Service of Where Were You?
September 7th, 2026
Categories: Fear, Memories
As we approach 9/11’s 25th anniversary it’s hard not to think of that shocking day—especially for New Yorkers I suspect—recalling where we were that morning and when we learned about the devastation.
I would normally have been at work but I had a 9:30 appointment in Grand Central Terminal to meet clients. We were going to see what a magazine had done with the client’s products in a decorative installation in Vanderbilt Hall.
I was at the bathroom sink when I heard the hosts of a morning radio show report that they’d just seen a plane crash into the World Trade Center. As I rushed to turn on the TV I called out to Homer who was working in his home office. We were standing in front of the TV when the second plane hit.
I left to meet the clients—I lived a few blocks from the station. The sky was pristine blue. We were in the installation with the editors when we were asked to leave the station. A plane had just hit the Pentagon. Now we were even more alarmed.
My clients walked me home to 35th street and proceeded downtown to their offices.
Homer accompanied me to my office on West 44th Street to pick up some work. Madison Avenue was filled with people walking uptown. Nobody spoke.
We saw the top of the Chrysler building from our bedroom. The city lights were turned off—including the building’s iconic art deco necklace—so the city would be less of a target for additional attacks.
The events were so shocking that I didn’t touch the work I brought home. Such paralysis had never happened for me even after the deaths of my parents. Intrepid New Yorkers who never flinched at a siren or jumped at a backfiring truck became on alert all the time.
In a way we are going through a similarly shocking patch in slow motion watching as lives are lost and citizens suffer. A New York Times article by Luke Broadwater and Maggie Haberman sheds some light. The headline and subhead: “As War Grinds On, Trump Relishes Renovation Projects–President Trump is basking in the momentum of the various projects he has spurred around downtown Washington.” Are these projects a modern-day version of the mythical violin that Nero played in 64 AD as the Eternal City burned?
Why is it that we tend to remember the supremely sad days and not so much the moments in which we’ve been lauded or told good news? Where were you on 9/11?
I was listening to a favorite radio host, Steve Post, when the program was interrupted and the radio station abruptly knocked off the air after a terse announcement that a building had been hit. Then silence. .
Despite killing of the alleged perp, ongoing memorials, and endless restitutions, odds are the case will never be closed. Should it be?
Lucrezia,
Being in limbo when the radio host was suddenly gone replaced by a terse message must have been unsettling. In retrospect being out of control with no feeling of safety was what got me. People in war zones know what it’s like. And yet we continue to wage war.
More than unsettling, and worse upon learning that Muslim women were dancing in the streets at the news that nearly 3000 lost their lives. It’s doubtful that Allah would have been pleased. Education might have taught them that.
Edward on Facebook It’s called 4 dimensional chess ♟️🙄
Hank on Facebook Really strange how that works… I can recall almost every footstep that day… Maybe it’s because I had just come from the doctors who said don’t get any exercise today… And I had to walk from 78th St. down to our offices at 42nd St. that’s life. 
Edward
I’ll say
Hank,
Hank Goldman Before I knew you.
It’s amazing how many details we remember.
I changed my routine by going across the GW Bridge and taking subway down to the DDS office. As I was mid-way across Bridge, I noticed billowing smoke and fire coming from Tower 1 and I thought “Wow, there’s a big fire down there.” After my appt, we only started realizing that it was a terrorist attack. I was on the crosstown bus and someone said Tower 2 just collapsed. I went to the office, I was in total disbelief. I got a subway around 2pm to the Bridge. Since I lived in Fort Lee, I knew I could get home if I had made it there. When I got up to street level, there were militia in full gear. I did not realize all that happened until I turned on the TV once I got home.
I was in Tower One until 10pm the night before and that part really haunted me.The other part of 9/11 I remember is that it was a spectacularly blue sky that day.
I just watched the full documentary series on Hulu (presented by Nat’l Geographic)”9/11 One Day in America.” It is triggering but necessary to watch–I learned quite a bit.
I was on the phone with a mutual friend, ES, when she asked me if I had seen what had happened. As it turns out, I had my back to the windows in our apartment (working from home before it became de rigueur) and hadn’t noticed! I still remember how shocked I was and how stupid I felt…
I was on my way into work when I saw one of the buildings on fire. By the time my train got into Penn Station, the workers in the stores had TVs pointing towards the corridors so that we could all see. We saw the second plane hit. I stupidly took a subway to work where we had to leave after about 30 minutes. I walked over 30 blocks to get to Penn Station and waited 4 hours outside until we were allowed in. What struck me is how everyone found ways to help everyone else. During my walk to the station drivers pulled over and turned on their radios so that we could hear the news. A man in the mailroom where I worked told me he was was walking to Brooklyn to get his car and if my husband and I needed a place to stay he could pick us up over the bridge in Brooklyn. I barely knew this man but he was someone you want to know in an emergency. Plenty of others lived nearby and knew me much better but he was the one who knew what to do. By the time I was on the train home I was able to get my mother in law on the phone to tell her her son was safe. I hadn’t spoken to him (the lines were tied up) but I knew that he’d left the house early and I knew where he was. I left work at 10 and got home around 3:30. A neighbor was waiting on our street, checking up on everyone. She knew where everyone worked and took charge making sure everyone was accounted for. I went to work the next day and the big boss at my job was waiting at the door, checking to see that we were still there.
Nancy,
What wonderful communities surrounded you and such poignant memories still warm you. Too many have lost the spirit of the mailroom employee and the drivers sharing the news from their radios. This is the shame after 25 years.