FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

While my daughter and I were on a plane from New York to Frankfurt, we were not informed by the captain of the events that that just happened in New York until we had landed. My heart almost stopped - my other daughter and her husband living very close to the Twin Towers - were they safe... We did not continue on to our final destination, watching with disbelief, fear and horror the scenes flashing up on the airport TV screens - frantically trying to contact my daughter and her husband - finally receiving a call from my husband that our US family was safe but they had lost many friends who worked in the Twin Towers, WTC, - it was truly a most horrid event. We are thinking of all of those who lost their lives and of their family and relatives living with their loss.

Hi Kristin,
We were living in Brussels, Belgium and I remember getting a call to go and pick up our kids from the Brussels American School. I was really scared and we went back home and watched the news. The kids were then riding to school with armed guards on the buses for the next few months. My husband and I visited NY and the 9.ll Memorial and it is very moving. I took a photo of one of the panels with the names of some of the people who perished. I have their names memorized and I pray for them each week when I attend Adoration.

I was sitting in my manager's office, probably talking about work, when another manager came in and said an airplane had just crashed into the Twin Towers. We went into one of the training rooms where they had the TV on and watched the second plane crash into the Towers. It was so surreal and felt that we were watching a movie, not an actual crash. However, there were images on the screen that told us this was actually happening - it's difficult to bring back those memories.

I was rocking my baby girl to sleep for her morning nap when my neighbor called me knowing I was a New Yorker living in North Carolina with lots of family and friends in New York. I put Olivia in her crib and turned on the news. I will never forget the bizarre experience of hearing Peter Jennings uttering words of disbelief as he reported and we both witnessed live on the screen the second plane hit the towers.

I am from Long Island NY but I live in Marietta Georgia. I was working on my computer when my business partner called that a plane had it a building in New York. Right after I put on the TV the second plane hit I called my sister on Long Island - my brother and my brother in law were in the city that day. As it turned out everyone I knew I was safe but everyone was touched very deeply they lost the soccer coach, the teacher's husband, the guy that lives down the street, all the neighbors that were fireman.
The motto of Quebec is Je me souviens. NYC too, after 9 / 11

My friend Claudie was visiting me from Paris and we had gone to New York the day before. "Et si on visitait les tours du "Trade Center". On m'a dit que c'est un beau spectacle". And we did looking up from the Second Avenue Deli...
We could not believe our ears and sight the next day...back in Philadelphia.
She was unable to fly home for 5 days.
A very fine student of mine who worked in the Towers (after graduation) perished that day.
C'est comme si c'etait hier...

The husband of a friend of mine in NYC worked in the twin towers but on that fateful day he was taking a client to play golf. Most of his colleagues perished that day.
Another friend of ours was living in NYC near the twin towers area and was always on the subway section that was destroyed but he was running late that morning.
We were blessed to know 2 people that God spared that day.

Thank you for your post on 9-11. It is good to remember so it does not repeat. Our job is to pray that it won't happen again.

Blessings, Sherry

I was getting ready for work, when my youngest son called. He had just seen the news on CNN, and was shocked. So was I. I turned on my TV, and minutes later, saw the horror of the second plane crashing into the other tower. I remember that we talked constantly, but I can't remember a thing we said. I called my other two children; my daughter was in the Air Force and stationed in California, and My oldest son lived in Florida. I remember that we talked of little else at work, and it was as though we were all sleep walking. That feeling persisted for days. I remember being proud to be an American, and proud of our president for his leadership, honor, and humanity. Whether people were for or a against the war that followed, they mourned the loss of life, and wept for people they never knew. The tragedy and horror of those days briefly brought us all together as a country, and a people. I will never forget that day, and the images that are seared into my memory.

One of your best posts ever! Le souvenir of that day will remain forever. September 11, 2001 was a day that should have been filled with joy for our family. We were getting ready to drive our daughter to her new life as a freshman at Northwestern University in Chicago when we saw the planes hit the towers. Horrible!

hello Kristin,
We just had return on the Island of Vinalhaven , ME , having dropped our daughter to her most wished boarding school in Concord MA , after 3 years in Paris, a sacrifice for us ! ( we were to return to Paris later at the end of Oct after parent's week end ).We had 4 calls that day the first one from our daughter saying he school was going on lockup, and she was a bit frightened . Then from each one of the son of my husband. I just had time to pull out and old TV and after learning the incredible destruction of the Ist tower we witnessed the second exploding completely shocked, for one second I thought this is the end of the world ... wen I saw people jumping out ....
Then for 3 days no phone calls at all; not one from France ..I later learned that the communications had been taken over by security. My family trying to call wondered until I could reach them if we were safe, we were the lucky ones.
In october after seeing our very happy daughter , we boarded a plane almost empty , it was very spooky and weird,but we felt confidents. I guessed a lot of people got frightened to fly then .
This is the first time that I felt the strange power of resilience in my own life after so much devastation around us as we learned day after day of casualties in our connections ..... you just keep on going ...

We were living on our boat in the South Pacific, having chosen our own fork in the road - this was our second two year cruise with our 3 boys. We left for our first two year cruise when the boys were 8, 6, & 3. The second time, during this event they were 14, 12 & 9. On September 11, we were sailing in the islands of Vanuatu. We had email capabilities restricted to 10 minutes per day by our provider. Two emails were downloaded, one from my mother and the other from my husbands partner telling us of the World Trade Center demise. We could not receive images so it was hard to comprehend the gravity of the situation. For some reason, our navigation system stopped working. We assumed the US government shut off all the satellites and we were now "on our own." Fortunately, we made it to our destination, the harbor and Capitol city of Vanuatu-Port Villa. We made our way quickly to shore in seek of an Internet cafe which at that time was a rarity in a third world country. I think the deepest memory I have of the tragedy are these: we were far from anywhere but in a crowded anchorage with yachts that had sailed from different parts of the world, each flying their own country's flag of origin. Every foreign yacht came by in their dinghy to each American flag flying yacht (which included us) to give their condolences. It was as if all barriers were dropped and we were a country of one. Secondly, the locals or natives had a different reaction. The US occupied Vanuatu during WWII. Their memories appeared to be positive for they asked when the US was coming back to protect them. As a side note, my youngest son was born on September 11 so although I don't forget, I choose to celebrate his life instead.

I live in PA and had just gotten into work, retail store, when my colleagues told me a plane flew into one of the towers. My husband commutes to NY and I could not get into contact with him. He goes first to his gym club early in the morning, that building was destroyed later. Then he took the subway to his office. When he was in the subway under the towers, first one got hit by plane. He did not know what had happened till he got to office and saw people running in the streets. He took ferry to NJ in afternoon. The city was closed off with no buses or trains, and there he got a ride from a policeman to Clinton, NJ. This was in the meantime midnight and I went to pick him up there with my youngest son sleeping on backseat. I was so glad to see him and have him back home safe!

And I remember the 'silence' in the skies for some weeks after that. A sound not heard since before the invention of the airplane.

I never have my television on in the morning, preferring early morning quiet and solitude while sipping coffee and reading the paper. That morning, however, a friend, in town visiting her daughter, called and asked me to turn it on. For the next 12 hours I couldn't move from that spot. It was incomprehensible. The previous year we had been living in France, flying back and forth, never a concern. That July my husband passed away, 2 months to the day, and now every year when 9/11 comes I feel this overwhelming grief, for losing him and for all those souls who perished that horrible day. And, for years afterwards the 'first' thing I did in the morning was turn on the television. This event has had an enormous effect on our country, tout le monde, in the way we think and the way we live our lives, even in the most minute ways... C'est tragique.

I was teaching my class when a student came in and asked to turn on the TV and said that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I had a hard time believing this but we put the TV on and that was the end of all teaching for the day. Students gathered around as we watched the second plane fly into the building. We sat there horrified, not believing that this could be happening in NY.
Then the Administration had the audacity to tell us not to put the TVs on. I never shut mine off and students keep coming into my room to watch. We consoled students who had parents in NY and tried to help them contact them. The Administration wanted classes to go on as usual....crazy!
I have friends who were there and didn't know what was happening, but were running for their lives to get away, all the while seeing people, body parts, etc. which to this day still traumatizes them.
A year to the day, my husband and I were in Caen at thePeace museum where they had a piece of the WTC on display. It sent chills up our spines. Everyone should visit this museum...what a fantastic insightful museum.
People don't learn...they still hate...wars continue...when will it end?

Kathleen

On 9-11 I was in my office on Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. I can never forget that brilliant, sunny Tuesday morning in New York. My assistant walked in with news that a small plane had flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which was visible to us in the distance. She had gotten this information from a news broadcast on her desk computer. We looked out but could not see anything wrong.
Minutes later, information was coming through that the plane was in fact a large passenger jet, not a small plane, and that it had been a terrorist attack. We saw flames engulfing the North Tower as everyone in our office gathered in front of the nearest window with a view to the south. Soon thereafter, the Tower disappeared from sight as news of its collapse was broadcast around the world. I was receiving emails from my cousins in Turin, Italy, who were watching the events of TV; they wanted to be reassured that I was safe. It was an event that in its tragic unfolding united the entire world.
Several days later, I took the Lexington Avenue subway to Fulton street, to observe for myself the outcome of the destruction. When I emerged from the station, I was confronted by a scenario unlike any other. Every surface was covered with two or three inches of ash and dust resembling a nuclear winter. The hulking remains of the twin towers stood silently as workmen prepared the site for eventual demolition. The fence in front of St. Paul's Chapel, part of Trinity Church Wall Street, was covered with flowers, and remembrances. Salvation Army choirs were singing "Amazing Grace" in the street. Groups of victims' families were being escorted by police to the site of the tragedy. Amidst such devastation, it was difficult to imagine how New York could ever recover.

I am a Brit now living in the Luberon in France, but before I retired I worked for an American company, the Oracle Corporation, in the UK. I remember hearing someone outside my office talking about a small plane which had hit the WTC, but it didn't sound serious, so I just carried on with my work, although I was aware that there was a good deal of talk and traffic past my office door. When I looked up next, everyone within sight had vanished. I found them all in the building's restaurant, where there were huge TV screens mounted on the walls. With complete disbelief, I saw a TV picture of a tower with a passenger aircraft embedded in it and, just as my eyes made sense of that image, I saw the second tower begin its terrible, almost slow motion, fall. I will never forget the anguish on the faces of my US colleagues as they watched the awful images of billowing smoke and dust rising into the hot blue September sky, and the realisation that people were choosing to hurl themselves into thin air rather than face being burned to death. Those few hours are burned in the memory of anyone who watched.

Thank you Kristin for providing this format. My husband and I are living in Paris-since January of 2013. Although I read all the Facebook accounts my friends in the US posted in remembrance of 9/11, I felt so far from home on that mournful day. In the early morning of 9/11 2001 on the west US coast, my husband was watching the news on television and I was getting dressed for work. I heard the announcer shouting about the first plane crash and rushed into the room just as the second tower was hit. The horror really wasn't comprehensible till hours later. The image that I can never erase is that of people jumping from the towers, falling and spinning. One month later we were in Italy touring a small town north of Rome. How heartwarming it was to have local Italian people, strangers, come up to us, shake our hand or hug us and let usk know how saddened they were for what had happened in our country.

My father had died on September 5th and our family had gathered from all over the country at my parents home in Upstate New York. We were grieving and as each event happened that day our world became more and more surreal. Even though we were in a rural area, the world became silent. No airplanes flying overhead, the stores were hushed and people spoke in low voices about their relatives who had gone down to the City, firemen who were dispatched to help with the blaze and search and rescue. I spoke with my family in California and heard that my son was practicing football that day under the watchful guns on the roof of the Marine building across the street. I went home later that month on a nearly empty plane with extra tight security. Our world had changed. It made me aware that there are people who live under threat every day of their lives and that we were no longer blissfully unaware of such violence.

Usually I skim over the other comments - not today. I was living in Denver, running late and getting ready for work when I heard the tv news people and saw the pictures of the first tower and then watched horrified as the second plane crashed into the second tower. Less than a month earlier I had dinner at the restaurant on the top of the towers and couldn't help but think of the nice people who worked there. I went into work, WTC building in downtown Denver. Now I realize I was on auto pilot, sticking to routine hoping for some order out of this horrible chaos that was happening in NYC. Our building closed for the day and the churches downtown had special services during the day. Every September 11th I am afraid to turn on the morning news but eventually I do. Never forget and always go on because if we don't terror wins. Thank you Kristin for remembering and letting us all share here.

I was at work, in my office on the UC-Boulder campus, just starting to check work email. My coworker stuck her head in and said, "You must come watch the news." The TV in the conference room was on, and we all just stood there for a long, long time. My boss was on travel in Los Angeles at the time, due to fly home that day, and I ended up spending the morning trying to make travel arrangements with a very sober hotel clerk in LA, and talking to my boss a half dozen times, and all of us trying to be cool and professional. Then I went home and sat and listened to...nothing. No cars. Just the fighter jets tracing up and down the front range, flying patrol.

JUST A NORMAL MORNING IN SEPTEMBER HERE. MY HUSBAND WAS EATING BREAKFAST AND I WAS STUMBLING AROUND , AS I DO ABOUT 8 AM. THE "WATER " MAN KNOCKED ON THE DOOR. I ORDER MOUNTAIN VALLEY WATER FROM ARKANSAS EACH WEEK,,, HE SAID, "TURN ON YOUR TV, SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAS HAPPENED". WE SAT THERE , TRANSFIXED, FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE, DAYS. SOOOO MANY, JUST INNOCENT PEOPLE, WORKING TO MAKE A LIVING. THE EVIL IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE. 12 YEARS LATER, THE SADNESS HAS NOT DIMMED. HOW I LONG FOR A WORLD AT PEACE, EVERYWHERE.

While getting ready for a 1 1/2 hour trip to Los Angeles to see my orthopedic surgeon, we received a phone call from my brother who said "Turn on the TV'. By then all the targets had been hit. We were horrified. Not knowing whether the terrorists planned to hit the West Coast as well, we nervously went to Los Angeles. The usually busy freeways were almost devoid of cars. Normally car-packed Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, our destination, was like a street in a ghost town. All the businesses in that area closed by noon and we went home on a deserted freeway We felt as if we were in the set for a doomsday movie. The whole time we kept wondering "Where next?" Thank God, they had finished their dreadful plans for that day and there were no more disasters. Our hearts were heavy, but like wildflowers in spring American flags started to appear at one house after another. Before the day was over a friend from Germany called and offered her condolences. How wonderful that she cared so much.

I live in Portland, Maine, where a number of the terrorists departed for their horrific activities on the morning of September 11. My little bucolic city, where nothing ever happens, was suddenly all over the news. I was at home, watching everything unfold, my husband was at work downtown, my daughter was at school. By an amazing co-incidence (although nothing I think, will ever amaze me again) we were all on lockdown for a good part of the day! It was our good fortune to be together by early evening, holding each other close as we watched the continuous bad news.

Sept 11, a day to remember, to reflect on the true goodness of America and to vow to do just a little better every day. Please. No more hate, no more war, no more unethical behavior, just the true human spirit, flying free throughout the land. Please.

I had a broken arm and recall how helpless I felt. I had the desire
to go into action, to be of help in some way, but all I could do was
cry and pray. I have an American flag, a California flag, a flag for
each of the states where my parents were born, Washington, North
Carolina, and recently, a flag from Normandy. My family history
includes immigrants and veterans (even a WWI recipient of the Navy Cross buried in an American cemetery in England). When I was in Paris last April I visited the tomb of the Foreign Soldier in Père Lachaise Cemetery. My personal belief is that I am free because other people who have gone before me since the beginning of time have CHOSEN FREELY and GRACEFULLY to make a sacrifice of their earthly lives so that I can live the good life I live. The people who died on 9/11, in my opinion, were, regardless of nationality, race, or belief, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS. The perpetrators clearly lost their humanity and we need to continue our efforts on many, many levels to reclaim our own humanity and encourage our neighbors to do the same. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (chacun son goût) and Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. Thank you for the opportunity to speak out without taking a trip to Hyde Park! Joanne, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA.

Our dear Kristi,
You have so eloquently and beautifully expressed what we as Americans felt on that horrible morning. My husband,a (now) retired airline captain, was supposed to have been flying a trip to New York at exactly the same time when the Twin Towers were attacked. It was God's mercy,grace,and intervention that protected him--and our family)--when his flight was delayed.
It is that same grace which gave you the wisdom in deciding your future,Kristi.
God speaks to us in ways that we don't always hear at the time,but bottom line: we DO hear.
Such beautiful pictures only outshined by such a wonderfully well written post toay. Once again you have shined light on keeping faith's inspiration.
THANK YOU.
Blessings to you and your dear family.
Love, Natalia XO

My husband and I were in Adelaide, South Australia. It was late evening there when one of our daughters , a nurse, called to say she had seen on a patient's TV that there had been a terrible accident with a plane crashing into a tall building in New York. My husband is an American and she thought he would be interested. By the time we had turned on our TV the second plane had crashed and we knew this was no accident. My husband stayed up all night to watch what was unfolding.

When I went to work the next day, everyone was stunned, many crying. There were television sets in almost every shop window with crowds of people watching.

My father helped build the Twin Towers, at the time they were hit he was 79, it hit him very, very hard. He wanted so much to go help but was sick and would die 9 months later. I never forget the look in his eyes. He wanted to help so bad. I guess we all felt that way. All of my family and friends who worked near were safe. That is a blessing, but I will never ever forget all who were lost.

I pray for all those families each year.

Thank you for mentioning that day. I was almost at work in Northern Virginia, a couple miles away from the runway where the plane that hit the Pentagon took off. I got to work and they let us leave. I had joined the volunteer fire dept earlier that year and had just started fire school. Now I work with many men who were at the Pentagon that day. They tell stories of the fire, and the rescue's, as well as the sad recoveries. The Pentagon has been repaired, and the Towers are being rebuilt, but the damage that was done that day in our hearts and minds never can be.

I was driving to an appointment near my Virginia home when I heard the news of the "accident" on the car radio. My husband & I had visited the WTT a few years before, so I could visualize this sad event. By the time I returned to the office, the accident had turned into the attack. A TV was running in one room and a crowd gathered around it, speechless, numb, dazed. All work ceased for the day as we dialed our friends and family who lived near the site and clung to the newscasts. A searing memory of incredible carnage.

Thank you, Kristin, for remembering and for providing the opportunity for this conversation. My heart goes out to all who were touched that day.

I was living in New York City, working in the financial district. Upon first news, I looked out my office window and stared at sheets of paper swirling across the skyline like confetti from a ticker tape parade and noticed window drapes landing on a rooftop. Then the roar! The sound of a jet moving 500 miles an hour only blocks from my office window, heading straight towards the south tower and exploding into a huge fireball. In an instant, hundreds of lives lost.

I truly thought this could possibly be the last day of my life. As I headed for home on foot with the crowds, when we again heard jets, heads went up searching the sky trying to pinpoint the sounds and where we should go. There was nowhere to hide, and I gained a realistic perspective of what it must be like for people living in war torn countries trying to escape bombs. Then the USAF fighter jets came into focus, and there was a collective cheer.

Some of what I took away from that day was a new sense of the expression “peace and quiet.” (NYC is a noisy city, but that evening, save for the occasional ambulance siren or the USAF flying cover, you could hear a pin drop. It was quiet, but there was no peace.) The worst of times can bring out the best in people. And, there is no such thing as an ugly day on weather alone without other considerations. We’re all human and have days when we sigh or complain. Yet, when I lived in NY and walked in the financial district, and I heard someone complain that it was a gray or rainy day, I swear I’d receive inspiration from the angel voices of those that perished nearby saying live, LIVE! Today is a great day!

MY DEAR KRISTIN,

YOU HAVE ARRIVED.!

Beautifully written….

I was visiting my sister in San Diego for her baby shower. That morning my sister came running into the guest room where I was still in bed and said, “We are under attack!” I innocently replied, “Do you mean your cat?” That naivety and sense of security was forever changed that horrific day. As others have said, it felt so surreal as we stared at the TV in pain and disbelief. Not knowing when flights would resume, I made the choice to rent a car in order to return home to Oregon. I think I rented one of the company’s last cars available in that area.

Healing began with the stories of the noble acts of selflessness, compassion and courage and continued with the extra consideration and kindness shown by strangers, for out of deep tragedy comes light. Thank you, Kristi, for inspiring this opportunity for remembrance.

Because of a small group of terrorists, the world changed that day. I'm so angry that our children and their children will always have fear in their lives. Daily life changed in Washington DC., probably more so than anywhere else in the country. You cannot enter any ( free) museum or public building without going through a metal detector and having the contents of your bag searched. There are policemen still standing outside all around the Capitol area, stopping any trucks larger than a van. Ugly concrete barricades went up in front of many buildings. And one of the worst things for me is being reminded of that horrific day every time there is a perfect, sunny, cloudless, crisp and cool day in september ( like today) because these days are rare here and treasured by many, and for the last 12 years forever linked with that terrible day.
I had just come home from taking our daughter to her second day of first grade. I was on the phone with my good friend Margaret who told me to turn my TV on. After the initial shock of watching the second plane hit , the announcer said the Pentagon had been hit and that the Capitol was the next possible target. I ran up the stairs to look out the skylight in our roof, and saw a long cloud of black smoke coming from that direction. Just then, 2 fighter planes flew over our building ( we are just blocks from the Capitol) and broke the sound barrier, which sounded like a bomb exploding in our back yard. I jumped so high I hit my head on the glass window.
That caused an hours-long episode of uncontrollable shaking in my body, aggravated by not being able to reach my daughter's school or my husband by phone...a totally helpless feeling. It took me an hour to get there ( normally a 20 minute trip), and more than 2 to get home. People were spilling out of buildings and walking home, all public transportation was closed.It looked like a disaster movie, but it was real.
And there were no planes in the sky for many days, I see them from my kitchen window every few minutes normally.
It took a long time to realize that there were no more attacks coming. It seemed like forever before we could reach my family in NYC to make sure they were ok. Ever since that day I understand the physical fear that so many people around the world live with every day because of terrorism. The sense of deep loss is still so palpable after 12 years, and will probably remain with the generation that experienced it. I 'm glad that " le souvenir" will be kept alive for future generations as a warning to be vigilant. As always, thank you Kristi for your sensitive and insightful writing, and for providing this wonderful blog, judging by the responses of your readers, a very needed and helpful one !

All too beautiful and terrible - the sculpture from Roquemaure, and the stories of love and rememberance from 9/11. I can only remember standing in the shower when my husband told me about the first tower's collapse, and the tears streaming down my face with the shower stream. You did the right thing by staying with your family in France, Kristin, but we know you love and treasure the U.S. too. Thank you for such a special post.

We were on the cruise ship MS Statendam, docked in Ketchikan, Alaska. We were getting ready for our brief excursion in the salmon capital of the world when the captain broke the news, “We will be instituting additional security precautions today due to the attack on New York.” I leaped to turn on the TV in our cabin, “Attack on New York?” Moments after turning on the TV, we saw the horror of the second tower being hit. Needless to say, our excursion was delayed and our trip took on an entirely different tone. The Statendam was transformed from a collection of 500 disconnected strangers to a giant floating support group, with standing room only gatherings in the ship’s movie theater to watch the news reports and pray together for our loved ones and countrymen so far away. It was an amazing feeling of oneness as all the usual human barriers of politics, religion, and ethnicity melted away in the face of shared calamity.

I was in Indianapolis,Indiana working. Being born and raised in the Los Angeles area, I felt very alone and afraid that some family would be hurt. We were all safe but I had never realized how alone it felt to be without my family. My husband and I sat watching like everyone that evening knowing our families were safe and trying to understand it all.
And here it is 12 years later and my husband and I are back in California, not far from Healdsberg, Calif. We got a chance to move back here to the central coast and live near Santa Cruz. I will miss the Midwest but there is really something said for being with family....we live on my sisters property among the redwoods. I am near my children and sisters which I never thought I'd miss but realize its everything no matter where you are.

I was out of town keeping a vigil at the bedside of my dying "belle Pere". I saw the TV just as I got out of the hotel room bed. The TV's were on everywhere in the hospital. As I mourned for those who died in NY, I felt guilty. I should be mourning Clem who passed just after the Twin Towers tragedy. When I sang at his funeral mass, I sang for him and all those I did not know.