9/11 Remembered

Five years. To thinks it's been only five years. Seems like a lifetime ago when I heard the news about the towers. I think we all remember where we were and what we were doing when the first plane struck.

I was sitting in my office at the Caribe Girl Scout Council when I heard the DJ on AlfaRock say that a plane had crashed into the first tower. I was in disbelief. How could such an accident happen? My co-workers were reacting the same way.

Then the second plane struck.

Not an accident. No way. This was deliberate. The Pentagon too? A fourth in Pennsylvania? Holy crap!!! Now I was freaking out. SO were my co-workers. My wife called to tell me the news. Everyone was SO freaked!

Then the towers FELL.....

I went cold. It's unreal. I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept, and I have a VIVID imagination. I had to wait until I got home to see the video feeds. I can't remember whether I cried or not. I assume I did, but I was in such a state of shock you could have burned me alive and I wouldn't have noticed. This feeling went on for days and then weeks.

I found out that my cousin Sal worked on the 93rd floor, but thank God he wasn't there that morning. My other cousin Mark also worked there but was in Jersey visiting a client. Yet another cousin, Julie, was working somewhere on 5th Ave and 38th street, far from the collapse, but with all that smoke and dust she might have well been at Ground Zero. All of them were safe, but just thinking about losing them made me feel ill.

Later I found out that one of my clients had lost her niece there. She was trapped above the plane crash. She was a promising athlete. Volleyball I think. I learned that a very dear freind of mine, Wanda, also worked in the building. High up as it turned out. She wasn't there because she had to take her mom for a root canal. Twist of fate.

I myself felt weird since I had been to New York a few weeks before for the first time in 20 years. I imagined how it would have been if I had been there during the attacks. It still makes me ill.

I'm sure we've all heard of the miraculous accounts of those who barely escaped the collapse. I'm also sure that many more of us have lost someone we knew and/or loved that day. To you I offer my DEEPEST condolences.

I was watching the CBS special last night about the Engine house that just happened to be recording a documentary that day (twist of fate again). And right now I'm watching the reading of the names on NBC. Can't help but cry during all this. I even had to call my friend Wanda in New York just to bring a smile to both our faces in this saddest of days.

To all the heroes of that day, NYPD, NYFD, the volunteers and the New Yorkers that set the standard for human kindness and compassion....THANK YOU!!!!

To those who have perished that day, May God bless you and keep you. You are missed.

To everyone else, PLEASE let us never forget. Not just the victims of the towers, but the victims of the other two flights as well(we hardly mention them do we?).

I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER!!!!