I was in San Jose, CA that day. I turned on the TV after my shower and watched the second tower fall. I thought it was a movie until I switched channels and realized it wasn't. I wasn't quite sure yet what was happening, but the reality was beginning to sink in when my cell phone rang. My manager calling me from his meeting in London. "What's going on there", he asked. "The Twin Towers are GONE", I said. "What?" "The twin towers, I just watched the second one fall. They're both gone."
I have friends and family in NY. One a firefighter, two others commodities traders working in the World Financial Center. Several other friends working further up town. Panic. I called home (NC) to make sure my family was ok, then I started making phone calls to NY but was unable to reach anyone (fast busy). I finished getting dressed and went in to the office.
The mood was somber. I had several meetings scheduled that day and others through the week. Mostly with people from out of town. People who were in SJ at my request, rather than at home with their families. I remember feeling a bit guilty, but was too worried about my friends to feel too bad. As we went through the day we were interrupted steadily by cell phones, all good news thankfully.
My two college roommates were both heading to work at the WFC at the time of the first attack. One was on a subway train from Hoboken (NJ) to the WTC station when the first plane hit the towers. The train was stopped in the tunnel under the Hudson River, then sent back to New Jersey where my friend watched the rest of the tragedy unfold from the pier just across the river from the WTC. An uninterrupted view. I'm not sure he's ever completely recovered.
I stayed in SJ and finished my meetings, as much as I could anyways. Realizing that getting a flight out of SJ or SFO would be futile for a while I started driving home on Saturday morning. I figured I'd catch I-40 at Barstow and head East to home. I drove 17 hours that first day and made it to Albuquerque, NM. Miraculously, my wife got me scheduled on a flight the next morning from ABQ to RDU via ATL. I slept 3 hours in the airport hotel then made my way over to check in. I still remember the eerie feeling I had getting on an airplane that day. Could it happen again? Today? Certainly not with a box cutter. Flying had changed forever.
I made it home Sunday afternoon, after an uneventful flight. I fell asleep in my kids bed that night.
I'll never forget watching those horrible scenes of people jumping from the upper floors of the towers. It's a forever memory for me, as clear as the early moon landings and the births of my children. I'll remember always my father on the outside WTC observation deck, clinging to the wall (he had a fear of heights but took me up there anyway) while I enjoyed the view from the top. The several times I took friends from out of town to the same observation deck. Gone.
Never forget.
http://youtu.be/p6yLQRF-cEU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;