I had been at a job interview and came home made some lunch and turned on the tube when Challenger exploded. I was taking a kickboxing class and could see the TV over the juicebar when Columbia exploded.
My first ‘where were you when’ that I can recall was when I was in 9th grade on the phone with a friend listening to 102.7 WNEW New York when the DJ came on the air and announced that John Lennon had been shot.
The day Columbine happened, I was leaving Colorado after visiting a dear friend who lived in Boulder. The next time I flew in to CO, the Virginia Tech shootings happened. It makes me nervous to consider going to visit again…
9/11/01, I looked at the towers across the river as I did every morning on my commute. It was a perfect day – the air was crisp and cool and cloudless. I was nervous about a meeting I had with the Manager and Co-Manager of our department. It went much better than I could have imagined so I was feeling great and opened the door and the other staff said “a plane hit the Twin Towers”… I remember many details of that day as if it were last week. That truly changed me forever, but I was fortunate not to have personally known anyone who was lost that day. @Adirondackwannabe – when I heard that people were jumping, I walked away from the TV. I still have not watched any of the footage that showed that. I can not fathom being in a position where that would seem like the better option… Truly gut wrenching to imagine.
I was at work when I heard about the Oklahoma City bombing, and also the 2004 Tsunami. A friend was visiting Japan, and I have Japanese friends via social networks, so I learned about that earthquake and tsunami over the web from them.