[Finnster]

I was living N of NYC at the time. Actually just moved there from CO w/ my (future) wife. I just graduated college and was job hunting. My wife (GF ATT) was gone to work in Rockland county, and I was home. (living w/ her parents then.)

I was just in my room just waking up/reading when my Dad called and asked if I saw what was going on. I asked what he was talking about, he said the WTC (1st tower) collapsed. I flipped on the TV and just saw the clouds of dust. I asked WTH he meant it "collapsed." The other building was there on fire, and the rest was a dust cloud. I thought maybe he meant part of it or something else, and the other building was just hidden by the dust. Not the entire building was gone. Soon the other tower collapsed and I was like "holy sh!t!."

My wife, mum and dad (in law) and a co worker came home later. The coworker was from Brooklyn, and couldn't get back due to the bridges being closed and the choas. We ate dinner later and watched the smoke clouds from the WTC rise in the sky over the sunset. Pretty surreal.

Where we were was a big bedroom community for commuters to the city. Lots of NYC firefighters lived there, as well as the other local companies who responded. They had memorials outside a lot of stations for quite a while for all the guys who fell. Lots of local guys were lost, and it wasn't hard to find someone who lost a relative or a friend there, or one who was caught up in it.