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06.24.08, 07:48 AM General Topics
93 replies
Most enduring memory of 9/11 or the weeks that followed. [ Reply | Watch | Flag ]
General Topics 06.24.08, 07:48 AM Flag
 

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the smell [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:49 AM Flag
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My husvbands post tramutic syndrome. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:51 AM Flag
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OMG, yes. We lived right across the river, in Brooklyn, and it lingered for weeks. And waiting for the woman across the street to come home, knowing that she wouldn't. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:51 AM Flag
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np: All the soot and shreds of papers that landed in our yard in Brooklyn. We scoured the lists of people killed hoping the man whose memo we found was not one of them. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:06 AM Flag
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did you ever find out? [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:09 AM Flag
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His name never showed up, thank goodness. We just moved, and couldn't figure out what to do with the memo, seemed wrong to throw it away. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:13 AM Flag
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seeing all the people walking up Third Avenue around 1 pm covered with the dust and looking like zombies (understandably). [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 03:23 PM Flag
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Ditto about the smell!!!!! [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 03:31 PM Flag
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omg why? [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:13 PM Flag
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^^^i mean, why is this being discussed? [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:15 PM Flag
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for some people it's cathartic [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:42 AM Flag
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I realize I haven't discussed this in years. It's helpful to feel the sadness again and realize what we all went through. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.30.08, 06:51 AM Flag
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the missing poster of a guy named Brendan. I didn't know him, but he somehow reminded me of family. Sitting with an Arabic neighbor in a restaurant. Wandering through Park Slope on a sunny day with everyone looking dazed, yet thankful to be alive. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:21 PM Flag
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i didn't even get halfway through reading this post before i started crying, i can't believe how much time has past since that day. i've never been so affected by something in my life. i'm not an emotional person, but any talk of this day makes me break down. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.26.08, 01:55 PM Flag
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I lived in Cobble Hill in an apt with a deck. Every day, ashes and papers from WTC flew over and landed on my deck. Ambulance used my street to bring people over from Manhattan to Brooklyn daily. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.30.08, 05:06 PM Flag
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being out of work [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:52 AM Flag
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In incredibly blue beautiful sky that AM. I was newly pregnant and thought we were at the start of WWIII. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:52 AM Flag
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i remember that. it was really blue. i keep waiting for a paint company to come out with a shade called September eleventh blue. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:17 AM Flag
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I doubt that would make it past the marketing people. Doesn't exactly make you want to buy it. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:54 AM Flag
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sort of creepy. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 03:56 PM Flag
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the flyers everywhere. thoughts of people jumping/falling. the smell that lasted for weeks. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:52 AM Flag
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I also remember all of that, especially the flyers taped up all over. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:58 AM Flag
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i think of those everytime i go walk through that one corridor in the union square subway station, where there are still those labels stuck on the tiles w/ the names of the people that died. (i can't believe it was already almost 7 years ago...) [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:02 AM Flag
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They were like mines. You'd turn a corner, and BANG. There was a picture of someone who would never come home. Grief posted on lightpoles. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:03 AM Flag
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Beautiful morning and switching off Chitty Bang, Bang when I got the call to put on the news. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:53 AM Flag
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Watching the fireball after the second plane hit. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:58 AM Flag
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I was on Greenwich Avenue. We all thought it was an explosion from the first building. Then someone said, "No, it was another plane." That's when we knew it couldn't be anything but a terrorist attack. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:41 AM Flag
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I was on Greenwich St., on the roof of my building. The second plane came in over my head (flying south to the WTC). I remember being confused, because it was flying way too low. Then I saw it turn around and come through the second tower. At the same moment, everyone outside realized what was happening. All I could hear was stunned silence and quiet crying from the other rooftops and streets. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.27.08, 11:21 AM Flag
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I meant Greenwich Street too, in front of dd's school [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.27.08, 11:57 AM Flag
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Watching people jumping out of the windows. In fact I just had another dream about this last week. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:59 AM Flag
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I'm sorry. I have a good friend who was there and this still keeps him up at nights. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 10:17 AM Flag
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This is what still haunts me most. I stood there in total shock shutdown, couldn't move or breathe when I saw this. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 02:07 PM Flag
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the sound of it was worse that the visual... trust me. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 02:51 PM Flag
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the intimacy with total strangers. the morning of 9/11 i stopped to listen to someone's car radio and there were a bunch of total strangers, huddled around his car, leaning into it, and sharing this very intimate moment. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:01 AM Flag
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Had to go to the hospital (unfortunately the day of the collapse). All of the doctors, nurses and staff lined up waiting for the wounded and there were none. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:05 AM Flag
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My dh was called to the hospital at the time (a MD) and they waited and waited for patients to help. So, so awful. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:11 AM Flag
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How for a long time afterwards, everyone was gentle with each other. No one yelled, no honking car horns. We were all in it together for a while. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:14 AM Flag
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yes. i remember a bicyclist stopping traffic on park avenue b/c an ambulance was coming through. there was a connection and a gentleness that you don't see in NY. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:18 AM Flag
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A black friend of mine mentioned how less racially hostile the City was after 9-11. I felt it, too. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:19 AM Flag
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I was on the subway at the time heading from the UWS into Brooklyn and remember people getting on the subway saying that a plane hit the WTC, and not believing it...getting to work and seeing my entire office surrounding one TV screen in tears. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:23 AM Flag
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Three things: our receptionist sobbing as she repeatedly dialed her son who was trapped above the impact in Tower 2 (he died); the weeks of homemade posters of the "missing," which was so agonizing, as we were all pretending they might just all have amnesia or something; and what a beautiful, brilliantly blue clear day it was as I finally walked home from the office that day. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 03:19 PM Flag
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omg, that is so upsetting. that poor woman. my dh lost a coworker/friend that day. his wife was 4 months pregnant at the time. so tragic and awful. I still think of him to this day. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:51 PM Flag
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ohh those posters. So sad. The "Missing... My Dad" and then the description. All over. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 10:12 AM Flag
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not being able to locate my BIL (did find him later wandering) and my MIL on the phone hysterical and drinking... she couldn't deal and "medicated" herself... [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 03:46 PM Flag
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being in Europe and strangers realizing you were an American trying to help you and hug you and tell you stories about how Americans saved their country and just the kindness... [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 03:47 PM Flag
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Thinking on the way to work what a gorgeous day it was, it was also my first date with DH. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:00 PM Flag
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the sky that day. I will always remember that. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:15 PM Flag
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The flyers of all the missing people posted at the waterway. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:17 PM Flag
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the rescue equipment going to 2nd ave (which had been closed for this purpose) for hours and days and my nieghbors dogs howling so mournfully as the sirens ran..... [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:48 PM Flag
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My dog refusing to go below Christopher Street for the six months following 9/11. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 05:12 PM Flag
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Finding a new home for my WTC clients ( I had put them in there). [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:48 PM Flag
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I worked as a volunteer at the Red Cross down there (at a beverage/food cart) and the smell was awful, also seeing all the workers come by for something to drink and eat. I just remember their faces. so so awful. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 04:53 PM Flag
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Tanks on the streets of the West Village. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 05:09 PM Flag
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tanks in Central Park [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 05:17 PM Flag
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Co-workers crying the boardroom watching the second plane hit and someone screamed "we're in Times Square we gotta get out of here". [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 05:17 PM Flag
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I was running late and watching TV as I finished getting ready. Calling my colleagues in Citcorp ande telling them to get out of the builidng, calling my partner in CT who had clients in WTC and telling him to call them and have them leave, calling my dh and hysterically telling him to get those form his company out (and he later called me back to say they didn't need to leave they were in the "other" tower. Calling my client in WTC and telling them to leave. I was watching WNBC. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 05:20 PM Flag
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I was in my office which was next to the federal bldg downtown...listening to the radio after 1st plane hit, hearing a huge boom, a few seconds later the radio announcer says 'we just got word that a 2nd plane has hit the 2nd tower' and my boss said immediately "we are being attacked...this is deliberate" while I was still sitting in foggy disbelief....looked out the window and see people pouring out of the fed bldg. I just grabbed my bag and said "I'm going home" - by the time I got downstairs they were evacuating our bldg too [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:14 PM Flag
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The smell. And taking pictures of the Empire State Building from our window in case thet was going to blow up too. The kindness of strangers. And again the smell. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 07:59 PM Flag
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Inability to locate friends. Lost 3 (including a newly married couple) plus my neighbor across the hall I'd spoken to in the hallway for 45 minutes the night before. Only I'd learned about him weeks later at a social event by accident. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:03 PM Flag
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When Canal Street was the cutoff boundary, I saw a big breasted chick do a jiggly boob dance for the firemen who were cheering her on ala girls gone wild. Yeah, way to support the FDNY. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:17 PM Flag
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you gotta work with what you've got [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:47 AM Flag
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two come to mind: walking down 57th st, hearing a plane, and everyone stopping and ducking because we thought it was the "missing plane." and a day later, falling on my kitchen floor, listening to NPR track down people associated with the papers that were flying around downtown. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:21 PM Flag
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Feeling the impact in my apt. in B'lyn Heights when the 2nd plane hit--the whole apt. shook--I thought something had landed on our roof. Walking through the park at Union Sq. looking at the missing posters and gasping when I realized someone I knew (but hadn't had contact with in many years) was among the dead. The smell that lingered for days and weeks. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 08:45 PM Flag
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How beautiful it was that day. How that was the day we realized my dog was dying of cancer. The powerful love and protectiveness I felt and still feel for the city. An image of a man jumping from one of the buildings -- I had herd of people jumping, but had not seen any images until I came across this one in the Times and it burned itself into my brain. How awful it must have been that one would see jumping to one's death as preferable. I feel so sad writing this. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 10:25 PM Flag
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Watching the 1st tower fall and knowing my dear friend was inside. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.24.08, 10:32 PM Flag
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That sucks. Sorry. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 10:18 AM Flag
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I'm getting real chills in my body reading this... I remember looking up at the hole in tower one as I was on my way to work in tower two (late, as usual, looking up from 6th ave., walking to the Christopher st. station). I remember thinking, "this is the worst thing I will ever see", and sort of searing the memory of the shape of the hole, and the smoke, into my memory. As I near 7th ave. (no longer able to see the wtc), I see all the people on 7th collectively gasp, stare and stop walking (or run). I hear someone say a plane hit the second building. I say, "I work in that building", and I try to call. I return home, uncomprehending, messages already coming in to my home phone, praying my best friend since high school with whom I worked is ok. Learning she was, that 4 other coworkers didn't get out (down from a longer list of unaccounted fors), you know the rest... the "missing" posters, falling papers, checkpoints at 14th st... the open stares and open hearts, a small mob at an Islamic center, shouting, the smell... the feeling of coming together, of coming home... the feeling that that things would never be the same... [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 12:50 AM Flag
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seeing the towers fall (we live downtown), ppl throwing themselves and the smell. In our apt we had smell for like 2 months. I also remember seeing ppl walk up our avenue covered in soot. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 04:28 AM Flag
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How we were down there for our anniversary the night before and were deciding whether to go to windows for a drink but already had way too much so didn't. Wishing I had. Many others though. I still actually think about it almost every day [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 04:34 AM Flag
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My dead DH [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 04:38 AM Flag
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I'm sorry... [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 06:30 AM Flag
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That's so awful. It must be hard even reading these posts. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 02:57 PM Flag
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[ Removed by moderator ] [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 03:03 PM Flag
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Two thoughts: Driving out to family on Long Island and every over-pass on the Northern State had a/several flags attached to it. And nobody honked for weeks. It was like some Twilight Zone here in so many ways but I remember how quiet the streets were. Cabbies didn't honk. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:26 AM Flag
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Little kids blissfully playing in Bleecker Street Playground on a beautiful day -- while their silent, shell-shocked parents looked on. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:34 AM Flag
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the innocence; I remember dd saying "This is the most boring day of my life." and thinking how nice she has no idea how tragic it really was [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:51 AM Flag
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Oh yes! I remember driving by a schoolyard in the suburbs that day, seeing kids playing and knowing that some of their parents wouldn't be coming home that night. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 02:59 PM Flag
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watching fighter planes flying overhead adn trying to figure out what to tell my k dc only to find out another parent already announced it to the class. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:42 AM Flag
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I used to order the same dish from my local Chinese restaurant at least once a week. It got to the point where I'd call and say, "Yeah can I get an order deliv..." and the young woman on the other end would say, "Roast pork lo mein, two diet pepsi, you want boneless spareribs tonight?" And the delivery guy would smile ten minutes later as I overtipped him and said "she she." (As close to thank you as I can get in Chinese.) I moved September 1st, 2001. And I had no "friends" in my new neighborhood. No delivery folks I could call my own. That changed ten days later. We all got really close really quickly. Several months later, still searching for a decent delivery place in my new neck of Brooklyn (15 blocks away) I grabbed a flier I had found when I got home from work. I called and ordered steamed veggies and soup. (I was dieting.) When the delivery person brought my food it was that same guy. He broke out crying, "I thought you died in the tower..." He said, "I'm so glad you are alive." That is what 9/11 means to me today. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 09:51 AM Flag
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(cont) ...I grabbed a flier I had found when I got home from work. I called and ordered steamed veggies and soup. (I was dieting.) When the delivery person brought my food it was that same guy. He broke out crying, "I thought you died in the tower..." He said, "I'm so glad you are alive." That is what 9/11 means to me today. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 10:00 AM Flag
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really? the delivery person? hmm.. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 02:09 PM Flag
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I'm a dh if that matters. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 02:45 PM Flag
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omg, that story made me cry. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.30.08, 07:01 AM Flag
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I was late to work that day. From the F train in Brooklyn I could the towers on fire, increasingly obscured by smoke. My cell wouldn't work. Then we were underground. When I got out at 23rd Street I ran to 5th and looked down, and could only see 1 tower. I stood there for a minute hoping it was just obscured by the smoke. Then I ran fast to the office to call my parents and my husband (all of whom worked downtown). [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 01:50 PM Flag
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the smell, the sirens, people screaming as the towers crumbling, people screaming when the second plane hit, p [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 02:57 PM Flag
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The fear; the fucking fear. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.25.08, 05:58 PM Flag
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the memory of the anger I felt when I heard my fellow graduate student cheering in the computing lab. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.27.08, 11:22 AM Flag
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flying back to the east coast on 9/14, the first day they flew again after 9/11, and how there were no planes in the sky at all for 3 days. there was a moment of silence in the LA airport and no one spoke a word. a guy on our plane made a joke about 9/11 and cops stormed the plane and took him away, and then the flight attendants went through the entire plane to make sure every bag belonged to someone. then when we flew into NY the pilot told us where to look to see the destroyed towers, and everyone looked sadly out at the smoking ruins. took a taxi to the upper west side and everyone was walking around in the dusk with candles. finally made it to my mom's, she was getting married the next morning, and she just curled up in bed with me at 2 a.m. and hugged me. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.27.08, 08:25 PM Flag
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I remember rushing my daycare class inside quickly in D.C. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.27.08, 08:50 PM Flag
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my mother in law screaming about allowing foreigners in this country and me screaming back at her that i'm first generation american [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.29.08, 04:08 PM Flag
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The hospitals gearing up to receive thousands of patients then being eerily quiet because people either walked away or they died. Very few between the two extremes. Also, the terrible realization that all the missing people in those flyers were dead and wouldn't be found. I was working in news and received an email from a former colleague asking us to help send the word out for her husband. She had found love late in life and had left work to care for her children. Her husband died in there and it still breaks my heart. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.30.08, 06:50 AM Flag
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A shoe store just decided to give out all their sneakers to women walking in heels or barefoot, covered in soot. A restaurant set up a table and handed out water to everyone who wanted one (thirsty from walking). A random man started directing traffic. I lived next to Arab American Family Center and they got bomb threats weekly. Bomb sniffing dogs came w/ the police weekly. I walked with Jewish, Christian and Muslim/Arab neighbors in a show of unity in Brooklyn Peace vigil. I wrote cards for my Arab neighbors (storeowners on Atlantic avenue) to show my support (they were getting threats) and the storeowners taped my card on the windows - I didn't know it meant a lot to them but it really warmed my heart. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.30.08, 05:04 PM Flag
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I was in the subway train when the first plane hit WTC. A couple of girls came and they were hysterical. I thought they were crazy people and didn't pay attention at all to them. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.30.08, 05:07 PM Flag
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