In Remembrance

I think we all, no matter in which country we live, will remember September 11, 2001, for the rest of our lives.  We will forever think of our lives in terms of before 9-11 and after 9-11.

Here's my 9-11 story. 

I was riding the VRE commuter train into work.  At the time I was working at Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis, LLP in Alexandria, Virginia.  The planes struck the twin towers during my train ride so I didn't know anything about it until I got to work.  One of our attorneys had a television in his office so we crowded into his office to watch the coverage.  It was at that time we heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon, which was just a couple of miles up the road from our office.  From one section of our offices, we could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon.  People were crying, we were hugging one another, and everyone was pretty scared.

Our office administrator's voice came over the PA system stating that they were closing the office for the day.  Several of us put calls in to our attorneys who were in Indianapolis at a trial to let them know that the office was closing.  And then many of my co-workers who lived near me and I, all commuters, put our heads together to try to figure out how to get home.  As it happened, my friend Jennifer's husband was going into work late that day and was near the Pentagon when the plane hit.  Instead of heading down the road to the CIA where he worked, he turned around and drove into Alexandria to pick us all up and take us to our various cars.   I was able to call Tom and let him know I was on my way home and check on where he was and then there was no cell phone service! 

The ride south on I-395 was eerie - traffic was jammed going out of DC, but literally, the only vehicles going north on I-395 toward the Pentagon were ambulances from all the nearby jurisdictions.

I got home and tried to contact our local family members and friends to see if they were safe, but I couldn't get through to anyone on the phone.  I got in the car and went over to my sister-in-law Margaret's house.  She had been working from home that day so I spent a couple of hours with her.  Then I went home and tried to call my brother in California to let him know Tom and I were okay, but the calls kept dropping.  Finally, the call didn't drop but it just continued to ring and then I heard another sound, and then ringing and ringing and ringing.  Someone from a phone company/long distance company finally answered the phone.  I told her I was calling from the DC area and trying to reach my brother in California to let him know we were fine.  She found a way to put the call through and I was able to talk to my sister-in-law.

Watching the senators and representatives sing "God Bless America" that evening on the steps of the Capital Building gave me goose bumps but the thing that touched me the most was the next day when I went to work.  I work in patent law and we have lots of clients and associates from foreign countries.   I think we received faxes from every one of our clients and associates from nearly every country in the world expressing their shock, abhorence and condolences over the attacks.  Reading all those faxes was an experience I don't think I can put into words.  To think that people all around the world took the time to send those messages to all their American associates gave me a little hope that maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

September 11th would continue to be a day of remembrance for my family as my mother passed away on September 11, 2006.  Rest in peace, Mom.  I love you!