Where were you?

There are a lot of historical world events regarding which people remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at that precise moment. I was a little young for the Kennedy and King assassinations, I was 7 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and there just haven't been any seminal news-moments since that are seared into my brain...until 9.11.2001.

I was taking a shortcut to work through a hospital lobby near my lab. There was a wall-mounted TV and maybe 10 people were gathered around watching something. I stopped just out of curiosity and watched the coverage of the first plane that had hit the WTC. We all chatted about what an incredible flying mistake it must have taken to mess up that badly...until the second plane hit. By then, there were 40 people standing around watching the coverage and there was an audible gasp at the realization that it was an attack and not an accident. I'll never forget the looks on 40 faces as we stared at each other, trying to wrap our brains around the possibility that multiple groups of hijackers had managed to fly commercial planes full of passengers into the tallest buildings in New York.

It's important to remember the seething rage we felt that day and to stay focused on the fight against the terrorists. To that end, please take a moment and think back to 9.11.01 and recount for us where you were, what you were doing and what you were thinking as events unfolded. I'll post all the stories in a new window so others can read them.