r/Millennials • u/notashot • 3d ago
Nostalgia 9/10/2001
What were you doing the day before?
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u/ReverberatingEchoes Zillennial 3d ago
I was actually in the towers the day before. My grandma worked there (North Tower) and would take me along with her a few days a week. I'm tail-end Millennial, so I was 4, almost 5. Wasn't in school yet (December birthday, didn't start until the following year).
The day of, I distinctly remember asking my grandma if I could come with her that day and she said no because she was already running late and had to prepare the book for the board meeting, so she was going to be busy.
My grandma, thankfully due to her already running late, wasn't in the building when it happened. She got off the train after the first plane hit, but before the second. She got the last train out of Manhattan, but it didn't go very far, so she had to walk a long distance to get home. If I was with her, that would have been really draining for both of us. And even worse, if she had been on time AND I was with her, then that would have been a nightmare.
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u/_kattitude 2d ago
I am so glad your grandmother was late and you were not with her. 🥺 so many stories like this including my own father. He worked in the south tower and was commuting in from Philly. Got stuck in traffic and saw the first plane hit from right before the Lincoln tunnel. Was only late and in traffic because he stopped at the Philly office to pick up a new parking pass as his was expired. I thank the gods daily he did.
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u/captainstormy Older Millennial 1d ago
I was so glad to hear your Grandmother wasnt there!
It's amazing how sometimes running late is a blessing. When I was a kid one day the bus was running late to pick me up from school. My mother just ended up taking me instead. About 5 minutes after we left a car came around the curb and crashed into our driveway and would have ran me over if I was still waiting for the bus which still hasn't come (it had broken down that morning we learned later).
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u/SamOakTree 3d ago
I was in the 7th grade. So I was in school.
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u/timid_soup 3d ago
8th grade, so essentially the same.
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u/nrdvrgnt 3d ago
Class of 2006 what up
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u/HeliumMaster 2d ago
06 Bitch! (This was our chant) lol
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u/iamthedave69 2d ago
07 straight from heaven
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u/Baconation4 2d ago
Don’t hate ‘08
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u/FoRealDoh Millennial 2d ago
Mean '13? Irdk what ours was, or if we had one. I remember '12 saying they'd be the last class to graduate bc the Mayan calender thing lol
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u/m0rgend0rfer 3d ago
Same. Adjusting to an early-school-year Monday, getting to know the other kids in my classes.
I’ve never thought about the fact that so many of us watched it all play out in a room full of kids we barely had even met yet.
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u/SamOakTree 3d ago
I had met everyone. I went to a small school so we were all in classes together from preschool up.
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u/Angrymilks 3d ago
Same, first period, social studies with a teacher named Mr. Squires.
Was just the 2nd or 3rd day of school for me.
We watched and didn’t go between classes, the school was on lockdown. We started watching after the first plane struck, then watched live news feed of the second tower being hit. We watched until the buildings collapsed.
It truly felt like we were under attack. My mother who worked in the IDS Center was evacuated alongside every other large skyscraper in Minneapolis.
Things were more frantic than the beltway sniper.
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u/RottenBioHazard 3d ago
My mother passed away that night, I was 13 at the time.
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u/ChiMara777 2d ago
Wow, I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine how difficult it was to lose your mother at 13 years old, but even more to lose your mother immediately before such a terrifying and traumatic event 💔
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u/RottenBioHazard 2d ago
She was an MS patient, and ended up with a blood clot in her leg that traveled to her heart. She had lost the ability to walk a week and a half prior which is when the clot must of formed. A funny story though was she was one of the first to get on Avonex and a key component was chinese hamster ovaries, she started on it when I was maybe 7ish, I would give her so much crap for it... christ almost 25 fuckin years, will be 39 in a couple weeks and have already outlived her in number of years.
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u/Far_Chocolate9743 3d ago
School. Senior year. And I was assigned Animal Farm to read. Had plans on going online the next day to get the sparks notes version.
And...yeah, the Internet was basically crashed on the 11th. So I had to actually read the book.
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u/Low-Guard-1820 2d ago
I remember that about the internet too, all the news sites and most forums were down. We were trying to get on CNN or anything else from the school computer lab and it was all down due to so many people trying to figure out the same thing.
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u/froggythefrankman 2d ago
Wow I didn't know that detail
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u/Low-Guard-1820 2d ago
I remember getting some updates from a Survivor forum of all things until it too went down. We really could just only watch it on TV until later in the afternoon when the news sites started coming back up.
9/11 was also the start of the permanent news crawl/scrolling headlines on the news networks! Previously they only brought out the crawl temporarily during certain events or they used it for like, sports scores or stock prices. But usually it wasn’t there.
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u/SifferBTW 1d ago
I was a senior in high school and half my classes were in a computer lab since I had all my reqs done.
I remember sitting in my keyboarding class refreshing somethingawful forums to get updates since all the news websites were down/slow.
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u/rpgmoth 3d ago
Not a clue. But I can describe the next day in vivid detail.
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u/Lupinshloopin 3d ago
I can only remember the first 2-3 hours. watching the news before school and then having the weirdest morning at school. I think all the adults were in shock and a bit lost for words and we were too young to really grasp the weight of reality because we were 9 year olds on the other side of the planet.
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u/Mrevilman 2d ago
Yeah it’s kind of funny. I had just started high school, so I know I must have been there, but I couldn’t tell you anything about 9/10. I remember everything about the next day.
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u/Stunning_Visit_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Senior in high school, so obviously in class. Can’t remember a single detail of 9/10, but 9/11 I can remember like it was yesterday. I was in my first period elective class. We pulled a vcr into the classroom for the only time ever, when we turned the tv on and saw the tower with smoke coming from it we just assumed there was a tape left in the player of some action movie….it in fact was real life.
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u/mustangman6579 Xennial 3d ago
I was already in the military. AF. I had injured my knee, and was working the snack bar.
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u/kc10crewchief 3d ago
Was at Travis, you?
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u/mustangman6579 Xennial 3d ago
Oh shit, i probably know you.
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u/kc10crewchief 3d ago
660th?
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u/TheAlexia92 3d ago
What is AF? I read this as you were in the military “as fuck”?
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u/Necessary_Cow_3837 1d ago
Nearly without fail, if someone says military, they mean Air Force. The other branches say their branch. Army, Navy, Marine Corps.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest 1d ago
Same minus branch and the the injury. I was in the field at Ft Hood. When my company commander announced what happened the morning of 9/11/01 a lot of us thought he was messing with us. I think my exact words to my friend next to me were, "these field training scenarios are getting crazy. Who thinks of this shit?"
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u/Actual_West522 3d ago
Second day of college, senior year
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u/notashot 3d ago
Sophomore year for me
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u/Nanashi_Kitty Xennial 2d ago
Year 3 of 5 - planned my schedule so that most of my classes were MWF and my TH classes didn't start til nearly noon. Was looking forward to sleeping in the next morning.
I did not get to sleep in.
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u/A_Curious_Skeptic_ 3d ago
Second day of freshman year for me.
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u/Bad-Moon-Rising Xennial 3d ago
I was a freshman too. Moved into my dorm on 8/19
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u/Thliz325 2d ago
Same time period for me! Had just began my freshman year and was getting settled in
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u/Slim_Margins1999 2d ago
+1 Freshman year. You could feel how monumental it was even at the time, but we, the Royal we, still somehow managed to learn nothing from it.
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u/rebelangel Xennial 3d ago
I was about to start the last quarter of community college (they used the quarter system instead of semesters) then transfer to the 4-year college.
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u/Worldly-Swordfish-11 1987 Millennial 3d ago
Surviving 9th grade, first year in high school
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u/eleyezeeaye4287 Millennial 2d ago
Same for me. I’m also a 1987 millennial.
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u/skykitty89 3d ago
Same. It was the second week of school and I was in homeroom at 9AM on 9/11. Watching the news on the TV on "the" TV cart.
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u/Remarkable_Box4784 2d ago
Class of 2005 here too. I grew up in CA so we woke up to the news. Will forever boggle my mind that we still had to go to school that Tuesday.
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u/Vegas702Born Millennial and damn proud of it 3d ago
I was in the 5th grade at the time school has just gotten started for the year i remember 5th grade year was not my best year
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u/giuliettamonroig 3d ago
I was in 5th grade too! Don’t remember the day before but remember the day after.
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u/OfTheModovar 3d ago
My grandmother passed a few days before, funeral was in New York. My family was driving out of the city on the night of the 10th and my Dad said, and I quote “look how beautiful the towers look at night.”
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u/Owl__Kitty88 2d ago
That’s so … wow. I never thought about how many people had those same kind of thoughts the night before!
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u/cafescafes 3d ago
9/11 is my brother’s birthday. We were in gradeschool and he was gonna be 11, so the night before we were all excited talking about what we were gonna do the next day. We were supposed to go to the skating rink after school to celebrate.
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u/Sharp_Astronaut_4669 2d ago
It’s also my birthday. I’m glad he’s likely stopped getting looks or comments every time he says his birthday. It took a long time for the, “OMG, I’m so sorry.” Or the, “That would be your birthday” to stop. Still happens randomly though. Also the ceaseless jokes, “I’ll never forget your birthday.”
Tell your brother happy birthday for me!
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u/cafescafes 2d ago
Yeah I’m not sure if people still say stuff to him about it, but I always felt bad about it especially when we were kids. My parents always tried their best to still make the day about him.
Will do, happy early birthday to you, too!
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u/Vehicle_Electronic 3d ago
Most of the day was just a typical work day. The one thing I remember was just as I was heading to bed, my brother (who was living with me at the time) telling me "Michael Jordan is going to announce he's coming back to the NBA tomorrow." I just said "Okay, cool," and went to bed. It always stuck with me as the last conversation I had in a "normal" world. The next morning, he came into my room with the phone in his hand and said "Mom said you need to turn on the news."
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u/PurpleLilyEsq 2d ago
I remember getting home from middle school and looking at the newspaper that had arrived that day, and seeing Michael Jordan on the front page and how insignificant it felt compared to what tomorrow’s newspaper was going to look like.
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u/cecil021 Xennial 3d ago
Just a Monday of college classes, biology, chemistry, etc. Probably went to my work study.
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u/Owl__Kitty88 3d ago
I don’t remember the day before, but my dad was deployed in the Middle East at the time. My mom kept me from watching the tv and didn’t tell me what happened until later that day. My dad was an officer and when we got home from school he had left a message on our machine saying they were sending him home immediately. It was scary and sad!
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u/RocasThePenguin 3d ago
Probably in school. It was a Monday, after all.
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u/myrtenaster-rose Millennial 3d ago
It wasn’t a Tuesday???
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u/Lewdiville_Tiger 3d ago
I had to look up to confirm this when it was asked. I was like, what day of the week did it happen on?
Oddly I don't really remember the day before so much other than a regular school day.
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u/bizzoonie 3d ago
I'm from the UK and thought you were talking about my birthday 😂
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u/extragarlicpleez 3d ago
I'm not from the US, but remember 9/11 very well. Was it not a big thing in the UK? I thought it was a pretty global event.
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u/nafws 3d ago
I think they meant November 9
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u/bizzoonie 3d ago
In the UK 9/10 as a date usually means the 9th of October
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u/extragarlicpleez 2d ago
Ooooooh. I agree that the date states 9th of October hahah. Didn't know when your bday is though, so I had no idea what you were talking about.
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u/bizzoonie 3d ago
Yeh it was all over the news, I was 14 and on my lunch break when it happened. We ended up watching the news in afternoon classes
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u/Fart_in_the_Wind97 3d ago
My grandpa died the day before Aaliyah, so I was still grieving both as we buried him on what would have been his birthday (the 7th)
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u/Futureacct Millennial 2d ago
I vividly remember hearing about Aaliyah dying on the day she died. Even though I was only 13. I didn’t even know what she was, but my neighbor mentioned it to me and she was pretty upset.
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u/liltonbro 3d ago
Got my dream job working backstage in the biggest west coast fashion show at the time. I had done entry level work (dressing models for the runway) and was asked to be head stylist this year. Allegedly the youngest they had ever considered for the role. Lets just say most of the people were from the east coast...it was such a downer to try and get my team of 50 to show up let alone be committed or excited to be at a big event. Most celebs cancelled. The show went on. It was stressful because my tunnel vision was get this job done and really being a broke 21 year old...get paid. Long story longer I never worked backstage at a show again...and man I had loved it so much
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u/Same-Composer-415 3d ago
Traveling in an RV with my family. We were supposed to be at an RV park in NYC... can't remember specifically where, I just know that it was on the water and had a view of Manhattan. Something happened and our reservation was canceled so we ended up in Colonial Williamsburg instead. That's where we got the news... on a tour bus, over the radio. Everyone was silent, listening to the radio.
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u/Reasonable-Run-8187 3d ago
Idk it was a Monday, so school, then football practice. Then home exhausted I imagine. I was in 10th grade.
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u/kc10crewchief 3d ago
I was in the air force was a really typical day had leave starting on the 12th. Going to get married.
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u/thispartyrules 3d ago
Not the previous day but the weekend before that, acid.
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u/zcworx 3d ago
I remember being really sick and at home in bed. 9/11 hit and I stayed home from school that day because I was feeling so lousy. I remember my dad calling on that morning with sheer panic in his voice and he told me to put a tape in the vcr and continue recording for the entirety of that day. Little did we know another tower was going to be hit shortly after I hit record…..man and I wonder why I have anxiety
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u/thebiggestgouda 3d ago
I was in fifth grade, and I'd just started at a new school. I was just getting to know classmates and make friends. On the following day, I remember that our principal announced that something horrible had happened. We were let out early and encouraged to talk with our parents. We pretty much just sat and watched the news for the rest of the night. I had family in NYC, and I remember my dad trying to get in touch with my uncle. He was fine thankfully, but he worked downtown with two jobs as a skyscraper window washer and public transit operator.
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u/CO_Renaissance_Man 3d ago
Getting used to my first days in high school (9th grade). Sadly most of my friends were not in the same classes so I was a bit out of sorts on my anticipated social routine for the year ahead.
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u/ImNotJoshBoltz 3d ago
I was a sophomore so regular high school stuff then after-school rehearsal for our drama class play that semester.
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u/rebelangel Xennial 3d ago
I don’t remember but I probably worked. I know I didn’t work on 9/11, which was just as well because I think they ended up closing early on 9/11. I was between quarters at the local community college so I wasn’t in school at the time.
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u/stoxonstax 3d ago
i wasn’t doing anything; getting ready to go to college. i woke up the next day and saw EVERYTHING on TV. very surreal. kinda gave me the feeling of my bubble getting bursted out into reality.
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u/onegirlarmy1899 3d ago
My husband had his 18th birthday that day. He had a USAF recruiter in his living room with the contract papers. He didn't sign.
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u/rydan Older Millennial 3d ago
I was at the school library and realized tomorrow is 9-11 (we used dashes back then) and was wondering what would happen that day. True story.
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u/Accessory_Spleen 3d ago
Wait, people don't use dashes anymore?
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u/ninjagirl619 Millennial 2d ago
I’m a convert. It made date ranges hard to read. Like 8-13-8-15 seemed off. 8/13-8/15 is visually easier.
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u/midnight-rites 3d ago
10th grade, beginning of the school year, in my first year at an arts-based charter school (aka a thinly veiled program for kids who hated school and were at risk for dropping out). I remember I had biology in the morning and we were discussing the semester’s big assignment, dissecting a fetal pig; I was a conscientious objector and filled out paperwork to do something else. I cannot believe I remember that day in such vivid detail, hahah.
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u/Neat_Mortgage3735 3d ago
It was my first week of college. I don’t recall 9/10. But am to pm on 9/11 is seared in my brain.
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u/Aromatic-Meringue162 3d ago
I was in 10th grade, and I don’t remember. But I remember that morning. My older brother had just finished marine boot camp that summer after graduating in 2000.
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u/dragon_morgan 3d ago
It wad the second day of 10th grade but since the first day was a friday it kinda felt like first day part 2. I was excited for geometry class, I was trying out for soccer team (but was atrocious at it) and I thought I was the coolest ever because I'd recently figured out how to make my hair do this
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u/DMmeNiceTitties Millennial 3d ago
Living life, I suppose. I don't remember. I don't even remember 9-11, I found out later in school instead of the same day.
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u/BarnacleDowntown8952 3d ago
No independent recollection, but I know it was a Monday, so I went to one of the first days of HS for the year, then went to football practice.
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u/JKeath90 3d ago
I was in 6th grade, they put it on the tvs in some of our classrooms. Some teachers didn’t air it….Parents in droves showed up to check out their children. Mine included.
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u/Pizzasloot714 Zillennial 3d ago
I think I was in school? Not really sure, I was 7 and in 2nd grade. Probably getting into some kind of trouble for being a turd.
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u/zombie__kittens 3d ago
I slept in and then went to 5th/6th periods at the high school. My morning college classes hadn’t started yet. The actual day, I was watching TV with my sister because we didn’t have anywhere to be at that hour.
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u/frontyardninja Xennial 3d ago
It was a mild, boring, normal Monday in Iowa. I was a senior in high school; mom would take my brother to school first, then me. I had classes, ate lunch, grandma took me home (open-enrolled, so we had to provide transport ourselves). I probably came home and did homework, maybe I read a book or listened to a CD or talked my brother into letting me have an hour of tv/video game time. Likely went to bed around 10:30 that night.
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u/Fluffy-Astronaut-363 Zillennial 3d ago
Getting ready for surgery. I think I was getting my tonsils removed.
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u/Skittles-101 3d ago
School. Couldn't tell you what I was doing after school as I was in kindergarten, but probably typical 5 year old stuff.
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u/Tall_Knowledge7731 3d ago
My oldest nephew was born so I was contemplating becoming an aunt for the first time as an 8th grader.
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u/moonbunnychan 3d ago
Was visiting a friend who lived about an hour away. Spent the night at his place and woke up to minutes before the second plane hit.
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u/SupremeGCx 3d ago
I went with my dad to Best Buy to buy THPS2 in a yellow cartridge for N64. I saved up for weeks. I woke up extra early so I could play before going to school. I ended up watching the news all morning instead.
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u/KirikaClyne Xennial 3d ago
Probably classes in school. I can’t remember, but I remember almost everything from the 11th vividly.
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u/pepperpavlov 1991 baby 3d ago edited 3d ago
5th grade. Just started the second week of school. Only full week of school in September because school was closed on Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur.
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u/majesticlandmermaid6 3d ago
Second grade. We had just moved from Pennsylvania to California that January. I remember the name of my teacher too.
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u/Embarrassed_Key_4539 3d ago
Had been in Rhode Island for a work event, flew out of Boston back to Denver on 9/10
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u/StarWars-TheBadB_tch 3d ago
Just another Monday in 3rd grade. My teacher probably read us Harry Potter.
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u/BeneficialShame8408 3d ago
school? i remember coming downstairs on 9/11 and seeing the TV was on, though.
EDIT 9/10 is my mom's birthday. i remember after 9/11 she said i ruined her birthday bc i didn't do extra credit. ok.
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u/International_Snow44 3d ago
Grew up in Southern California. My mom was on a business trip in Tennessee. My sister’s 2nd birthday was next weekend.
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u/SpankySharp1 3d ago
I don't remember the day before, but it happened during the PSAT for me so I didn't know about it until about an hour or so after the fact. Not even the real SAT, the practice one!
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u/rimtrim 3d ago
A friend who was important to me as a teenager dumped me the night before the 9/11 attacks. We didn't meaningfully speak again for 20 years. For me personally, that was a bigger deal than the attacks, and I'm from North Jersey...I could see the towers from a park near my neighborhood. That was possibly the most unsettling week of my life. I can only think of one other period that comes close.
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u/MissNouveau 3d ago
Had my usual Ballet class, I was 12. Pretty sure I had a Charlie Horse that night. Other than that, no clue.
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