9/11 was 19 years ago

[mummabear1967]

Can’t believe it. Remember it like it was yesterday.

I remember it coming on the ITV or BBC News, I thought it was a scene from a new movie until I quickly realised it was indeed reality.

Doesn’t it just sadden you that all those lives are over for nothing? It’s just heartbreaking.

I was a sixth former. It unfolded as I was coming home. I got the bus and walked the last bit unknowing then when j got home we just sat for hours watching it all over and over. Truly awful.

I just kept thinking (and am reminded every year), imagine If you went up to the roof? Can't go down? Go up. Hope for rescue. Seeing (press) helicopters circling overhead. Feeling the tower drop from underneath you.

Every year, this is at the forefront.

Oh my word. I saw it on the news, really early on, I had just got back from London, I was sitting one of my accountancy papers (which I failed).

If anyone's interested, there's an excellent documentary called Inside 9/11 by National Geographic which charts the events leading up to the event.

Looming Tower is good too, for background.

I went to NY in the February of that year and recently found a photo of me taken with the twin towers in the background

It's almost unimaginable to think that they aren't there anymore. RIP to the thousands that died, many forget a lot were firefighters helping

I was at school, double Business Studies class. I remember the teacher coming back into the room after a short break and he looked as white as a sheet. He didn't say anything to us and so i didn't find out what was happening until i got home an hour or so later, but i still remember his face now.

Thanks for reminding me - it’s my sister’s birthday!
Did send a card but just gave her a ring.

The 9/11 I remember most was exactly a year later. The news was full of it, first anniversary, etc., but all I could think of was that the vet was coming at 3.30 to put our poor old dog to sleep. She was lying on the front lawn in the sun when the vet arrived, and actually wagged her poor old tail. 😥

@HowFastIsTooFast I saw that same crowd outside Curry’s in Leeds! I was just thinking how different it would be now; everyone would be watching it on phones but then everyone had to gather around a tv.

And I feel more like ‘can it only be 19 years’ rather than feeling like it can’t be that long. It was such a defining moment; I remember thinking how we were living through history and that people would always look back on that attack and how it shaped our world. For me, it was the beginning of understanding the threat of huge scale terror attacks which while still incredibly shocking are a part of life now. Although I know that terrible things happened before, this was the first time we saw it happen live, as people have said as though it were a disaster movie suddenly made real. The photographs and footage and recordings of the phone calls made it so very visceral and true.

My DS1 was only 3mths old. Such a shocking day, I like everyone couldn’t believe what we were seeing on the news. Just awful.

I was working for a large US (head office/datacentre in NYC) based ISP in London at the time. I was on the phone to one of the network engineers in New York when it happened, he said something had happened to me but didn't know what exactly and had to end the call.

Next thing I saw a few minutes later (still wondering WTF had happened) was the BBC ticker at the bottom of my screen (remember that?) announcing a plane had crashed into the WTC but assumed that it was a light aircraft that had gone off course as many of us did I think.

Colleague then came over and said I think you better come see this and we all grouped around one of the big wall mounted TVs we had and watched whilst the second plane crashed.

Our UK CEO at the time was a New Yorker and I just remember him trying to hold a meeting/briefing with us all in the conference room and just breaking down in tears. Our NYC datacentre (just a few blocks away from the WTC) was used as a R&R centre for the emergency services.

I arrived at a hotel for a meeting. Met another colleague in the lobby and we took the lift up to the meeting room floor.

As the lift door opened, three other colleagues were standing there, and one said,
'A plane's flown into the World Trade Centre'.

I genuinely thought it was the opening line of a joke and said,
'And...?' with a laugh.

She said,
'No, it really has. It's on the television'. The hotel staff had put the big TV on in the meeting room.

Once we grasped that this was something serious (second plane had already hit), we cancelled the meeting because all of us just wanted to get back home to be with our families and friends.

I was in California, pregnant with DS1. I'll never forget my eldest brother and I, watching it together amd collapsing in tears when the first tower started crumbling. My other brother and his fiance were living in downtown Manhattan. My cousin from Queens was a first responder who survived but later on became very ill, as did my brother who developed a severe gastric reflux soon after which led to a related, slow-growing cancer (it was such an incredibly rare cancer and one which the oncologolists said would have been growing for around 20 years- I feel strongly that it was related to the exposure of debris). My SIL was meant to start a new job that September in one of the towers and for some reason, they decided not to give her the job or else the job itself didn't move forward. I can't remember. But I clearly remember that silent sense of shock and relief that she never set foot in that building. My mom's best friend's twin nephews worked in the towers. One in Tower 1, the other in Tower 2. The brothers spoke by phone. One twin was like, "I'm out of here. Get the hell out. I'll see you downstairs." The other twin followed the manager's orders and remained with his colleagues in the tower. Suffice to say, one brother lived.

Who can ever forget The Falling Man and watching those people dive from the towers?

9/11 remains absolutely haunting. Those images are burned into my memory. I'll never forget how relieved we were to hear from my brother and his fiance after days of silence. It was the longest wait.

@CocoBryceDidAcidWithMe

I hope people forgive, the sooner the better IMO

Why??

I didn't know anyone affected but I wouldn't forgive the perpetrators if I did.

I was working in my first proper job post uni and I will never forget it. My now DH was due to fly to Washington the next day.

My DS 19 was a baby at the time . Remember spent the whole afternoon on the sofa watching it on TV .

@ageingdisgracefully

Also remember it like yesterday. I was expecting dd and exhausted. I heard the news of the first plane on the 2pm news and thought nothing of it. I got back to work and by then the second plane had hit.

Watched it all unfold later. Unforgettable.

I was expecting with dd1 too, I had her a month later. It seems odd that they missed such a momentous moment yet it feels like they’ve been around for a long time.

I was at work. At afternoon break one of the senior managers came into the tea room to tell us what had happened. We put the TV on and sat in stunned silence as we watched the news. I remember the BBC news website crashing due to the amount of people trying to get on it.

I was home alone doing some diy and listening to cds. My mum called me. I didn't have a tv at the time. I put the radio on.

I remember being on the tube a few days later and seeing pics on the covers of passengers' newspapers. I thought simply listening to it was horrible, seeing the pics made me weep. It was ages before I saw the news footage. I still am struck by those making the decision to jump.

I can't quite believe it was 19 years ago. At work this morning the annual 'where were you?' chat came up. My two team mates were at primary school and nursery respectively and don't really remember a thing about it

@AriettyHomily I agree. There are just some things in life that are simply unforgivable and this is one of them.

Is anyone feeling overcome with sadness today? I am actually starting to tear up a bit. Those poor poor people and their families. I just can’t stop thinking about them. May they all rest in peace

I'm also feeling a bit low about it. One thing that really helped me was visiting the 9/11 museum. We waited until the kids were teenagers so as not to overwhelm them. Seeing how the site had been transformed into a memorial and the very reverent way what happened was presented by the museum really helped with closure for me. My city, my people had been attacked, so not easy to get over.

I really recommend it if you're ever in NYC. The museum is brilliantly done. Give yourself at least 3 hours to get through it.

There was also a lovely piece of music composed by modern classical composer Steve Reich that really captures what that day was like.

I was 11 and went to a friends house after school and her mum told us. I had no idea what the twins towers were until that day.

DS was five weeks old and I was staying with my parents in Dublin. A friend came to see me and DS with her children and we just sat and watched it all in horror. I wondered what kind of world I had brought a baby into.

Will never forget.

I’ve been to NY a few times since. Once six years after and Ground Zero was a building site. Went again shortly after the memorial had opened and while I liked the pools there was something about it all I really didn’t like. It felt a bit tacky or something. But the area around it was still a work in progress. I went in early Sept last year with DS and found the Memorial and Museum very moving. I think they have done an amazing job. Especially the room where you can sit and they have details of all the victims flash up on the wall. It’s very moving and sobering. DS sat and watched it all for ages. I kept having to go out of the room as I was so tearful.

Never forget.

[quote MissConductUS]I'm also feeling a bit low about it. One thing that really helped me was visiting the 9/11 museum. We waited until the kids were teenagers so as not to overwhelm them. Seeing how the site had been transformed into a memorial and the very reverent way what happened was presented by the museum really helped with closure for me. My city, my people had been attacked, so not easy to get over.

I really recommend it if you're ever in NYC. The museum is brilliantly done. Give yourself at least 3 hours to get through it.

There was also a lovely piece of music composed by modern classical composer Steve Reich that really captures what that day was like.

[/quote] I’d really love to visit the memorial site - it would be great to see but also very very sad.

In fact, I’d love to be able to visit New York City one day in general. Looks like an amazing place.

But just can’t get the victims out of my head. Murdered because certain individuals thought they had the right to end people’s lives

I was still in school when this happened but I didn’t hear of it until I finished school.

Me and my mum were driving home from Morrison’s when it came on the radio

We immediately got home, dumped the cold stuff in the fridge/freezer and turned the TV on.

It’s something that is still fresh in my mind...I can’t believe it’s been 19 years already