I was on my way to work in Reston, VA when it came on the radio about the first plane. The DJs on the radio were wondering if it was a traffic plane. I went in, late for a 9am meeting and told my officemate, his uncle worked in the WTC. We went to our meeting and the folks from Israel hadn't called in and we learned the phones were down. We left the conference room to hear about the second WTC plane and the Pentagon. Rumors were flying about building in Roslyn, VA. The internet didn't work, phones and cell phones not working. We went to our cars to listen to WTOP, a news radio station in DC. The DJs were frantic and near tears. Absolute traffic gridlock, their reporters couldn't get anywhere and once they did get somewhere, they couldn't call in their stories.

Through illegal use of AIM at the office, I heard a plane went down in Pittsburgh and my sister sometimes went to the corporate building for Alcoa there. So I tried to contact her. Through email I found out that the plane went down in Somerset, PA. Where the entire rest of my family lives. No one knew where my brother was, his job had him driving all over the county. They were frantic to hear where I was in DC since I sometimes went to the Pentagon area for work.

Around 10:30 we were told to leave, along with everyone else in the entire area. Traffic was horrendous and it took me 30 minutes just to get out of the parking lot. There were rumors of a rogue airplane (turns out it was the one that had already gone down in PA) and that it was headed for DC. Everyone that worked in my building walked out, looking at the sky in fear. It was freaky, like watching War of the Worlds or something. The country music station I listened to had gone off the air and were broadcasting a local TV station. The 6pm/11pm anchors had been called in and were on the air. Familiar voices that made me feel less alone sitting in my truck and trying to get home.

They said the plane in Somerset went down in a field (hello...the whole county is rural) By the time I got home, it was established at the plane in PA went down in a field, and around 2pm my brother's cell phone finally worked and he could call family and let us know he was OK. Being near DC was scary enough, but knowing later that where the plane in PA went down was random freaked me out. My whole family was less than 20 miles from that field, mere seconds to an airplane.

It was easily the worst day of my life and all my family came through OK. I can't imagine how much worse it would have been otherwise. Although, my officemate's uncle was on the floor that the first plane hit dead center and of course, he didn't live through it. We weren't allowed to go to work the next day, we were contractors and suddenly no one trusted anyone.