Where Were You When The World Changed?

Where were you when the world changed?  What were you doing that September morning?  I remember where I was just like it was yesterday.

It is hard to believe it has been 16 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th.  It really does not feel like it has been that long.  Some days, it feels like it was yesterday.

In September of 2001, I was 22 years old.  I was living in Bangor, working days at an internet tech support call center, and nights on a top 40 station.

I remember that morning being particularly beautiful.  Sunny.  Warm.  Almost perfect weather for late Summer in Maine.

Following my normal morning routine, I hit a fast food restaurant to get a coffee before making the 10 minute drive to Orono.  Like I usually did, I was listening to the morning show on the station where I did nights.

One of the DJs mentioned a plane flying into a building in New York.  At first, I assumed it was a really bad joke and waited for the punchline that never came.  As he continued giving details, I realized that it was real.  I flipped between stations.  Everyone was carrying the story.

At my call center job, nearly everyone was watching a stream from their news network of choice.  While there was no sound, the images (and the scroll at the bottom of the screen) pretty much told the story.

Not surprisingly, very few people called for tech support that day.  But, I was shocked to take one call from a man in Manhattan who was very upset that an internet outage was preventing him from doing his job in finance.  We didn't know it at the time, but would later find out that there had been massive internet / cable / phone relays in the basement of the WTC.  When the towers fell, much of New York lost connectivity.    In shock from the news, instead of teching his problem, I suggested he look toward the where the World Trade Center was and disconnected the call.

At my radio job, we were the only station in the group that did not go all news.  We continued to play music, but I provided updates every 15 minutes or so.

As most probably remember, it took a while for things to get anywhere back to normal. On the day the government the ban on flight, I remember standing in the parking lot of a grocery store as a jet took off from BIA.  EVERYONE, myself included, stopped to look up.

Where were you on September 11th?  School?  Work?  Comment on our Facebook Page

This September 11th, you can honor those who passed away by making a blood donation to the American Red Cross.  The 9/11 Remembrance Blood Drive is taking place Monday (September 11th) from 11 AM to 6 PM at the Augusta Civic Center.  Schedule your donation at the Red Cross Blood site