I was in elementary school at the time 11 miles away, just across the river, in NJ. They really didn't want us to see the news so they took all of us into the m

I was in elementary school at the time 11 miles away, just across the river, in NJ. They really didn't want us to see the news so they took all of us into the main auditorium and had us just sit. A few of the parents of the other children worked in the city. They made it an early release day. One of my parents worked close by and my cousin lived close too. Her house had a clear line of sight to the towers with some binoculars. I remember seeing little black dots fall out of buildings and I remember wondering if they were chairs. I am older now and understand it was people. I missed the collapse of the first tower but saw the second fall through the binoculars. A lot of my classmates didn't show up for a few days. I didn't understand the gravity of what had happened until was quite a bit older. I remember ABC news was playing all day and associate the voice of Peter Jennings to that day. I plan on watching the Nat Geo documentary, One Day in America. Last year I tried the 110 flight stair climb challenge, the same total as the towers, and gained a different level of appreciation for what the responders and volunteers faced that day.