I wasn't on GW back then, but I was reading another forum when someone said, "Turn on your TVs; something is happening in New York," just after the first plane hit. I think most Floridians knew someone who died that day. I also had a childhood friend who was in the second tower, and a neighbor had recently retire from being an instructor at the Fire Academy. He was never the same after that day.

That whole week was unbelievably awful. My 12-year-old nephew's best friend was killed that day by a distracted driver and later that week a former neighbor of my parents on Sanibel was eaten by an alligator.

I'm sorry for your friend, Deb. It was a terrible time.

I lived in DC at the time. It was so strange to see such heavily armed men and women and equipment patrolling.

I remember the fear, too. We didn't know if this was a one-off or if there would be more. My son was living in Chicago, where the Sears Tower is, and he said everyone was just walking around terrified that they would attack it.

The guys who piloted the planes trained 10 miles away from me in Venice. The strangest thing was that there were three Arab brothers who lived in a house across the street from me. I never paid much attention to how they looked, and never met them. After 9/11, they just disappeared. They owned the house, but they just left. Later, a white lady moved in and said she was their sister-in-law, but you never saw a husband. I asked her if the guys were ever coming back, and she said no, that they weren't coming back, and she just sort of looked down at the ground. I always wondered if they had something to do with it.

Yes, it was so confusing at first, then so frightening. This island was in a no-fly zone for years because of the nuke, and they rushed to build big berms all around it and had guys with bazookas at all the entrances for a long, long time afterwards.

About three weeks afterwards I played a wedding where some of the family weren't there because they'd been on the plane from Boston on 9/11. It was so sad.

"This island was in a no-fly zone for years because of the nuke...." Please explain. Thank you.

I can only relate my 9/11 feelings as we observe the 17th anniversary of that sorrowful day.

Born and raised on the upper West Side of Manhattan,
a long time ago, I only remember the neighborhood where the towers were
attacked, years before they were built. It was a busy neighborhood
primarily consisting of 80 + yr old red brick tenement buildings,..5 - 7
stories high, all with commercial stores on the ground level, facing
the busy street out front. What made that area special to me and many
other natives was that the sidewalks were teeming with tables
displaying various wares ! In 1963 it was simply a carnival every day of
shouting merchants and frenetic buyers !!!

On that fateful day in 2001, I was a Florida Keys
resident and recently retired ! I awoke at 8 AM, turned on
the TV and less than an hour later was stunned by what I saw, as we
all were !

This morning I got caught up again in the
personalized stories on TV ! Then, after an hour or so, I had to shut
the TV down and find something else to do. Have been there, have seen
enough, and forced myself to think instead about the NY Jets great
victory last night ! ( weak smile )

Will always have that sick feeling every 9/11 till
forever ! I know a lot about the hate most Arabs have,..- lived and
worked for 13 yrs in the oil fields of eastern Saudi Arabia until 1991 ! Heard the
stories from friends still working there about the laughing, hilarious
afternoon hubbly-bubbly sessions the older Arab's held after 9/11 !!
They were all so thrilled ! No comment lest I get deleted !

After I moved here to Englewood in 2004, I drove up to Sharky's in Venice
many times,..always driving past Venice Municipal Airport where Mohammed
Atta and a few of his demented, hate filled Islamic brothers actually
took flying lessons just prior to 9/11 !!! Most of the locals didn't want to
discuss that episode, - especially after it was revealed the vile
assassins said they only wanted instructions on how to
fly those big jets once they were up high,..they had no
interest in learning how to take-off or land !

I still mourn, not only for all the poor people inside the Twin Towers, but also all those FDNY, NYPD & other responders who immediately flew
into that chaotic, polluted air scene so heroically ! One of my
childhood buddies was an FDNY responder,..dying 12 yrs ago from lung
cancer,..and he never smoked !

Irma, I live on Hutchinson Island, about five miles down the road from this:

I was living in New York City at the time and I was in school in midtown when the planes crashed into the towers. I had to walk over the bridge into Brooklyn to get out of Manhattan because all public transportation was stopped and I didn't have a car.

Wow, Florida_Joes. That's a long walk. I remember all those people walking across the bridge, some of them covered with dust. It was so sad.