Hubby and I were driving to work (we worked at the same company). We usually turned the radio on to one of the news stations out here, and heard, "All airports are now closed".
My first thought was one of disbelief, until we heard that the second tower was gone.
Going into work, of course, nobody was getting anything done. One of my friends, a Vietnamese guy, told me, "I am not here today. This reminds me of my mother and I, running to escape the bombs in Vietnam". (He is older than 60). Some people went home from work; they just weren't productive that day. It was a major struggle just to keep focused on what I was doing.
Then, we heard that my niece was in Lower Manhattan, at a financial seminar(!). Frantic emails went back and forth, and she sent several, stating that she was okay. She and her coworkers were frantically arranging places to stay for those who had flown into New York for the seminar, because no-one knew for sure if their hotels were still standing.
She was a bit exasperated with the person conducting the seminar, as he decided to finish his presentation "while the Financial District lay in ruins", as she put it.
Horrible, horrible, horrible.
Weirdly enough, we had visited her in New York City in May, 2001 (she was renting in Midtown), and we walked by the Twin Towers. I remember looking at them and thinking that they looked surreal to me; they were shimmering in the sunlight, almost like an illusion. Most of the other buildings surrounding them at that time were more substantial--built out of bricks, cement or stone.
During that May 2001 visit, I took a photo from the Brooklyn Bridge that has the Twin Towers in it. Also, I bought a snow globe, which had the original Twin Towers. It still sits on my entertainment center.