HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 50 Pairs of Passes to ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ With Tom Hanks

Will never forget that Tuesday a.m., Sept. 11th. The company I was working for had undergone a restructuring plan which included a department decentralization from the corporate headquarters to regional offices in different statea. Arrived with co-workers on that Monday for a full-day orientation. We were organizing our cubicles on Tuesday a.m. when a team member brought his portable radio to my desk and quietly said, “Something is going on in New York. Everyone come and listen.”

We could not believe what we were hearing, hoping it was not true. We were all stunned and at a loss for words. Another co-worker went to the conference room and turned on the T.V. Our Department Manager appeared quickly and said he received a verification that it was true and that we had the option to leave or stay, but he recommended that we leave, particularly, if we had family/friends in New York.

The feeling that engulfed me inside of my body was a painful sadness and emptiness as I wondered where relatives and friends were in New York and if they were safe or worse. I’m feeling those same emotions at this moment.

I was at home, saw the announcement on TV and watched in disbelief.

I walked into my home room on a seemingly typical day in middle school. The television was already on, some kind of news show blaring. Assuming the banal, I began gossiping about that which consumes one’s life at that age; girls, cars, and whether or not Byron had his stash of candy that day. I disrupted my banter when I saw the horrified looks on everyone’s face and saw the first plane hit the tower. I didn’t understand the significance of the event at the time, but the response by those elder to me scared me. I knew that something very bad had happened.

I was at home with the TV on, but not paying close attention, until some commotion made me turn around and look. They were reporting the first hit and everyone thought it was just a small-plane accident. Then you could see the 2nd plane and I thought, that’s way too big, too close, and when it hit, it became horrifyingly clear that it was deliberate. My family overseas heard it on the news, but my sister on the west coast was unaware until I woke her up with the news. She couldn’t believe all my talk of attacks until I got her to turn on her TV news.

I turned 16 on September 10, and was expecting to get my license on the 11th because the DMV was closed on Mondays. I woke up really sick and stayed home from school, angry that I couldn’t get my license - but figured I could just get it the next day (I ended up waiting over a week for government offices to re-open). I woke up to my mom calling me downstairs, concerned and saying, “Weird things are happening in the world…come watch”. I spent the day at home, my teenage driver dilemmas marginalized by the weight of the world.

I was a Soph. in college, sleeping in my room when my roommate barged into my room screaming “terrorist are attacking NY!!!” My roommate could be eccentric at times so I thought either she was just playing a prank or over exaggerating on a current situation. When she finally dragged me outta bed I saw, with my own eyes, what was going on…what was happening to our country. Seeing the twin towers up in flames was shocking. I felt like I was still asleep or watching a movie. I will never forget the emptiness and shock that went through my body after seeing that devastation…I will never forget that day.

I was in my high school American History class. Believe it or not, we were actually discussing the Middle East when a student ran into the classroom to report that the World Trade Center had been attacked. Our teacher, understanding the significance of the moment, immediately brought an A/V cart into the room and turned on the news. And it was there, with my fellow classmates, that we watched in horror as the second plane crashed.

I went to the bathroom and called my parents to find out whether or not my aunt was in Manhattan at the time and was relieved to hear that she was in Long Island. While it was comforting to know she was safe, it was still a horrific day. It was a day I will never forget. A day the world will never forget.

At the time I lived in San Francisco and remember watching the news as I ironed my clothes, my partner was in the shower when I told him about what had happened and he laughed and said to me “that could never happen, do you know how hard it would be to hit the Pentagon?”. Then there were rumors on the radio that the next city to be hit would be San Francisco and being that I worked in a high rise building, i remember being so paranoid on my way to work, so confused, so terrified about what was going on.

I was in first period American History class at Lane Tech High School. Junior Year. We were going to watch a video in class that morning but ended up watching the 9/11 new coverage.

I was on a business trip to Atlanta and previously traveled and stayed in NY at the Marriott at the World trade center frequently. As soon as I saw what was going on I called my mom and told her I was safe but it took me a week to find a way back to Chicago