Where were you…?
Five years ago, right around this time of day, I was having breakfast with a client in Bloomington, Indiana. We were chatting, and then her co-worker came down to breakfast. He went over to a T.V. mounted on the wall, and turned it on. One of the World Trade Centers was on fire. Both of the clients were from New York, and had friends that worked in the towers…we were all riveted, and pretty soon everyone else in the restaurant was too. A few minutes later, we watched the second jet come streaking across the screen and slam into the other tower. I’ll never forget it. It gives me chills just thinking about it now. The plane just literally disappeared…there was nothing left to see but a smoking hole in the side of the building.
The rest of the day is kind of a blur. Needless to say, we didn’t get a whole lot of work done. We ended up going to the bar next door to the office around 11, because they had a T.V. The bartender didn’t want to turn it on, because the manager had strict rules about when the T.V. was to be on, and when the music was to be on. We managed to convince her that in this case, the manager wasn’t going to complain, and if he did we’d personally come back and ream him for his insensitivity.
Our clients ended up keeping their rental car and driving back to New York. It was kind of funny…they called Hertz and basically said “look…I know we’re supposed to bring it back, but we’re just not going to…get over it.”
Anyhow…it’s something I reminisce about on this day, and I say a prayer for all the people who died so needlessly. May God be with their families today, and everyday.
