I was in 8th grade at the time of the 9-11 attacks. Being that school had just started, it was still nice out and I was looking forward to recess at lunchtime. When I went to my locker right before lunch I kind of got wind that something had happened. One of my friends came up to me and asked me “Gary you are usually aware of what is going on, do you know what happened in the city I heard a plane hit the twin towers?” Now I had no clue of what had happened, at first I thought maybe there was an accident, maybe it was a military plane, remembering what I had learned in history class about the plane that had crashed into the empire state building. When I got to the lunch room I saw some of my fellow schoolmates crying, and several teachers in the lunch room. My football coach was a math teacher at the time so I asked him if we still had practice that afternoon, he said no and that was the biggest tragedy at the time to me, also the Giants losing the previous night was a big tragedy to me as well. So after lunch I went to math class(not with the coach) and my math teacher informed us that the WTC had collapsed and that there was 8 planes, that one had crashed in washington, one in dallas, one in chicago, one in boston, and she didn’t remember all the places. I then heard there was 6 planes from my science teacher. No one could seem to get their story right. So me being lazy that afternoon, I missed the bus and my father had to come and pick me up. First thing he said when I got in the car was that alotta people had died today. He was listening to WFAN sports radio in New York, and Mike and the Mad Dog were talking to eye witnesses about the event, but I still wasn’t sure what happened. When I arrived home the first thing I did was turn on the TV, and the news coverage was on all but two channels of my cable box….HBO and the Weather Channel. When I saw the images of the buildings on fire and the planes going into the buildings that afternoon, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had just been to Liberty Island, and the Liberty Science Center a month before the attacks with my family. Almost 90% of the pictures from that trip had the trade center in the background, because it was such a clear day we really had some good shots of the buildings. I was in shock when I saw those images on every channel. I couldn’t believe what was once standing there when I was in the area a month prior, was now gone. I had only been to the top of the towers one time when I was 8 years old, but that day I was in the city my parents were talking about going to them that day, we never did, me and my brother had the chance to go to the top but my sister who was only about 5 years old at the time had not, and now will never ever be able to. I’ll never forget how much of a somber mood the country was in that week, I’ll never forget the Sportscenter theme song that night, Piazza’s homerun or the homeruns the Yankees hit in the world series. It was a very sad time for America, but at the same time it brought out the best in all of us. I’ll always remember September 11th 2001. I am yet to be downtown since that incident almost nine years ago. My heart goes out to anyone who lost anybody on that tragic day. God Bless the USA!