#1564 | Sunday, August 18th 2002
Like most mornings, I was hitting the snooze button one too many times. My bedroom door opened and I knew it was my mom coming to rouse me awake. Instead of just shaking me a bit, she turned my TV on. Her voice was trembling. I was still in that drowsy, not-really-awake state.

She said something about planes going into the World Trade Center. What she was saying just didn't make sense. It didn't make sense because it is so horrific, seems to impossible on many levels. For a split second I thought maybe I was still sleeping, and I was having a very scary, very real nightmare. To this day I wish that were the case, because nothing has been the same since that morning.

Laura | 21 | Missouri

#1500 | Saturday, July 27th 2002
The ride into St. Louis that morning was a normal one, the traffic was flowing and the weather was ok. My boss had the day off and the computers were down.it was business as usual at work. It couldnt have been a better morning. Untill the phone rang.

My frantic mother was on the other line, utttering about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. Reflecting about a time i remeber reading about a small plane hitting the Empire State Building, i quickly told my mother not to worry. I told her airplanes cannot cause severe damage to a skyscrapper, especially the twin towers. i hung up on my mom, thinking she was stressing over a single engine airplane. Boy was i wrong.

I stepped away from my cubicle to have a cigarette. As i walked back into the lobby i glanced over at the television. I could not believe my eyes. And then, with the very same eyes, i witnessed the second plane hit the towers.

I quickly called my mother back. She was on the other line with our relatives from North Jersey. I apologized for not taking her seriously and together we witnessed the rest of that tragic morning unfold.

By lunch time we closed the office and i was heading home. There was five o'clock traffic in the middle of the day. for thosewho said that the rest of the country could not understand what new york/new jersey went through should think again. myself as well as other drivers were in tears all the way home. There were people on the bridges and streets waving American Flags. They were both young people and old. Both white, black, hispanic, oriental and arabic. They were all Americans.

I went to donate blood but the line was too long so they told me to come back later. I stayed anyway.


Doug | 24 | Missouri

#1338 | Tuesday, May 28th 2002
September 11th turned out to be a normal day for me. I was at school and my teacher was taken attendance, when another teacher came in to say, "Did you guys hear ? One of the World Trade Center buildings got hit." When I first heard him say that, I thought it was nothing more than an accident. After the attendance was taken, I walked over to the room next door, and turned on the T.V. I was watching CNN when the man was talking and a plane came out of the corner of the T.V. and slammed into the Second Building. My mouth dropped in such shock that I could not belive what had happened. as I sat there in shock, unable to move but what had happened, The man came onto the T.V. again saying that the pentagon was on fire and that the cause was unknown. I knew from there on that something was not right. I had the feeling of being scared and anger inside of me and they all came out at the same time. After that I had heard something else had happened with another plane and they were not giving very much information on it. After the shock was over I called in some friends as we watched the worst thing since Pearl Harbor unfold. We sat there and kept watching then all of a sudden I hear the announcer say " Oh My Gosh. Oh My Gosh" as the second tower was collapsing. Again the anger came over me. I watched as the Scene unfolded as the people were running in the streets. Just then the second tower collapsed and all I saw then was smoke. I knew right then that this was going to be bad when everything was all sorted out. I went through school the rest of that day not doing any work. My eyes were fixed on the T.V. all day. When I came home there was a big guess that gas would jump up to high amounts. Normally in my area it is about 1.25 these days but gas had jumped up in some stations to 8.00 dollars or higher. There were lines at the gas stations with low gas prices. During that time I was began to be intrested in the Law Enforcement feild. My friends who were cops said that the traffic at the gas stations were nothing like they had ever seen before. The days after September 11th were weird. I seen the Stock Market close on days when it was suppose to be open. I seen pieces of the World Trade Center begin to be removed as they found victims. I also seen a President who only half the country liked begin to get backing for the nation as he brought the nation together, and now as I Graduate as the Class of 2002, the Class of Septemeber 11th, I realize that when my kids ask me what I did on that day and what it was like, I will always remeber the victims of september 11th and the events of that day.
John | 18 | Missouri

#1311 | Friday, May 24th 2002
We were all somewhere. For me, I was in a college history class in the middle of Missouri. My aunt was two blocks from the Trade Center on her day off from her job as a flight attendant on the same flight route, same airline as one of the planes. My friend was in Florida, attending the same flight school that some of the terrorists graduated from. Another friend was overseas serving the United States Air Force. And as I talked to each of them over the next few weeks, I realized that while our different geographic locations and proximities, it affected us all. Sure, we felt different emotions and in different degrees. We had different experiences in the attacks' aftermath. Yet, on that day, Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the entire nation was in unison. United we stand.
Brandi | 19 | Missouri

#1296 | Sunday, May 19th 2002
The morning of September 11, I was sleeping with my chidren beside me and the phone rang waking us up. My sister-in-law Heather had been watching the news and saw the tragity unfold before her eyes. She called us immediatley after the second plane hit. Af first I could not understand what she was saying she was so upset. Finally I turned on the TV and watched in horror. It was difficult to keep my 6 & 8 year old children from seeing it(every channel played the scenes over and over). After a while, after some of the shock started to wear a little, I sat down and tried to explain to them what was happeing. The very tragic part of it all, was when they heard about the firemen missing. (their father is a Firefighter/paramedic for Cape Girardeau MO) At first it did not seem as though it was effecting them, until they ask if their daddy was going to New York to help find the people lost and missing.Every day after 9-11 they would ask if he would come home again from the fire Dept.,afraid he wouldn't because of the events they seen and heard. I reassured them the best I could and told them to have faith in the Lord and he would help to bring him home saftely. These are the foremost thoughts in my mind, from the day the world changed.
Mindy | 30 | Missouri

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