September 11 2001

We had actually just gotten out of gym class at school. I went to my church school, which is small, so our principal (my Pastor) let us all watch the news for a couple of hours, then we got to go home early.

I'm on the west coast so, when i turn the tv on the first plane had hit the towers already. Thereafter I watched in terror the whole thing on tv. I wasn't sure if I should take my 2nd grader to school that morning, but I did. I'm glad I did. It was better for him to be around his teacher and friends instead of watching tv.

I still remember exactly; I live in California, and woke up at 6 AM to the entire house watching the news. I was living with my uncle at the time, who told me what was on the news. I thought it was crazy, but not too much at the time (little did I know). I went off to work, worried but not too concerned. Well, I was the assistant manager for a retail shoe store, and we were all there, listening to news on the radio, waiting for the store to open. we finally got a call about 10 minutes before we were meant to open from the corporate office telling us to remain closed for the day. After that, I remember going home and watching all the developments on the news.

I was on vacation in Maine with my wife and 20-month-old son. We also watched a lot of it happen on TV. We had just gotten out of bed and were getting ready to drive home. My son needed milk so I drove into town and started hearing news about a plane striking one of the Twin Towers. At that point everyone thought it was an accident but while I was driving back, they broke in to tell us that another plane had struck the other tower. It was pretty clear at that point that this was no accident. I was so in shock I almost drove my brand new car into the bay. We got back to the B&B where we were staying and everyone was gathered around the TV. No one spoke. No one ate. It was all very surreal. We decided to take one last stroll through town before heading home. Big mistake. Every storefront had taken a radio or speakers and set them in the doorways so people passing by would get the news as it became available. There were rumors that a lot of ATMs were going to stop working so there was a mad dash to grab cash. I took out enough to get gas and buy lunch on the way home. The worst part was driving out of town and seeing one of the little souvenir shops on the island closed with a big sign outside reading, "Closed today. Too Sad." Now for the really creepy part: at some point we were within a quarter mile of the terrorists. They came into the country via catamaran from Nova Scotia and got off the boat in Bar Harbor where they later drove to Boston. I can't even begin to wonder what would have happened had they decided to use the place we were staying as a headquarters. I keep wondering if we passed them on the street in town or if they had time to take in the beauty around them as they contemplated what they were about to do. I wonder how people can ever become so callous and hateful that they could see some of the best of what this country has to offer in terms of natural beauty and tranquility and be so totally blind to it.

I was at work and it came on the television. I remember the office stood so still you could hear a pen drop. I remember watching a news reporter talk about the first one getting hit when the second one was hit. That was when America stood still. I also remember my bosses brother coming in from lunch and telling us to get back to work. One of my co-workers told him what was going on and he replied, "It's not the end of the world". Needless to say he was an idiot with no compassion.