On Sept 11, I was awaken by my best friend who called me at about 6:30 am in the morning. Thinking that something bad had happened to his ailing grandmother, I quickly picked up the phone. He told me “Turn on tne news, Jolie there’s something happening in New York” I turned on the TV, and saw, in shock, live news coverage of the WTC attacks. Being that I live 3,000 miles away in California, my first thought was of my mother, who was still living at home. My shock turned into disbelief when I saw the second plane hit the other tower, and subsequently both towers falling. I managed to call my mother, who sounded very calm over the phone-my only words I kept saying was “Oh my God” and “Are we under attack-is this something out of Independence Day?” I felt a mad rush of emotions, soon after that, fear, anger as well as sorrow to watch my hometown being a target of detruction like that. I then had to go to work, and tried calling my mother a second time, this time being unable to get through. I heard all sorts of rumors as well as important news that day-most state and city offices as well as schools closing in response to the attacks. Being that I worked in a school setting, I anticipated closure as well, but after an emergency meeting at the district office, the chancellor decided to keep the school open. I was rather upset, and with some finagling between my supervisor as well as the big boss, I was able to be excused with pay for the rest of the day due to the fact that I had family over there. I then decided to go immediately to my best friend’s house, who upon hearing the news, got off work and collected his sisters from their schools. We all sat in shock at all the events unfolding that day on the news, and I didn’t even leave his house, until later on that evening, when I felt more safe to go home.