Can you believe it’s been NINE years?

Almost a decade! I was sixteen and in high school…my first class of the day, British Literature, was about to start. I walked in and the two fifteenish inch tube TVs were on in the corners of the room, which was slightly out of the ordinary. Most of my classmates were already in their desks and I remember my teacher standing off to the side of the room staring silently at the picture on one of the screens. The classroom was buzzing excitedly as I walked to my desk and sat down. I asked somebody next to me what happened and just as I did I looked up at the screen and saw it all for myself. I can’t remember if both planes had hit by this point or if it was just one. My memory is foggy.

From that point on all I really remember about Brit Lit on that day was saying, "There is no way that those buildings are going to stand! They’re going to fall. That first one is going to fall for sure… it’s only a matter of time. They’re going to fall."

We didn’t end up doing much in that class that morning, instead we all stared intently at the TV screens and talked amongst ourselves. We knew that we were watching history unfold.

After Brit Lit, in the hallway of the school, students gathered in groups and spoke quickly and frantically about what was happening. I don’t think that any of us really knew what to think… we were all in shock. News coverage continued as we went through our classes that day- every teacher had a television on. Some taught classes anyway with the volume turned all the way down, but most of my teachers didn’t teach that day. We were all too wrapped up in what was happening.

A friend of mine from New York mentioned that he was listening to the Howard Stern show, which was broadcast from Manhattan, on his way to work the day that it happened. I just listened to these for the first time this morning. I think that they do a good job of capturing the confusion that I know I felt on the day that it happened.