9/11 Remembered

Greensboro, NC -- This month has flown by due to a flurry of activity both inside and outside of the office. With today being the 6th anniversary of 9/11, everyone has their own story of where they were on that fateful day. Before I get into my story, I was talking to one of my co-workers at dinner tonight. She flew from Washington-Dulles airport to Greensboro. In between mentioning how sparse the crowds were, my co-worker said that the occupied waiting areas were extremely quiet. The atmosphere was very tranquil and solemn. I'm wondering if the mood was like that in other airports around the nation, because two of the four hijacked airplanes took off from Dulles.

Site: Georgia, 9/11/01 -- After prolonging to get up for my 9:00 a.m. Religion 200 class, I walked through the lobby of my dorm at about 8:55 a.m. to run to the cafeteria to grab some food to go. Some construction workers were gathered around the lobby's TV and I asked what happened. After one of the guys responded that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, I took a few steps closer to the tube to get a better look. I thought that it was some small Cessna plane that would be backpage news by the end of the week. Right then, in what I thought was a replay of the first airplane, the second plane struck the other tower. I returned to my dorm room immediately where my roommate was asleep. My roommate during that year was from New York and he informed me the night earlier during "Monday Night Football (Giants vs. Broncos)" that his mom was flying to San Francisco for business. After a few scary minutes, my roommate was able to track down his mom on her cell. Her flight never took off. One of the locals in the area, a fellow named Burton Crews, called our dorm shortly afterwards. (Ed. Note: Burton failed out of college after one semester.) I picked up the phone and Burton shouted, "Brian! Dan! Both of your cities are under attack!" the hung up the phone. FYI, Burton sounds like Barney from "The Simpsons."

A day that I'll never forget. A couple of friends and I drove through the bare streets of Atlanta. Downtown, the bustling Peachtree Street was nearly vacant on this typical business day.

Give me your site and any memories that you may have...