September 11, 2001 was a beautiful day in New York City. The sky was an almost cloudless blue and then, at 9:03 am, something changed the course of the lives of Americans forever.
I remember being in dance class in high school and our instructor ran outside, telling us that something happened at World Trade Center . Most North Carolina residents had no idea what the Twin Towers were. Honestly, we thought we were watching a movie play out on our screens. The images of the towers will forever be etched in my mind. Although I didn’t suffer through it the way many New Yorkers did.
September 11th became a day of infamy and years later, people are still affected by what happened. We asked our Facebook fans where they were on 9/11 and many of them gave us their emotional perspective of what happened that sad day in 2001.
Read some of the most touching ones below:
Lesline MrsElba Colden: I was there, walking to work, which is directly across the street from WTC & I saw the 1st plane fly. That crunching sound is a sound I will never forget ………I watched people jump KNOWING that there was nothing below to catch them because the heat of the fire was THAT unbearable!
But that is the day that I CONFIRMED that MY GOD is real because amidst all that confusion, I felt ‘someone’ tap me on my shoulder & say “Lesline, go home”! I turned around & no one was there! So I KNEW then who IT was & I left & made it safely home to Brooklyn.
I say all that to say, listen to that ‘voice’ inside of you, there are plenty of people who listened to a person over the PA system who told them to go back to their desks & that the ‘situation’ in the next tower was ‘under control’………
ALWAYS follow YOUR voice & your mind! And with that I bid all those that died that day & those that subsequently lost theirs in the events behind 9/11, a most heartfelt RIP! Rest In Paradise!
Magz Ali: on my way to a temp job in lower manhattan, my boyfriend at the time called me frantically and told me not to get on the train and run home.
Aries Gentry: Just found out i was pregnant the day before. I was laying in my bed wondering what kind of world i was bringing my son into.
Joc Thickums Ervin: At the Atlanta airport working…they canceled all flights, marta services and road ways.3 Weeks prior I had given birth to my baby and they wasnt allowing us to go home and I couldn’t find a way to my child, so I began walking on the expressway to be with my baby in fear that it was going to happen there.i prayed ask the way home.by the time the first tower,i was holding my baby I’m my arms
Martha Durham: I was standing in front of a television in Louisiana on Fort Polk Army Base. I was holding my grand daughter Alexis and starring at the TV . My daughter was in the Army and she was at work. At the time there were plans being made to send her to NY and me back to Binghamton, NY. I still can not believe what I saw on TV that day. My son used to work in one of those buildings, and when I worked in Brooklyn I used to pass them on occasion when I had to go to our liaison office at 250 Church in Manhattan. Very sad times. Thank God due to circumstances at the time my daughter was never sent to the WTC. But I do remember that on my way back to NY they had to deice one of the planes I was on and when I saw a man on the plane outside of the window I freaked out. I was already nervous and I was traveling with my baby grand daughter. I do remember that I popped a tape in the VCR at the time and too this day I have not looked at that tape. But I did make a trip to the site the next time I went to NY and it was devastating. It was all boarded up and people were selling books. I remember thinking how did they put this together to be out here selling them so quickly.
Nelly Mobley: My husband was dropping me off at my office across from the Empire State Building as we listened to the radio telling all New Yorkers what had just occurred. I went to my office which was below ground level and thats when I heard the 1st tower story, I was trying to call my husband but he was already on his way back to get me. My brother had sent me a text telling me he was just about to deliver a package to the Trade Center, when he saw the plane hit the 1st tower. We tried to contact him, but to no avail. I told my husband that we had to pick up my dad and 2 of my friends, who worked close by. And then the 2nd tower.. As we are driving to pick them up, a mob of people rush outta time square, I rush outtta my car and start running in the opposite direction. Finally, I caught a hold of myself and walked back to the car. We pick up the friends, dad decided to stay at work. We were stuck in traffic for 7 hours for what would normally be a 20 min ride. We watched all the people walking, their eyes filled with tears, their bodies covered in soot. We finally heard from my brother. We arrived at my mom’s home and sat in disbelief as we watched on TV the events that had forever changed our lives.