Memories from 9/11
Where were you on 9/11? It’s a day that many of us can recall. It was a time when cell phones were just gaining ground and people did not have the internet available in the palm of their hands.
9/11 was sad and it is still heartbreaking. Remembering unites us and keeps us committed to honoring those that lost their lives in the tragedy.
My Husband and Me
I was talking to my dad on a payphone in the student union at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I think I may have been between classes or just running ahead of schedule for what was a full day of semester hours. My dad and I were chatting when I noticed students start to congregate around televisions suspended in the corners. I asked my dad what was happening and he did not know for sure. He thought he heard others in his office saying something bad had happened to the Twin Towers. There had also been an alert on his computer regarding a catastrophe. We got off the phone because both of us wanted to get to a television set and see what had occurred. I remember my dad telling me to stay safe, as it already felt like uncertain times.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon, I went to my classes which all ended up being canceled. My professor for Intro to Marketing did not hold his typical lecture in the large auditorium, but he did allow students to take seats and discuss what was happening. I remember there were classmates from the East Coast and others with military backgrounds who were really struggling.
My husband, who was only my boyfriend at the time of 9/11, was in an engineering senior design class. His instructor came to the classroom and told all of the students about a plane hitting the trade center. Class was canceled and my husband went to an open computer to try to look up information on the Internet. So many people were online that he could not open any web pages.
My Family
My older brother was teaching a classroom of 3rd-grade students when news of 9/11 hit. He was alerted by a mass email that was sent out by his elementary school’s administration. My brother recalled that they got out of school early that day because parents wanted their children home. He did not discuss what was happening with his pupils, but when they returned to school there were lots of questions. He talked about 9/11 briefly that following day and then in more detail after a couple of weeks.
My aunt was in Rapid City, SD. She and my uncle were on a motorcycle trip and had already ridden through Denver and Sheridan, WY. My aunt was coming out of their hotel bathroom and saw her husband watching news of the attack on TV. She remembers thinking that my uncle was watching a movie, and not live coverage, because the whole scene was so bizarre.
It was in his dorm room that my brother-in-law was alerted to 9/11. His roommate was watching TV and it was being reported that the first plane “was a small one and an accident”. They saw the second plane hit and both wondered if it was a replay. Soon though, the fact that this was an act of terrorism set in for both my brother-in-law and his friend. My mother-in-law called him crying. All of the death and dying was shell shocking and he heard the word “draft” on campus that day. My brother-in-law remembered that as a young man it was scary to think of war. He recalled, “We saw the towers collapse and the entire campus was at a standstill while our country was under attack. Nobody knew when it would stop.”
My Parents
As I mentioned above, I was on the phone with my dad when 9/11 happened. I think the second plane hit during the course of our conversation. My dad is a feed ingredient merchandiser and he was future trading in the stock market. A headline of 9/11 came across the news wire on his desktop computer. A lot of people in his office saw that news wire and my dad said, “Everyone was aghast.”
My mom was at home, but also rushing to get out the door because my grandpa, her father-in-law, was being released from the hospital that day. She wanted to get to my grandparent’s house to help with Grandpa’s arrival back home. Before leaving she stopped at the local church in my small town because her mother, my Grandma Evelyn, and an old neighbor were at daily mass. My mom told them what had happened. Before my mom could leave to get to my paternal grandparent’s house, my Grandma Evelyn told her she had to go out to their family farm and notify her father (my Grandma Eddie). The neighbor woman turned right around and went back into the church to pray.
My Friends
A good pal and fellow soccer mom was driving to work when her car radio sent out a broadcast about the attack. She remembers the exact intersection where she heard the news, which at first was reporting that a small plane had lost control. My friend arrived at work and actually saw the second plane hit the tower. She watched TV coverage of the tragedy all day long. A few weeks later she flew to Washington, DC for business. During this trip, she visited the grave of one of the pilots, who had just been laid to rest, at Arlington National Cemetery.
Tessa was learning how to be a teacher in a middle school in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her husband was driving a tow truck and heard about what was happening over the AM/FM radio in the vehicle. Both had started their day and routine normally, only to have it all change in an instant.
As Tessa left her practicum shift, a child ran out of a classroom screaming about airplanes. She thought he was just being silly and helped him find his teacher. The school’s parking lot was a madhouse with parents flying into it, but not taking an actual spot. They were rushing to the school to get their children. Tessa could not leave the parking lot immediately due to the chaos. Once she made it home, she and her roommate watched the TV coverage all day. Tessa said, “I remember sitting outside of my apartment, and looking to the sky. I was so scared even in our Nebraska town that we weren’t safe.”
More College Reactions
One of my best friends from high school was attending college at Iowa State University during 9/11. Before heading out to campus she saw coverage of the attack on the morning news. My friend wanted to stay home to watch the broadcasts. However, she ultimately went to her abnormal psychology course. All of her classes that day proceeded as normal with the professors continuing on with their lesson plans. Despite classes staying on schedule, she still remembers the entire campus was very quiet.
My neighbor was a senior college student working at a small coffee shop. She recalled that the morning seemed normal until customers began to walk in with worry all over their faces. The staff turned on the radio, but my neighbor did not fully grasp the situation until she went on campus. She also worked for the student newspaper and remembers spending the day between staring in shock at the TV and working on photos about the campus reaction. My neighbor noted, “After 9/11 I decided I couldn’t do photojournalism, that I couldn’t bear taking photos of tragedy like that, and I pursued graphic design. Now, as an adult, I understand the value of photos like that so much more than I did then, and a little part of me wishes I’d pursued it anyway.”
Where were you? What did you think? Who did you check in with first? Those are questions that 18 years later we can all probably still answer. No matter where we were in our separate lives, 9/11 will forever be a time when America came together to rise up and heal from a horrifying attack on our home. We at Family Footnote will never forget that day, the lives lost, and the heroes who selflessly gave so much to save so many.