I had just put my 3rd grader on the bus at 8:45. I went into the house to make my Kindergarden kid some breakfast, when my friend from Boston called me to tell me to turn on the TV – a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We watched befuddled – I do remember saying, “Do they think it’s an accident?” – It was so out of the norm – how did this happen?

We got off the phone, I watched as the 2nd plane hit the tower. Immediately I became really concerned. I called my dad in Boston who traveled to NYC all the time to make sure he wasn’t on that plane (knowing that the reports said the plane was from Boston) – I called my brother in law who worked in Manhattan (Times Square) – he was still on the train, stuck.

It was only when I saw on TV that the Pentagon was hit and the White House was being evacuted that I became really concerned……I decided to pick my daughter up from school. I live in NJ, not that far from NYC – I thought that maybe I was being too worried, but then I thought – So what! It’s my kid, and things are out of control – I need to know my kids are safe. I picked my kid up at school as the 1st tower was coming down. When I got there, the office staff was crying , and there was a line of parents picking up kids.

I tried not to cry when I explained to my daughter why I was picking her up – but I had to tell her the truth…..but she was too young to really understand. She played the rest of the day with her sister in the playroom. I tried to get in touch with my husband in NJ to find out what he was doing…and couldn’t get in touch with him becuase all the phone lines were jammed.

My husband came home from the Pharma company in Morris County he worked for because the highways were closing down – all the major roads were closing to get what would hope be survivors to NJ hospitals – but it was not to be.

We spent the rest of the day & night watching incredulous as more buildings fell down and worriying about what was to come.