9/11 Remembrance. A guest blog event

I posted a question on my facebook page.  What were you doing when you heard the news about the 9/11 attacks.  The responses were so touching, I've decided to share them as a blog.  So, thanks to everyone who commented, and it's not too late.  I'll post any additional comments, or you can add your comments directly after the blog.  We shall never forget.

Lisa Baucke Kovanda I was waiting to pick up my son Damian Cooper from the airport. He had just gotten back from a year-long deployment with the Navy in the Far East. I didn't have the TV on, and was cleaning house when I got a call asking me where I thought... Damian might be. I looked at my watch and said, "I don't know, Phoenix maybe?" She said, "Oh my God, turn on your television!" We didn't know where Damian was until almost 1am. The Shore Patrol rounded up the guys from his ship at the airport. They were still battle-ready, so back to sea they went.

Mindy Slater sitting in my room at college getting ready to go to my morning class and the girls across the hall came over and told us what happened.

Shelly Palmer I was getting ready for college classes and BFF's place. It was her birthday. I saw the news as I walked through the living room getting ready. I immediately got in my truck and SPED to school, broadcasting major you see. I continued to spend the next 12 hours searching for every detail on the event I could and broadcasting from the college radio station....

Sally J. Walker Waiting for lab draw at Cancer Center, watching TV coverage when second plane hit. Then waiting for radiation treatment watched coverage of the towers collapsing. Sobering horror all the way around.

Rhonda M. Hall First day back at work after attending the Maui Writers Convention. Riding my exercise bike & watched the news. Charlie Gibson voice broke when he said, he would never believe a pilot did it intentionally. Went to work, & security guards... searched our purses. A fellow employee was outraged & indignant. I thought, "Get over it- there's alot worse going on." All our work was cancelled. Qwest/USWest only allowed employees in their bldgs. So, no competitors could get their stuff done. Complete stand still. One employee's husband worked at Offutt. He called her & told her when President Bush arrived. Covered head to toe in bomb gear. He said you could only see his eyes. (That's never been on the news.) Chilling day, then when I drove home the streets were crazy. Every church I passed was packed. I went to my mom's & remembered 6 months b4 when I made reservations, they said stay the weekend come home on Tuesday, it's cheaper. I said no, my mom's birthday is the 9th. I thought she should be home for her birthday. I'm so glad.

Mark Schlamann It was about 7:45 when I heard of the first attack. I had the radio on by my bed and was contemplating getting up for the day. When I heard that the second plane had hit, I got out of bed and turned the TV on. I was living in North Dakota at the time, and since I had to get some work done in the study, I had KFGO on all day for updates

Rebecca McKillip at school scared for my brother who was in the Navy but he was safe and sound. They got send out to sea also.

Sandra Spidell I was at work at Earl May's, every cusomer who came in was in denial. "I dont believe, ... followed by, you should see..." So my boss and I closed the store, and walked next door to the hotel, who let us use a room to watch it on TV. By then both planes had hit, and about a half hour later we watched in horor as the first tower fell, later followed by the second. We did go back several hours later and opened the store, we both knew we had to, but we couldnt pry ourselves away from the TV.

Greg Hall Lived in Calif. at the time, so it was a little after 5:30 in the morning. On an elliptical machine at 24hr fitness in downtown Pasadena... a couple of the TV's were on the news. At first I thought it was some sort of commercial for a disaster movie, but it stayed on the screen & then the 2nd plane hit. Over the next ten minutes, all of the TV's in the gym switched to the coverage.

Caredy Pennington Hopped up on oxycodone and recovering from back surgery. Thought it was all a dream

Ashley Mitchell Sitting in English class they turned the TV on and we all watched the coverage. We saw the second plane hit and everyone was crying, screaming cursing, praying. We sat there and didn't move to the next class when the bells rang we just coul...dn't pry ourselves away from the TV.

One of my classmates got pulled out of class because her dad was in the Pentagon and worked in the section that had been hit. He was ok thank God.
It was like watching a bad movie. 9/11 was our Pearl Harbor and JFK we will never forget what happened and where we were.

Debra Christenson I was just waking up in a hotel room in Kansas City after moving there for my husbands new job. I turned on the TV shortly before the 2nd plane hit.

Lisa Baucke Kovanda I saw the second plane hit, and watched the towers fall. All I could think was "Where is my son??" At that moment he should have been mid-flight, and there were reports of planes missing all over the country. A moment of bad humor here, but it's been 9 years, and I still have to ask where my son is most of the time. (Damian, you could call, or leave a facebook message...)

Elizabeth Rodenburg Punko I was getting ready for work (Fairbury Walmart) when i heard it on the radio and thought it was a joke until i saw it on the tvs at work....

Bradley Mueller i was getting ready for class my room mate cane in said that class was cancelled and turned on tv to show me

Cathy Johnson Couch I was shopping in the old wal*mart in Seward and everyone was talking about it. I heard about the 2nd plane hitting on the radio while driving home.

Dave Scanlan I was getting ready to take my wife to the dentist and I turned on the tv and heard the news. It all seemed very surreal!

Dee Ann Williamson Monday went out of town for business-didn't have to go to work on Tuesday till 11 AM. Sat on the couch eating breakfast and was horrified when I watched the entire event unfold on the news. I went into work numb.

Mary Unger I was working at my desk at school. Rachel came blasting in upstairs shouting that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We didn't have TV reception at the school, so it was hard to get news until our para went home and brought back a little TV with an antenna. It was so horrible. I can still feel the gut-dropping feeling I felt then

Jennifer Brym- Bates I was teaching English to seniors in Elba, Nebraska when a girl came in and said a plane had hit the World Trade Towers. I figured she meant one of those small, two-seater planes and thought 'that's too bad, now let's get back to work'. Th......en the principal came around and told us what was going on. We only had one tv in the school (tiny k-12 school) so a secretary went across the street to her house and brought over another one. We spent the rest of the day in the two rooms with tvs, watching, while the principal, who had a friend in NYC gave constant emails about the situation. She later told about seeing bags of grapes from someone's lunch on the ground next to things I won't mention. It was a horrific day. One I'll NEVER forget.

Hilary Kassik I was a freshman in high school sitting in my world history class watching it on tv....wow time flies but seems like just yesterday

Deb Soucek Was working in the Staplehurst bar making breakfast for 1 of the guys and someone come in and told us of a accident. We turned the t.v. on and couldn't beleive what we were watching and then the other 1 hit. We all knew it was no accident at that point!!!

Ronnie Slater I was in my Citizenship Issues class watching the morning news, when they broke in with the news. School stopped... everyone just sat there and watched in horror

Cara Heacock I was in seventh grade. I went from my second period shop class to my homeroom where the teacher had the TV on. The first tower had collapsed by then; the second was still burning. At first no one explained to me what was going on; I thought the Woodmen Tower in downtown Omaha was on fire. Then when I found out it was the twin towers in NYC, I had never heard of them anyway.

Lisa Lakin-Neff I was waking Stephan up for school when we lived in CA. My neighbor came up pounding on the door (Alberto) and told me. Then my mother called and told me to keep Stephan out of school for the day just in case. Then turned the TV on to watch it just in time to see the second plane hit! I cried and cried more when I saw the buildings fall.

Paula Markuson Working at my desk in downtown Omaha. No TV coverage there. It seemed so surreal until later in the day when I left to do a home visit. No planes in the sky except for Air Force One flying over on the way out of SAC. Saw the video at my client's house. Then it became gut wrenching.

Muffy Vrana I sat in my night clothes watching the television, thinking it was a rerun of Orson Welles and/or "War of the Worlds." It took quite a while to realize that this was REAL, this was NOW, and not some fiction. I still, to this day, have trouble realizing it was real, and that now my world (my safe world) has changed forever.
Connie Crow I was at work at an engineering firm when the first plane hit. All the staff gathered in the conference room to watch. When the second plane hit we all shuddered together. No one moved. The engineers started calculating how long the towers ...could stay up based on heat concrete etc. Then the first tower started down. Everyone just froze.

By the time the second tower came down the phones were ringing of the hook. Engineers from all over the country were contacting one another, trying to figure out why the towers came down. All other work in the office stopped. I was allowed to go home early. Driving home, they were guessing where the president was on the radio. I saw air force one on final to Offut (I live near there) I called the station and told them he'd just landed. They aired confirmation about 5 minutes later.
 
 
My thanks to everyone who took time to comment.  For the men and women who lost their lives in the attacks of 9/11, and those men and women who serve our country, we owe you a debt that can never be repaid.  --Lisa Kovanda