wouldn't be going to the airport that day. It was a very sureal experience to actually watch those towers falling down, LIVE. Not in the replays that we've seen so many times over the years. I can remember watching them fall, at the very moment. We should never forget that.
I was sleeping in my dorm room at Deseret Towers. My roommate Julie's mom called her cell phone, which woke both of us up. Julie said something about being under attack, which was very confusing to me after just waking up. We ran to the basement to where the TV was. There were about thirty freshman girls huddled together and we all started sobbing as we watched the towers fall. One girl suggested that we all pray together. It was incredibly sad. It was a Tuesday, devotional day. It was the most solemn devotional ever.
I was opening the skate shop I worked at while I was at college down at BYU - there was a big screen tv, I spent the entire morning watching the events unfold with half of the mall employees. I'll never forget what it was like to see those things as they were happening - nothing like this had ever been so close to home. I'll never forget the sick feeling I would get as I watched the replaying of images over and over again on the news for the several weeks after. It is still a hard thing for me to watch and not get emotional about.
I was pregnant and sick with my first baby Noelle...Really all I could do is lay down and watch... I spent every waking moment watching, crying and obsessing about the images and loss...It seems like yesterday that tragedy occured...It was a time I will never forget!!!
After a day of being glued to the TV, I headed up to Salt Lake. I had tickets for Grant Lee Phillips at the Zephyr. He couldn't get to Utah from Canada, obviously.
My first Sept 11th in NY was Service Day at my job. I went down to a place that makes/delivers meals to people with terminal illnesses. There I was, already a little emotional reflecting on what had happened just 2 years before, then they put on the radio and it was ALL those songs that we all heard a million times after 9/11, and THEN as part of the food prep, they had me cutting onions. It was a failsafe recipe for getting teary.
In the usual morning rush to get children to school I hadn't turned on the TV. My sister called me from Ohio though, after the first tower had been hit and asked if I had the TV on. "Turn it on," was all she said. Then we watched together, two thousand miles apart, as the second tower was struck. We sat there, on the phone, with the kids around us and cried. Needless to say, the girls' hair was never done that day. I think we've gotten a little lax about remembering and honoring that day, at least in our home. Thanks for the reminder, Sarah.
I was driving girls to early morning seminary -- a month before Rachel turned 16. Annee was at our house getting ready for a ride to the airport. On the car radio I heard the airports all across the USA were closing. Something unbelievable had happened.
I was on my mission in Korea. Because of the time change, it was all happening at night while we were sleeping. When we woke up, another missionary called us and explained what happened but none of us believed him. He was the kind of guy that liked to tell jokes and would call from time to time to say something ridiculous and we thought this was another one of those times. We went all morning not thinking anything of it. When we were out on the streets, people kept coming up to us saying they were so sorry and asking how are families were. We finally walked past an electronics shop and saw some footage. I was impressed by how sympathetic and concerned these complete strangers were for us.
Great reminder, Sarah. My memories from that day will never fade, as we were babysitting 3 children whose parents were IN New York City that week. And I was a wreck all morning, trying to teach confused kindergarteners, until my mom called just before noon, assuring me that my uncle who worked in Tower #2 "happened" to sleep in that day. The pictures they took, and their memories of the tragedy are truly remarkable.
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