Happy birthday, Blooms! I was working for a travel distribution company out of an office in the financial district in Boston. We watched everything on the projector in our conference room, until the financial district was evacuated. I remember the chaos and frantic phone calls (when the phones would even work!) and emails both to and from loved ones. I lived directly across the water from Logan Airport, and I also remember the silence of those days following. I distinctly remember walking to work a couple days later, and hearing a military jet go overhead (they were the only planes we saw at the time), and watching people on the ground flinch/duck and look up in fear. I had friends who both did and did not make it, I think of them often. The one slighty silver lining was how nice everyone was to each other (even perfect strangers) afterward - I really remember that. I also remember that there was hurricane swell surf that day (a big deal in New England!). I couldn't watch the news any more, so we went out. There were a lot of people out in the water, and it was the quietest, kindest, most reflective day that I've experienced in the line-up. It was healing to be in touch with mother nature. I heard stories later about surfers who had skipped work in the towers that morning to take advantage of the waves (we'd had a pretty long flat spell previously). My heart goes out to those who lost friends and family that day.

Thank you for starting this thread. I've never felt so shaken and I was 1500 miles away here in Louisiana. My heart goes out today to everyone who was near the crashes and who knew someone personally whose life ended on this tragic day. I remember that after about 5 hours of being glued to the television, I just couldn't mentally couldn't take any more. I went to the barn and went out for a ride....life seemed so perfect and beautiful in my little corner of the world as I watched the cows and meandered around in the pastures of my neighbors. Then I realized that I was 10 miles north of one of the largest oil refineries in the world and 10 miles south of a nuclear power plant. Suddenly even my little corner of the world seemed very scary. Can you imagine people who live in countries where bombings occur on a regular basis? I was proud that my youngest played TAPS at his college this morning at a memorial service on their outdoor colonnade. I hope that future generations remember the lives lost ..... all individuals with hopes and dreams and families who loved them.... Grace

I've never been to NYC and as ignorant as it sounds I didn't even know what the WTC was at the time it happened. When you live so far from the scene of any event it's hard to grasp 100% what locals are experiencing. I'd hear New Yorkers say how strange it was to look up and not see those two buildings there any longer. Being a landmark they identified with it in a way we weren't able to. Like WIP08 said, many knew people who perished or were injured. No one I know had that personal connection, it was something we watched on TV. A woman even said on the radio, when she turned on the TV 9-11-01 she thought she was see a trailer for the next Die Hard movie. The media protected us all so much from the reality of death we healed from it faster than those who witnessed it. You're right, no one here is talking about the memorial. It's not like we can go visit it on the weekend. We'll watch on TV like everything else. This is why I make a point to view the documentaries, so I can get a sense of what these people who survived actually went through. Because no one here had personal stories to tell. This weekend I was listening to a radio talk show broadcasted from NY and they were discussing their memories of 9-11. I didn't know they estimated 200 people jumped from the towers. I thought only a handful did that. When they said in the documentary bodies and body parts were all over the place including inside people's apartments I couldn't believe it. All we were shown was a lot of grey dust and papers. You get desensitized a lot quicker when you've been spared the guts and gore of it. On 9-11 I was home. By the time I woke up the first tower had been hit hours ago. Took me awhile just to figure out what they were talking about. DH was so clueless he got ready for work like it was any other day, oK so a building in NY is on fire. I told him as he was leaving this is no fire, this is worse and he should stay home from work. He dismissed it and left for work anyway. It was a couple hours before they finally understand at work this WAS BIG. I was glued to the TV but not my husband. And because I saw more of the candid shots of people searching for their loved ones it captured my heart. That's what he missed. One image has stayed with me all these years. Never saw it except that one time. A news reporter sees a teenage girl in tears, she was holding a picture of her father who was missing. I have never seen a girl more desperate and panicy than her. This was when family were starting to post pictures on that large wall. That wall of pictures is what made it personal to me, it wasn't just a big building falling down, these people were in it. I'll never forget the anguish on her face. I felt so bad for her and was praying for her father to come home for her sake. DH missed all that so now when I tell him there are documentaries on the building of the new WTC he only wants to see them talk about construction, doesn't want to hear to human interest stories. No wonder the 10th anniversary doesn't mean that much to him. He has yet to identify with it on a personal level. So years and years go by with no news at all and then suddenly this month we see documentaries and hear that buildings have gone up and a memorial is ready. I didn't know they were that far along, as far as I could tell NewYorkers were still squabbling over what to build! Isn't it sad that on 9-11-11 we have to go to a little known network called the SCIENCE channel to see these documentaries? This should be airing on ABC/NBC/CBS. I hope they aren't planning to show their regular schedule of boob-tube programming. Heaven forbid Americans not get to see whatever stupid show they're hooked on.

Um, yeah, about this. It needs to be taken down and advertised in the correct forum. This forum is for swaps that happen through the mail, as you can see if you read through a few of them. I wish you the best of luck with this, and it does look like a lot of fun, but this isn't the place. It's sort of like advertising condoms in the boys room of an elementary school. They'd eventually use them, but it wouldn't be the exact marketing group you're looking for..