I live and work about 1 and 1/2 hours from DC on the eastern shore of Maryland. I was at work, when a customer called our office and said that he had heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We immediately thought it was an accident…..we went to the TV in the office and it wasn’t even on the TV yet! Within seconds they showed what had happened….we were just about to go back to work and the second plane hit. I immediately said, ” This is terrorism” and really could’nt believe what I was seeing. Everything broke loose from there. We were watching as the Pentagon was hit, and for a moment I really was afraid to even go outside. I thought that any minute there would be many planes dropping bombs and didn’t know what else to think. We never left our little kitchen where the TV was. When the buildings collapsed, I remember thinking, “well, just the top half of the tower is coming off”. I literally could not believe that the building was completely down.
We went to the WTC in 9th grade, 1980. I remember having to back up to the curb and lean back to see the top of the towers. I never thought they’d be gone in my lifetime. This is, unfortunately, my generations’ Pearl Harbor. It is still unbelievable.