Where I was 7 Years Ago Today
My first class of the day at UTA was my Layout class and it was held in the computer lab of the Art Building. Class started at 8:00am and I was usually always on time. We had all gotten to work on our projects and our teacher walked around helping us as we needed her. A little after 9:00am someone walked into our room and said that a plane had hit one of the world trade center towers. We all assumed that it was a private plane and we were lucky to have a tv in the lab. So our professor turned the tv on and for the next 3 hours we all sat transfixed with what was happening and did our best to keep others informed and updated as they came in and out of the lab. We stayed long after class should have been over.
It was like we were watching a movie on television. I think that if I hadn't been sitting there watching those towers fall live it would have been harder for me to believe what had really happened. Now I'm honestly not one of those people that is sappy and all "Remember what happened on 911!" But for some reason that day sticks out in my mind a lot.
After class I headed to The UTA Shorthorn newspaper office where I worked and we all talked about what was going on. A few of us decided to go to Corner Bakery for lunch and I remember so clearly as we sat in our booth that no one really said much and over the speakers they were playing music from the 40s. It reminded me so much of those old wartime movies and it was a little eerie. Everything was so quiet. No planes in the sky. No one really knowing what to say.
Where were you on September 11, 2001?
I was at work. I remember that I was really sick, but it was a busy time of year for us, so I was planning to go in and take care of some things and then go home early. Kay's husband called to tell us what happened, and we, too thought it was a private plane. We ended up all crowded into a tiny room at the back of the office to watch the coverage. It was awful. Everyone was so stunned and no one knew what to say... We were told we could leave early, if we wanted to, but no one did. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. I remember, too, how quiet everything was for days after that. No one would honk their horns or anything. Crazy to think about how much one day can forever change things.
This is such a great post. It brings back so many memories and emotions. I am for sure going to post on my day that day too! I too was at UTA!
I remember Danny coming in the bedroom and telling me what happened. He was getting ready to go to school (UTA) and I was groggy from being up all night with Anna. I went into the living room and sat transfixed watching what was going on. Anna had been born only 5 1/2 weeks earlier and I was still an emotional wreck, so of course I cried. I remember walking to class the next day and how quiet everything was. It was peaceful and melancholy, and quite unsettling. I remember thinking that our lives had changed, and nothing would be the same again. It was a hard time. 1/2 of my students dropped lessons because their parents worked at American Airlines and lost their jobs.
I was at school (not UTA) in art class. At the end of class our teacher came in and told us a plane had hit one of the world trade center buildings, but she was very unclear on details. My next class was US History, so of course my teacher had the TV on. We saw the second plane hit and spent the first 15 minutes of class watching. We had to take a quiz, though, so we turned it off for about 5 minutes. When we turned the TV back on, the first tower had collapsed. That was a weird day, to say the least. Very surreal.
The phone was ringing, and woke me up. I didn't have to be at work until 11, so I groggily answered it. It was my roommate Emily telling me to turn on the TV. I honestly don't remember right now if she mentioned the plane or the buildings, but I hung up and turned on the TV. I sat on the couch, watching. I saw both Towers crumble, the people jumping, the chaos. The mess. I quickly got ready for work -- working in the news industry I knew it would be a weird day. It was busy. Several of our bureaus were closed: NY because of where they were; DC, also; and Philly, because they had received bomb threats. We only had a TV in the front reception area and in the break room, but with what little downtime we had, we checked there and CNN. I posted this on my blog the day after:
"This morning I woke up to the radio talking about this audio footage of a doctor at 'ground zero' in New York, and in the background you could hear all these 'beeps' in the background, and they said it was either one of two things: firefighters have personal alert systems that when they go 'vertical' they sound off, or... they have oxygen tanks that have 30 minutes of air, and that at 5 minutes before they run out, an alarm goes off to let them know that they have to get out of there. In the background, the noise of all those alarms going off was an almost constant, eerie beeping. I couldn't even imagine...."
Still gives me chills.
I was at home getting ready for Institute class (at UTA) and was listening to WBAP. When they first reported the plane hitting the building, I turned on the bedroom TV and began watching. I called Suzy at work so they could find a TV to watch. Otherwise, they would not hear for awhile. I was talking to my sister on the phone and watching when the second plane hit. It was unbelievable. I had already gotten out my World Almanac and gotten all the stats on how tall the buildings were, etc. I went on to Institute where Sis. Van was to teach because Bro. Van was at the airport, thinking he was headed out of town. Institute was a really great place to be. When we took a break, I tried to use my cell phone, but the airwaves were too crowded, so no signal. Shortly after that, my grandson, Kenny (a student at UTA) got a call through to me and told me that the towers were falling. He came over to the Institute building just to be with people he knew. It was a scary time. When I went to New York 3 or 4 years ago, we went all around Ground Zero and it was an emotional time. I am glad I got to visit there.