I was living at home and going to a community college in the Chicago suburbs. I will always remember that day like yesterday…

I slept in late (around 10:30am Chicago time) because I had that day off. I remember going downstairs to do some homework and check my email. When I opened up AOL, I saw the story that said something like “Two Planes Fly Into World Trade Center.” I saw the pictures of the burning buildings, and saw that one had collapsed.

My initial reaction was that this was for a movie that was being made. Since the World Trade Center had been bombed a few years earlier, I figured that it was a story based on that one, though I couldn’t explain the planes. It didn’t click for a few minutes that this had actually happened.

I suppose that the rest of my day after that was just like everyone else’s. I was glued to the TV in disbelief, horror, and sadness. It just didn’t seem real though.