Where were you?

When it comes to world events, I never experienced a moment in my life that I could say I remember exactly what I was doing when that happened. The closest I had was when Elvis Died and I thought "dang! Now I'll never marry him". I was 11. I don't remember the death of Lennon (I'm a huge Beatles fan) or the death of Mother Teresa (although I remember the date) or the death of Princess Di (don't get me started on the whole Mother Teresa / Princess Di thing), or the wedding of Charles and Diana or the shooting of Ronald Reagan. I could never tell you what I was doing when these events took place. Oh don't get me wrong, I remember these events but they are not engraved in my memory.

Sept 11, 2001 is a day that I will always remember.

I remember I was already in my office dealing with my first client (I did Technical Support for Progress Software in MA) and my office mate came in and told me that a plane crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I completely dismissed him becasue we were always trying to out bluff one another. It was a matter of pride to be the most convincing liar between us. This one was so outlandish that I just said 'yeah right'. He turned his computer monitor towards me just as the second plane crashed in to the other tower.

I remember getting out of my chair and walking over staring in stupefaction at the bizarre scene in front of me. There was alot of silence in the office. The phones just seemed to die down to nothing. I think the world had been shocked into the same stillness that had grabbed us.

I remember that we were glued to the live internet feeds and when the first tower collapsed I actually gasped. When the next one dropped I grabbed Tro (my co-worker), who was standing next to me and said "Holy Shit!". We watched the tragedy unfold from the safety of our office but we had never felt so 'unsafe' in our lives.

I will always remember that day. I will remember the lives that were loss. I will remember the voices of parents, siblings, husband, wives and children pleading for information about thier loved ones. I will remember how proud we were of all the rescue workers and for those that rescued without ever receiving recognition. The stories of unity and fellowship that emerged inspired us to give more of ourselves. It made the nation remember why we are the UNITED States of America.

Yeah, I will always remember that day.