I Remember

I remember just like it was yesterday. The most perfect blue sky without any clouds. The warm early Fall sunshine. I remember looking up at the sky before I walked into my office building to workout and I wonder know if I knew in that second that the world was going to change. I remember as I was getting ready to go up to my office hearing on the radio that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. At that moment I called my brother, thinking that it had to be a small plane, not knowing that in that moment it was something more terrible. I knew as soon as I stepped off the elevator at my firm that something horrible had happened. There was a silence that I had never heard before. People were in the break room huddled around the television watching the terror unfold and all the sadness that it left behind. I remember being scared and worried about my family and what could happen next. I remember being glued to the television and computer at home to try and make sense of what had happened, I could barely sleep that night.

Just thinking about September 11, 2001, makes me cry. I have the following picture framed in my office of the twin towers



Recently, Arabella was in my office with me and she pointed to the photo and said "Castles, Big Castles". It was so sweet and she was so inquisitive as if she was asking me to tell her about the castles. In the only way I could while tears filled me eyes, I tried to explain that they are castles in the sky and are filled with angels who are watching over our country. That was the best I could do, at least for now. She will learn about it soon enough when she goes to school and learns US History, and I wonder how the story will be told and what the school books will say about this horrific day.

In that one instant the world forever changed and it will never be the same. Today, I remember those who lost their lives and their families. I remember those who protect the United States and are in harms way to keep us safe. And I remember to be thankful for those we hold closest to our hearts, for we never know when our lives will change in an instant.