Rhode Island. I was in first period when it happened, at a computer in our school's first floor "Guidance Office." The Guidance Officers had their radios on and were rushing to and from their adjacent desks, gasping and noting the magnitude of the attack, while I kept hitting refresh on yahoo.com to see the developments in NYC. It is important not to forget, and I don't know a single person who can't relate where they were and what they were doing when they first learned the news. It's branded into each American brain, and mine is no different.

South Florida here!

I remember watching the news on the TV in my classroom with my students and discussing the impact that this event would have on history. I remember being suprised at how non-reactionairy my students had been.

Oklahoma here. They were wheeling my 90 year old father in for cancer surgery when one of the nurses told everyone to look at what was happening on TV. I was too busy holding my dads hand to give more then a glance at the TV. Yes, I remember 9/11 well. A tragic day for many.

NY upstate NE
I was at home.
Weird. Supposedly one of those planes from 9/11 made the turn right above where I live and followed the Hudson River down. Too close to home. It is nice to chk in with everyone here. Thanks.
New York
Florida
Rhode Island
Texas
North Carolina
California
Michigan
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma

South Carolina is here, too!

New Jersey, via Pennsylvania (with pit stops in SC, GA, and MI).

I was in my office when a friend called. There are TVs in the conference rooms and they were already packed with people watching on CNN. In the meantime, we could see (and eventually smell) the smoke from the rear windows of our building. I went back to watch on my PC. A little while later, another friend who had been on the 5th floor came down to say "they are gone, the towers just collapsed and they are gone." We could smell the smoke for weeks afterwards. The building is in Middletown, which lost 34 residents. It always make me sad when I fly in over lower Manhattan and see the changed landscape.

Maryland now.
Before used to grow roses in CT and KY. Both states are much more friendly to rose growing then MD.
I was at work and one of my coworkers who was always late to work and finding some excuses for being late brought the news. Nobody believed him anymore, so we all thought at first he was just making it.
Olga

arizona remember it like yesterday.

Central New York State (about 5 hours north of NYC).
Just finished reading the biography "Let's Roll!" that Lisa Beamer wrote about her husband Todd, who died on Flight 93. Quite an interesting book, (I found at the local library).
Phyl

South Florida (for now). I spent most of my life in upstate NY (maybe near Phyl) so it felt like my fellow NYers were dying. I was franic trying to get in touch with my niece and one of my best friends who both work in Manhattan.
I continue to be touched by it. I see every movie about it. I guess I don't want to forget, so those who died (some as heros like on Flight 93) won't be forgotten.
Nancy

North Carolina here. But I lived and worked in Manhattan for 7 years. I love that city. I visited WTC first before the two towers were finished. I mourn the losses and still very angry with the murderers and their handler.

Central North Carolina here. I remember that day well. Hubby and I were living on Seymor Johnson Airforce base at the time. He called and said turn on the news, I heard there was a plane that crashed into a building. I thought ok, thinking a small engine plane crash. I was not prepared for the magnatude of the event. When the second tower was hit, I was literally sick to my stomach. The base went into lockdown for several hours, you couldn't get on or off the base. It was a tragic day fo America. It was after that day that I started collecting roses like Veteran's honor, Memorial day, let freedom ring, etc.

Tammy

New York
Florida
Rhode Island
Texas
North Carolina
California
Michigan
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Arizona
Maryland
New Jersey
South Carolina

Washington State here. I was just waking up when my son ran in to tell me to look at the TV and was incoherent.

Later that day I spent out in my woods picking huckleberries from the wild bushes and thinking about how much I loved my little peice of forest and my gardens, and how someone could destroy them in a second, but if I was going to go I wanted to be eating ripe huckleberries in the sunshiny woods until the last second!

Southeast Kansas.

I was running around the house ignoring the TV while I frantically tried to get ready for work--sure I would be late. On my way out the door, I reached over to turn off the TV. Right at the moment, I saw the picture of the plane crashing into the tower. I stood there transfixed for 20 or so minutes, trying to take it in--brain refused to process the information. Then I rushed--very late--to work. No one there had heard yet, but they were soon dashing into rooms with TVs to look. We didn't get much work done that day.

Kate

Louisiana is here. I was caulking a window next to the TV and when the first plane hit everyone thought it was an acdcident, then the second hit and I never did finish caulking the window til I don't know when.

PATRICK

Missouri

Another from Michigan checking in. I awakened by a telephone call from my sister. she said "turn on the TV NOW!" and hung up.
I ran, it is funny how you remember details from that morning... I remember thinking that my hair was all in my face & in my eyes as I ran toward the tv. I got there just in time to see the first tower fall.

I stayed the way I was the whole day, glued to the TV in disbelief, in my pajamas, w/ messy wild hair all in my face for the rest of the day. I felt paralyzed.

God bless all those poor souls that perished, and God show infinite mercy & care to their loved ones.

Betty

DC (the 51st State) is here. My eyes STILL don't believe what they saw. It was the sheer weirdness of seeing fighter planes (and no others) flying over the city for the following week that really gave us pause. That and trying to see what had happened to the Pentagon (we often drive by the side which was hit, but those roads were closed for quite a while).

One of my neighbors could see the smoke from his apartment. The rest of us relied on TV.

Those passengers on the plane that went down in that field in Pennsylvania saved us from untold misery. Bless them all, forever.

Arkansas for 59 years and now central Florida.

DC (the 51st State)
New York
Washington State
Arkansas
Missouri
Louisiana
Kansas
Florida
Rhode Island
Texas
North Carolina
California
Michigan
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Arizona
Maryland
New Jersey
South Carolina
This is a great post, Redsox.

Wisconsin---frost warnings on the news tonight, the end of my rose season draws near---"sigh"

North Dakota...

I woke and and began getting ready for work and heard the news on TV. I will never forget

Southern California here. My most vivid, unforgettable memory is bodies hurtling out of the windows because the fire was behind them and they had no other place to go.

Ingrid

North Texas here.
I'll never forgot the shock of that day.
I was at work, and we kept getting word-of-mouth reports coming in.
The people in those beautiful, shining towers, the Pentagon, etc ... all being targeted.
It was very chaotic, no one knew what was happening, only that something horrible was going on inside our borders.
Interesting that one of the impacts of that day is that it drew Americans closer together.

Randy

DC (the 51st State)
New York
Washington State
Arkansas
Missouri
Louisiana
Kansas
Florida
Rhode Island
Texas
North Carolina
California
Michigan
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Arizona
Maryland
New Jersey
South Carolina
North Dakota
Wisconsin

I'll chime in for Alabama.

My husband's workplace had a memorial service today which was packed out.

I like New Hampshire's state motto, "Live free or die."

and Vermont's, "Freedom and Unity."

Annie

New Mexico for the last two years - Alaska for the prior 36 years.

Another Northern Californian.... Butte County, Sierra Nevadas.

I still have a hard time when they show pics of the twin towers in older movies; or seeing the footage of them burning and then crashing down. Just gives me the creeps. So many lives lost... so sad...

Virginia here

Maine. It was a beautiful clear blue-sky day (we had the same weather as NY). I was working in my garden. Dh called me in. After being transfixed for an hour, I forced myself to leave the TV and spent the rest of the day in the garden thinking and grieving.

I lived in NY the first 43 years of my life. We moved to Georgia in 2000. Which was lucky since my husband used to work in WTC and probably would have been trapped in there since he was on the 90 something floor.

I was most overcome by the reaction from the rest of the country to NY. There has always been a love/hate relationship between NY and the rest of the country. I never expected the outpouring of help and support. Guys driving 16 hours straight to get to Ground Zero to help. It was the one bright spot in the terrible time.

We have to get back to that feeling of being one country and end this division. That was probably the worse thing that happened to our country and we survived. Let's not tear ourselves apart now.

Another VA (SW- Roanoke) here. One thing I remember is how quiet it was with no planes flying overhead for a few days. It has to be one of the most brilliant military strikes in history in terms of how few of their "soldiers" they lost, and the huge changes it made in the lives of an entire country (ie us). What we don't realize is how they can't defeat us militarily, but are beating us by using our own beliefs and values against us.(sorry for the political ramblings)

Pennsylvania

DC (the 51st State)
New York
Washington State
Arkansas
Missouri
Louisiana
Kansas
Florida
Rhode Island
Texas
North Carolina
California
Michigan
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Arizona
Maryland
New Jersey
South Carolina
North Dakota
Wisconsin
New Mexico
Alabama
Virginia
Maine
Pennsylvania

I also see post from these states in the Rose Gallery
Colorado
Massachusetts
Nebraska
Minnesota
Mississippi
South Carolina
Tennessee

another Missouri

Tennessee.
I was going up to visit Deb, a rose friend, when I turned on the car radio. I heard the ABC coverage on FM radio, told DH to turn on the TV and went up, anyway. So I heard, rather than saw, the report of the second tower being hit, and then heard about them coming down.
Deb's daughter watched the televised celebrations from the Levant and I think that was her first loss of innocence because such celebrating was incomprehensible to a pre-teen.
We're also under a major flight path and the following days' quiet skies was so different.

Western WA here, but Oregon too, my parents live there and we're all rose freaks! I'm down there visiting them so much, I feel like Portland is also home.

Northern CA too, that's where we're all from.

Lived in the Bay Area when 9-11 happened. My parents called me and told me to put on CNN. The first thing I wanted to do was go grab my then 3rd grader, and bring her home.

I live in SOHO in NYC just north of THE WTC my neighbor rang my bell crying we went downstairs looked down the street and watched and we all cried together. It seemed like only a few minutes and we were surrounded by somthing out of a sci fi film thousands of people walking north covered in dust. I went and opened out community garden told some members who came with children that maybe the kids shouldgo home because the air had to be toxic. I used to be buiding warden and knew that all the wires and computer housings by the thousands had given off a lot of nasty stuff let alone the pulverized glass. Last night I walked home from work and 2 colums of light were there! Enough said! The show I work for made this memorial video out of the tons of paper that were comming down everywhere.

Here is a link that might be useful: Exhibit 13

Another TN here - I agree with Ingrid - one of the most disturbing images for me was the people jumping out of the windows to avoid being consumed by fire. The entirety of that day remains incomprehensible to me.

Willamette Valley, Oregon. Rose Growing Heaven
K

I was in Charleston near the Air Force base. I was working at a physicians office programming some equipment. One of the docs came in and got me. He took me to his office where he had a TV on. One tower was in flames. We watched for a bit and then he and the other doctors returned to seeing their patients. Minutes later I saw a second plane smash into the other tower and I heard someone scream........it was me. One by one the phones in the physicians personal offices began to ring. All I heard was "yes sir, yes sir" and then the back door closing. Within 2 minutes every doctor had left the office. I learned later they were all in the reserves. The office grew still and quite so I left Charleston for home. The roads were deserted.

The memory of that day feels like a haunting....a cold stillness that comes back to mind every September 11th.

Ronda
Born and raised in Ohio.
Current resident of South Carolina

NYC
DC (the 51st State)
New York
Washington State
Arkansas
Missouri
Louisiana
Kansas
Florida
Rhode Island
Texas
North Carolina
California
Michigan
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Arizona
Maryland
New Jersey
South Carolina
North Dakota
Wisconsin
New Mexico
Alabama
Virginia
Maine
Pennsylvania
Oregon
Tennessee

I lived in NY the first 43 years of my life. We moved to Georgia in 2000. Which was lucky since my husband used to work in WTC and probably would have been trapped in there since he was on the 90 something floor.

I was most overcome by the reaction from the rest of the country to NY. There has always been a love/hate relationship between NY and the rest of the country. I never expected the outpouring of help and support. Guys driving 16 hours straight to get to Ground Zero to help. It was the one bright spot in the terrible time.

We have to get back to that feeling of being one country and end this division. That was probably the worse thing that happened to our country and we survived. Let's not tear ourselves apart now.

Utah here. I was driving my kids to school and had the radio on. I wasn't really listening while they were in the car, then when they got out, I really started listening. The first plane had just hit the two towers, and the second hit just after I started listening. I had to go to work, and we didn't do anything and no customers came in (I worked at a nursery, then). They offered to let some people go home, and I went home and got my kids and hugged them tight. I will never forget that day. My cousin actually worked in the towers, but he missed his train that morning, and it might have saved his life. Truly a day to always be remembered.

Vermont here.
My father called me to tell me to watch TV. When I saw the first tower go down, I WILLED the other one to stay up and can remember the desolation and despair I felt as it, too, fell. I am still amazed at the loss of life. Because of the evacuations after the previous attack and because the towers burned for so long, I assumed that most people had had time to make it out when they fell.

NYC
DC (the 51st State)
New York
Washington State
Arkansas
Missouri
Louisiana
Kansas
Florida
Rhode Island
Texas
North Carolina
California
Michigan
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Arizona
Maryland
New Jersey
South Carolina
North Dakota
Wisconsin
New Mexico
Alabama
Virginia
Maine
Pennsylvania
Oregon
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
Delaware
Ohio
Colorado
Massachusetts
Nebraska
Minnesota
Montana
Connecticut
Mississippi

Adding Nevada, and alphabetizing for clarity.

I don't normally have the TV on in the morning. I recall that, once it did get turned on, it stayed on 24 hrs a day for days after. Clearly an event which eclipsed most everything else in one's day to day life for a long time after.

NYC
DC (the 51st State)

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Missouri
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

Illinois