What do you remember about that terrible day? Where were you when you heard the news? What were you doing? Please do not use this thread for arguing and flamming. Be respectful.
When I heard the news, I was in the car with my boss. We were just pulling into the parking lot of a customer, about 50 miles north of Manhatten. It was just before 10:00 am. We had met up on Connecticut earlier that morning and spent the ride discussing out meeting, business in general, sports, etc. The usual banter between salesmean. The radio was on in the background, tuned to a sports talk station but it was so quiet we couldn't hear it over the engine and road noise.
As we pulled into a parking space and my boss put the car in park I heard a brief snippet of a news report. "...there has been an explosion at the Pentagon." I didn't think I had heard it correctly so I asked my boss to leave the car running for a minute. We sat there in a state of utter shock as we heard about the events of the morning. My first thoughts were of my parents. One works in mid town Manhatten and the other works in New Jersey, just outside the Lincoln Tunnel, off Route 3. As it turns out, they were both in Manhatten that morning but were safe and sound (my sisters and I didn't find that out until late in the afternoon).
We ended up going in for our meeting which, needless to say, was not productive at all. Our customer had a tv card in his computer so we sat and watched the news coverage for about 30 minutes then decided to head home. While driving back I remember feeling disoriented and insisting to my boss that we were going the wrong way (which were not).
What I remember most about the rest of the day, and the few days afterward, is the weather. It was beautiful, blue skies and warm. I am not sure why that sticks out in my memory so clearly, but it does.
I also remember staring at the sky and not seeing any planes. It was a most disconcerting feeling, as I live very close to an Air Reserve base and an international airport. The other feeling that sticks out in my mind was dread. I just keep thinking that it wasn't over and the other shoe was about to fall, so to speak.
I was fortunate not to have lost any friends or loved ones to that horrible tragedy. There were some tense hours as I tried to get in touch with my folks and some friends that live and work in NYC. As we approach the anniversy of the attacks I hope you will join me in taking some time to reflect and maybe tell someone close to you that you love them.
I aplogize for rambling on but this has just been on my mind. Peace.
NG
Bookmarks