On Sept 11 2001 at 9:30AM, I received a call that would forever change my perception of how the world works.
You actually start to witness things that are "history"... when you reach a certain age.
Stories start to become lore.
Astoria, Queens NY. My then fiance worked across the street from the Towers. I worked the late shift midtown.
She called and told me the train was stopped and everyone was asked to get off.
She was at a pay phone.
She asked if I could see what happened. Something about a small craft.
I got up. I yawned, turned on the small boxy TV we had.
The images of a burning tower gripped my heart and it skipped.
"Get the f*ck out of there now"
"wha..." she interupted.
"I am serious, no time to explain."
"ok"
She hung up and I sat there for the next 6 hours. Not knowing whether she was alive. A nation sat around a TV with me and watched in horror as a modern day catastrophe was unfolding on live TV.
Anchors were speechless. There was no politics.
The Pentagon
Pennsylvania
The buildings collapsing.
Frantic family calls.
Crying.
It seriously looked like the world was ending.
Fighter jets, flew low over my building
She walked in the doors 6 hours later. We cried, hugged. We sat in silence as the world stopped for a day to watch the unthinkable.
My message to the world first is, thank you. I am grateful that we have spent the past 23 years together to raise a family. It's also
...that tomorrow is unknown. I was lucky. Those 3000+ people were going to WORK.
All we have is this moment.
Live like it's your last.