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Thanks for the ping. I was at work when a co-worker came to tell me to log onto the internet. He said, "This is worse than the Hindenberg!" I logged on--my home page of MSNBC wouldn't load, so I checked out CNN and saw that one plane had hit one of the buildings of the WTC. The internet was so slow that morning! I then logged on to Free Republic, because y'all who have access to TV are so good about reporting what's being said on the news. All the other news sites were overwhelmed that morning. I thought it might be terrorists, but how can you be sure with only one plane? I can't remember when I heard about the second plane, but as soon as I did, I knew, of course it was terrorists and I knew it was Islamist terrorists. My co-workers were darting in and out of offices speculating with each other, but still doing some work. I was standing in my boss's doorway talking to him when my co-worker told me that the Pentagon had been hit. That's when I started to feel sick on my stomach, and I knew we were at war.

Another co-worker had a TV on in their office and I would wander in there from time to time to see what was happening, as were many others in my office. Nobody was getting much done. After somebody told me the second tower had completely collapsed, I just couldn't believe it! I went in to where the TV was (no cable in the office--so we watched NBC) and crouched down to sit on the floor in front of about a dozen other co-workers. Nobody was listening to what NBC was saying; we were just talking among ourselves and watching the screen. I got up to go downstairs to have a smoke, and as soon as I walked down the hall I heard a collective incredulous gasp come from the room and I rushed back in--the first tower had completely collapsed. A native New Yorker who works with us was dumbfounded.

When we heard about the plane going down in Pennsylvania (although we didn't know it was Pennsylvania at the time), I told my co-worker, "I wouldn't be surprised if the pilot crashed the plane on purpose to keep from going to Washington." I didn't think about the passengers having anything to do with it.

When I went downstairs to have a smoke, a black lady who works in another business was the only other one outside, so I tried to strike up a conversation with her and she said, "We shouldn't have walked out of that conference." (meaning that UN conference on race relations) which really pissed me off. Talk about a one-track mind! I told her that had nothing to do with anything. Upstairs, I told my boss that I wasn't getting anything done, and he said he understood. It took him a long time for everything to sink in. He was supposed to have a lunch appointment in one of our city's tallest buildings. He called and cancelled. Even though I felt sick on my stomach, I went to lunch and got something to eat. I wondered if the malls were safe, and I was thinking, "Should I be afraid to go to the mall, or make a bold statement and go?" I went through the drive-thru for fast food. As I was returning to the office, I saw an SUV with a little American flag (the little ones that go on your desk) taped to its rear view mirror. That made me feel a lot better as to how the country was going to react to this.

When I returned to the office, another co-worker told me that the President of our company's son works in the WTC and he couldn't be reached. Our pres was in another town for a conference and had received a call in his car from his wife letting him know she couldn't reach him, so he turned around and was headed for home when he got another call. His son was OK--he had overslept that morning and was on his way to work when the planes hit.

My husband left work early that day--he was more upset than I was, if that's possible. He was born in Chile, served 7 years in the U.S. Navy and has been an American citizen for many years. He's always felt nostalgic for his home country, and he says there are times when he feels more Chilean than American, but starting on September 11, he says he feels "100% Gringo" ("gringo" in Chile is not a deragotory term). When I got home, he had already hung out our American flag.