story2784.xml
Title
story2784.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
As usual I was running a few minutes late for work. I was
listening to the goofy morning dj's and I heard them say
something about a plane hitting a building. My first thought was that they were joking like some kind of modern day "War of the Worlds". Then, as their voices became more serious, I figured that perhaps a small prop plane had hit. I never in my wildest, most horrific dreams, ever, EVER could have imagined what had really happened.
At the time the dj's didn't really know much yet. I continued my drive to work and soon they had their televisions on and were watching the towers live. At the very moment that I hit the bump into the driveway where I work, they announced that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center.
I don't remember much of what happened after that. People at work scrambled for radios and tried to get on the internet but most sites were impossible to get to or incredibly slow due to the number of surfers looking for information, explanation, condemnation.
I thought of my son, 10 years old, at school and I wondered if I should go get him. But what could I do to keep him safe in this mayhem? How would I try to explain something
to him that I had no grasp of myself? Reasoning that his
classes are in the basement of the school building, he was as safe as he could possibly be and I decided to keep him there. I stayed at work rather than go home to my mid-rise apartment.
By this time we'd heard rumours that Flight 93 made a u-turn within Cleveland's air space and the thought of those people flying over us, terrified and in so much danger was incredibly disturbing. When the Pentagon was hit I feared that other cities would be attacked as well. I pictured scenes from the movie Independence Day.
Now it is one year later. I left for work early today. I didn't want to get on the freeway at 8:46 and I didn't want to pull in the driveway at work at 9:02. I'm still in some shock and I think of the events of that fateful morning every single day.
A former co-worker called me to share his memories; apparently I was the one who told him about the crashes. I burst into tears as we hung up.
We observed a moment of silence today.
I'm wearing red, white, and blue.
I'm carrying my rosary in a pocket near my heart.
I'm teary and emotional.
Other co-workers have come up to me and said that I was the
first to tell them about the attacks. I still don't remember doing that.
listening to the goofy morning dj's and I heard them say
something about a plane hitting a building. My first thought was that they were joking like some kind of modern day "War of the Worlds". Then, as their voices became more serious, I figured that perhaps a small prop plane had hit. I never in my wildest, most horrific dreams, ever, EVER could have imagined what had really happened.
At the time the dj's didn't really know much yet. I continued my drive to work and soon they had their televisions on and were watching the towers live. At the very moment that I hit the bump into the driveway where I work, they announced that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center.
I don't remember much of what happened after that. People at work scrambled for radios and tried to get on the internet but most sites were impossible to get to or incredibly slow due to the number of surfers looking for information, explanation, condemnation.
I thought of my son, 10 years old, at school and I wondered if I should go get him. But what could I do to keep him safe in this mayhem? How would I try to explain something
to him that I had no grasp of myself? Reasoning that his
classes are in the basement of the school building, he was as safe as he could possibly be and I decided to keep him there. I stayed at work rather than go home to my mid-rise apartment.
By this time we'd heard rumours that Flight 93 made a u-turn within Cleveland's air space and the thought of those people flying over us, terrified and in so much danger was incredibly disturbing. When the Pentagon was hit I feared that other cities would be attacked as well. I pictured scenes from the movie Independence Day.
Now it is one year later. I left for work early today. I didn't want to get on the freeway at 8:46 and I didn't want to pull in the driveway at work at 9:02. I'm still in some shock and I think of the events of that fateful morning every single day.
A former co-worker called me to share his memories; apparently I was the one who told him about the crashes. I burst into tears as we hung up.
We observed a moment of silence today.
I'm wearing red, white, and blue.
I'm carrying my rosary in a pocket near my heart.
I'm teary and emotional.
Other co-workers have come up to me and said that I was the
first to tell them about the attacks. I still don't remember doing that.
Collection
Citation
“story2784.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 25, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/10719.