My alarm went off at about two minutes to six that morning. I started work later in those days. The disc jockey on the morning show I listened to was a well-known Seattle personality and comedian. However, that morning, the first thing I heard him say in a very hushed and serious tone was, "My friends, the unthinkable has just occured. An airplane has crashed into the World Trade Center."
I jumped out of bed and ran into the living room and turned on the television. I was still trying to take in the whole situation when suddenly I thought they we rerunning footage of the plane hitting the tower. As I watched this plane crashing into the tower, I realized that wasn't previous footage; because the other tower was already in flames.
After almost a half of an hour of watching the events unfold on TV, I realized that I had been standing there in the middle of the living room, only about two feet away from my recliner. But, I couldn't make myself sit down; I just stood there looking at the screen. When I realized that I was about to be late for work, I picked up the phone and called one of my co-workers who came in to work earlier than I. I was talking to him, trying to explain all the things I was seeing on the television when the first tower started to collapse.
I eventually went to work, and in the evening I went to the dress rehearsal of THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, which was scheduled to open on Thursday evening. it was a tough decision, but we all voted to go ahead and open on time. Like Jrand56 said, it was tough to do the show that weekend, but those who came to see it all said how grateful they were for the laughter.
If I close my eyes, I can still the people jumping or falling from the towers that morning. That is still my worst memory of that day. I had been to Windows on the World a number of times, as well as the observation deck in the other tower, so I knew how incredibly high those buildings were. When I lived in New Jersey, the first thing I saw from my bedroom window each morning was The World Trade Center. And, at night, the lights in those towers were my own personal nightlights. It is difficult to imaigne New York without them.
