I still remember getting an urgent phone call from my boss's husband, telling us all to catch the news on our computers. My first call was to my hubby, who at that time was still working for Delta Airlines, in Atlanta (I was in Jax)to alert him ( he worked midnight shift and had just gotten to bed), as he was on the emergency response team at the reservations office. Then I called my brothers office--he had about 30 employees who were constantly flying on business for his fund raising company--all were accounted for but would be stranded for several days as a result of airport lockdowns.As many of you know, I fly every week back and forth to Jax for work, and not a single time goes by when I board a plane do I not think of all those people on those flights. I have had several panic attacks while flying in recent years, but prayer gets me thru and just knowing that all those "rules" about security are in place for a reason. Hopefully this country will never have to go through that again.

I was working at a pharmaceutical company. We were in the cafeteria watching it all on the large conference television. We were all released quickly as we were considered a possible target because the company developed drugs for animals. I refused to go home via the subway. Instead of taking one bus and the subway, it took me four changes of buses to get home. Downtown Boston was just about in lockdown after one p.m. All public transportation was free. They wanted to get the people home as fast as possible. All unnecessary workers were sent home from all office buildings. If you were still out on the street, you were stopped and questioned. If you were at the airport waiting for a flight out, too bad. You were directed to one of the hotels located outside of the airport. Because two of the planes too off from Boston, we were pretty much out of commision for a couple of days. ALL police and saftey personnel were called to work. My son was a paramedic at the time and spent three days on call sleeping in the back of the ambulance. And 9/11 just happens to be his birthday.

And I told you about one of the terrorists being my next door neighbor. He was the pilot for the second plane that took out the second tower.

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Once known for a brief time as Adele...

Remember, Oh My is not God's first name nor is Da*m It God's last name.

My son was in middle school, and I'd dropped him off at 8AM. Drove back home and stretched out on the couch. Normally I'd click the TV on for news, but I had a headache, so I was going noise-free.

My husband called from work around 9:30 and said, "Have you seen what's happening in New York?" I put on the TV and sat there in shock. I was supposed to leave for work at 10:00, but that didn't happen -- I didn't even *try* to call them.

We'd been to the top of the WTC -- a favorite thing to do in New York. DH had been in and out of Dulles many times for business trips and done work at the Pentagon. Hearing that flights were out of Logan -- *our* airport. Hearing the flight numbers -- we'd *taken* that American flight to L.A. before. News flashes of what may or may not be happening in Boston -- so nearby. I'd try to call my husband and update him as the morning went by. Sometimes I'd get through, sometimes I wouldn't.

I went grocery shopping the day after. Stared at the sky -- still perfectly clear, cloudless, and azure blue. And not one plane or contrail in it.

I was amazed to think this morning that 8 years have passed. That day will never leave me.

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On the web at http://www.catnapcrafts.com

My heart goes out to you, Addie. Take comfort in the fact that none of us could even imagine, before 9/11, that such a series of events was actually possible.

Peace be with you.
j.

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On the web at http://www.catnapcrafts.com

And blessings to your family, too, Janine. Your husband, and his brethren, did (and do) incredible work. They are true heroes. Thank you to him.

I took my mother to the WTC site three years ago. She grew up in Brooklyn, and her dad worked in lower Manhattan years ago -- the Whitehall Building, next to Battery Park. She worked on Church Street after high school.

The site still has incredible power, and we must never forget the sacrifices.

Respectfully,
j.

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On the web at http://www.catnapcrafts.com

Thank you J. and elayne.

We went into the city about 3 weeks after. The debris pile was huge, you don't realize how high it was when you see it on TV. There was pieces of metal sticking out of the buildings around Ground Zero and the windows were blown out. There were memorials all over the city.

J. - I was born in Brooklyn, by Sunset Park.

They had rescue dogs looking for survivors. The dogs were becoming depressed because they weren't finding anyone alive. The rescue workers would lay down and pretend to be victims so the dogs could find them.

My husband was there for 32 hours the first couple of days. He slept in that little church that's right there.

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It was a Tuesday, I too remember like it was yesterday. I was working at the office here in the city that handles assaults. WE had staff meeting, so everybody was in. A young intern came in the said somebody just crashed the WTC I told her that was an old clip. She was young I thought she saw something that happened years before when they tryed to attack it. I too did not think this could happen again.

Then everybody went to the office with the TV. When I first saw the clip, I thought what didn't they see the big building, no body would do that on purpose. As I walked out I said out loud, here we go another Okwahoma, you know the federal building. Little did I know. Downtown Philadelphia was litterly a goast town by 2pm. I too would not get the train, I walked about 15 blocks to get a bus, and did this about 3 monthes after that.

All the schools dismissed early, As my special needs son came off the school bus, I was leaving to go cousel a survivor, at the neighborhood hospital, My son got real upset, and said someone would really hurt another person on a day like this, don't they know what happend.

My grandaughter wasn't born yet, but the other day, she asked about it. And realy sweetly said why grandmom, all I could say was that some people really don't like otehr people. Shes only a smart 6.