I was sitting in my cooking class at boces (vocational), glued to the TV with all my classmates in shock.

I was getting ready to go to school, my mom had the news on, and I saw what was happening. I was indifferent to it. Then again, I was 9 years old, if I recall.

I had worked the late shift the night before. I was sleeping in, a rare treat for me. My phone rings...it's my mother. She's crying (a very rare thing for her). "Turn on the news", she says. And there I see the city I loved, that I spent nearly 20 years just a train ride from in chaos. I grew up in NY, that was MY city My uncle worked in the north tower, commuting from Patterson, NJ every day for his entire career. He was just down the block getting donuts and coffee for his office when the plane hit. No one he worked with lived.
I try calling my dad...I end up getting my stepmom. She, also in tears, tells me my father is in Brooklyn...and she can't get ahold of him. Cell service all over the city is jammed, communication at a standstill. It's two days before my dad made it home. He watched it all happen from accross the East River.

I've never been back there, to that city I grew up near. I don't want the reality of what happened that day to taint my memory. In my head, the World Trade Center is still there, still standing in my memories.

I was sleeping lol

"lol"?

Really?

I'm sure you would "lol" about the 2009 Jakarta bombing, or the 2002 bombings in Bali, right?

Yea cz 2.40 am on here, I was sleeping at that time lol

Sure..."laughing out loud" is totally reasonable response to the death of thousands.

12 years ago was 2001 and I think I never thought about bombs on here lol...

I was at work. My first day as a dog washer.....and I could hear the groomers in the other room say omg omg turn the radio up.....