Did not realize so much of the country just folded up
NorthPark Mall in Davenport, IA shut down early that day (they are managed by some mall management company, same one as one of the malls in Duluth, MN, which iirc, also shut early), some lady was fussing at us b/c the mall was closed (note: we had nothing to do with the mall, nor their management, our buses just went there) and there weren't many people out and about. It was very quiet in our building (which was normally extremely loud) and we had strangers/passengers/random people watching a little black and white T.V. with the bunny ears an employee had brought into the office, we turned it a little so everyone could see the screen as best as possible.
other random memories: awaking to a profanity-laced message left by my mother on the machine, telling me to get out of bed immediately and turn on the t.v. (worked 12ish-8ish, normally woke up around 10am central time); turning on the t.v. and seeing the second plane hit; spending the morning on the phone with her and worrying about my dad (they still lived up in NoVa at the time, he was supposed to be heading to Bethesda sometime that morning, it was rumored one could stand on the roof of my highschool and see the Pentagon); making an announcement on the radio that we didn't want to hear how much gas stations were charging in various parts of the city and if gas was actually $4.00/gallon the next morning, I would donate $4 to every employee (one chain was charging $4/gallon, never shopped there again, some stations put up signs that they were out of gas); not being able to get through to my folks that evening, got the "all circuits are busy" lady, managed to get through to a friend that lived about a mile from my family (she and her mom were listening to the fighter jets overhead), asked her to either call my folks or stop by and tell them to telephone out to me; not being able to account for all friends possibly in the Pentagon that morning for about a week; and feeling very alone but not scared. Don't know if that last one will make sense, tough to put into type without making this post even longer.
a very difficult day, to say the least. my first letter to the editor of any newspaper was written about two months afterwards, the local NBC and CBS affiliates decided not to show the President's speech (I can't remember exactly when it was, iirc beginning of November, currently in the middle of moving, my hardcopy is packed), we kept looking for him on the T.V. while at work, and eventually found him on the radio. Suprised it made it then and even more so now, looking at the online version of that paper, but it was the first in a successful string of 4, before I left Iowa.
God Rest Their Souls, thoughts and prayers for the families, and Never Forget.