Where we were
M. was in Japan and heard about what was happening in New York while IM’ing with a friend who worked just down the road from the WTC - her building went into lockdown, she didn’t know why and told M. to turn on CNN to find out. He watched the whole thing live.
I was in VA, a little less than a month away from my departure for Japan. I slept in until 9 or so, and the first thing I did when I woke up was check in on a fan board I frequented. I found out from a friend on the ground that something was happening in NY, went downstairs, and turned on the TV. My mom and I watched the second plane hit and the towers come down while my 2 year-old niece and 1 year-old nephew played on the floor.
My dad was in Taiwan.
My sister was at work and heard the fighter jets flying out overhead.
My brother was sitting on a plane at Dulles, having just talked to a guy on the shuttle bus to the terminal who was upset about probably missing his flight - the plane that ultimately hit the Pentagon.
I remember what a beautiful day it was. I remember going with my sister-in-law’s mother to try and donate blood, and being turned away because they had more donors than they could handle. I remember watching everything happen on TV with my mother, both of us wondering what kind of news my dad had gotten and when he was going to be able to come home. I remember Aaron Brown on CNN. I remember how strange it was to go to the grocery store, maybe a day or two later, and not hear any air traffic overhead (my parents’ house and surrounding areas are on the Dulles flight path). I remember listening to military planes flying overhead at night for a week. I remember the eerie quietness of the airport terminal when I left VA for Indianapolis a month later. I remember having to get to the airport for my flight to Chicago and on to Japan at 3:00 am, and I remember having my suitcase ripped apart by security. I remember the somber, no-nonsense demeanor of the airport personnel. I remember being afraid about flying - and, for once, not because of my fear of flying itself.
