I was teaching at a high school that day. I was giving a test - the first test I'd given of the new year. Our principal came over the intercom and informed us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. She came on moments later to inform us that a second plane had hit the second tower. One girl said that she was too distraught to continue taking the exam. I made them all finish, anyways.

The day just kind of fell apart after that. Students started checking out of school, and less than half of the school was there by 10 AM (this was CST). There were two major concerns:
1) A very large air force base was less than 10 miles away (Barksdale AFB), and without anyone knowing if there were any more hijacked planes above, no one knew how safe it would be. President Bush would later land and make a statement from there.
2) The school I taught at was a private Catholic school. Many of the students had parents who worked in the financial industry in Dallas, and as a result, would often travel to NYC on business. I didn't hear about anyone losing a parent, though.

It's funny, but since then, I've always divided up time between "pre"- September 11th, and "post" September 11th.

Thinking today about how much this has impacted so many lives.