September 11, 2001

I want to take take a moment and remember and pause and reflect and share the memories of this day. God Bless all the heroes and victims that lost their lives on this day and God Bless their families.

I was working at a job in Long Island City in NYC on that day. Long Island City is right on the East River and I had a clear view of the Towers. The woman in the cubicle next to mine was listening to the Howard Stern show on the radio. I’m not a big HS fan, but on that day he did a phenomenal job of updating the current events. I remember walking outside to see the Towers and the horrendous smoke. The streets were filled with people and all the traffic had stopped.

Esther and I were calling each other all morning and sharing news. At the time, nobody knew what was going on and how extensive the attacks were going to be. There were a lot of rumors. At about 11:30am, the phones stopped working. Shortly thereafter, Guiliani shut down the city and the subways.

At about 2:00pm, I decided that I couldn’t stay at work anymore cause I was worrying about her. Her job was on 30th street, not far from the Empire State Building a couple of miles north of Ground Zero. At my job, even though the subways were shut down, everybody else seemed to be going about their business as if nothing was happening. I will never forget management’s casual disregard for the events.

I walked home, about a 20 minute walk, and immediately turned on the TV to see all the chaos. There was an eerie quiet on the streets and in the neighborhood we lived.

At about 4:00, Esther walks in. She had walked all the way home from Manhattan, across the 59th Street bridge. It was over a four hour walk. Even then we knew this was a cataclysmic and life-changing event.

For days and weeks afterward, the smoke was in the air above Ground Zero. When it finally rained about a month later, the smoke finally began to dissipate. The subways were abnormally quiet as nobody laughed and nobody talked.

Someday I will tell the boys about the events of the day. I don’t know how or what to expect as I tell the tale of a day of profound events and feelings. I don’t know how to answer the Why question. I will never understand. I will probably forget all the details of my day, but I will not forget those who were taken from us in a senseless act. God Bless us everyone and God Bless the United States of America.