Being on the west coast, this all happened before 6am - but I was almost done with my 30 mile commute when the radio cut in...got to the office and flicked on the TV - regretably, I never even thought of firing up the office computer so I didn't FReep until I got home later that day.
It was one of those days that happens once in a generation where we will always remember where we were and who we were with. I was working at DuPont, and we were all in the conference room watching our little TC in shock. By 11am the Governor's office called and ordered the site evacuated by noon (they wouldn't let us return until two days later).
I wasn't a FReeper yet - hadn't even heard of the place. A normally jittery co-worker ran in and told us about the first plane. I down[layed it and suspected it was a light plane until I saw the image on TV. Bright, clear morning, not like the time the bomber hit the Empire State Building. That was my automatic thought. Accident. But then I realized that no plane would be that far off course under those conditions. Second plane hits. Rage. Fury. Rumors of multiple hits in DC, missing planes. This is a bad movie and I want my money back.
Speculation on who did it. Muslims, without a doubt. A Syrian immigrant co-worker, non-practicing Druze, blurts out, "drop the bomb on them, kill them all". He's not even a citizen, but he loves this country.
Later that evening, watching Fox News, the pall of smoke over the city and reports that a carrier has been dispatched to NY, the lyrics of "Miami, 2017" come to mind.
"I've seen the rats lie down on Broadway
I watched the mighty skyline fall
the boats were waiting at the Battery
the union went on strike
they never sailed at all
They sent a carrier out from Norfolk
and picked the Yankees up for free..."
I have to be perverse to think of that at a time like this, but there it is. My last words to my wife that night before slipping into a troubled sleep: "The world has changed forever"
Thanks for letting me vent.