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September 11, 2006
"Dad! New York's On Fire!"
Those were the words Josh spoke on that fateful morning. He had on the local news on the TV we had put up in his loft bedroom. I was getting ready for work soon after my wife did, and we were all getting ready to head out for the day. At the time, Lisa and I commuted together, as she worked not too far from where I did. We headed out the door before the second tower was struck and caught the play by play from Peter Boyles on the morning radio. Josh had been dropped of at school by that time and I remember Lisa and I looking at each other with a kind of "Oh Shit!" expression on our faces.
I wish I could tell you I remember the rest of the drive into work, but to tell the truth, I don't remember any of it. I do, however, remember the work day. We had on the TV in the office and a hotel filled with conferees, many of whom were from the New York area.
Lisa's office released everyone early and she came to my office, not knowing what else to do, but knowing she was my ride, so that's where she needed to be. We caught the coverage over and over and things with the conferees went down hill quickly. The ones from New York worried about loved ones and co-workers. The ones from everywhere else worried about getting home at all, especially after all airline traffice was grounded. The executive staff got together to prepare for anything. Was the hotel and our guests safe? Did we have everything we needed? As the day went on, it became clear that the answer to question one was "yes" and question 2 would take care of itself.
Leaving the hotel late that day and heading to the school to pick up Josh was surreal. I vividly remember the lack of planes in the sky. It just seemed pregnant and eerie. About a week later, when I saw the first plane coming in for landing at DIA, it was even stranger.
I kept Time's special edition published the following week and to this day pull it out and look at it, especially around this day.
Never Forget.
Posted by Jonathan at September 11, 2006 10:53 AM
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