Where were you Sept. 11, 2001?

[Editor's note: This post has been moved up to the top of the blog to tie in with our Sept. 8 issue.]

When news stations first broadcast that the first plane hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, I was not listening or watching. I had just taken a shower and was rushing to work. I usually listen to music in the car so I did not hear the news until I arrived at the office of Texas Catholic, the Dallas diocesan newspaper. As I booted up my computer, a coworker asked me if I heard that a jet struck the World Trade Center. I said I hadn't. As I checked my Internet news sources, I saw that a second plane had just struck the other tower. At this point, our small office turned into the fury you'd find at a daily newspaper. Our old, flittering black-and-white office TV became the centerpiece. An emergency meeting was called by my editor to discuss coverage. We were scheduled to go to press at 5 p.m. that day, and we realized we had to essentially rebuild our entire newspaper. We scurried to find out more information and to see if the tragedies had affected members of our diocese. We called the printer and told them we needed our press time pushed back a few hours. From a journalism standpoint, it was one of the most heartbreaking days I've had, yet I was also proud of the quality reporting we produced in such a short period of time.

Because of the craziness of that deadline, the reality of what happened didn't begin to hit me until the next day and continued the rest of the week.

Where were you Sept. 11, 2001? What were you doing? Do you still remember it like it just happened? I would like to run a sampling of readers' thoughts in an upcoming Herald, so I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and memories.