Where Were You?

Michele of "a small victory" gathered some memories of where her readers were when the Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986.

I'd like to hear you compare your own experiences and feelings on January 28, 1986 compared to September 11, 2001.

January 28, 1986: I was a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, playing video games in the basement activity room of the University Center. I walked out into the open lobby area, and saw a bunch of folks gathered around the TV watching a NASA press conference. I had to watch for several minutes before I figured out what had happened. I don't remember anything else specific about that day except a lot of discussion about it with friends and co-workers later at my part-time job in the UT Music Hall. The whole campus was stunned.

September 11, 2001: I was at work, and had just finished sending a birthday greeting to my brother - he turned 30 that day. Someone in the hall outside my office said something about a plane hitting the WTC. I called up CNN.com and got an image of the smoke and fire from the 1st plane. From then on, CNN and all the other news sites became almost impossible to access - finally CNN put up a stripped version of its homepage with no graphics and basic info and links. Everyone in my office gathered in a conference room watching the events on an old TV. I remembered my wife leaving me a message on my voice mail that she and her office-mates had gone over to the hospital across the street to watch events unfold there. Later that day we went to a memorial Chapel service at my son's school - he had just started kindergarten a month earlier. I cried for the first time in a long time.

Anyone else?