as i rode in to the city this morning, reading the NYTimes as my usual habit, I glanced up at the impending skyline, and at the same moment realized just what date it was...

the skyline is changed since that day 7 years ago, but I still recall being in my office when my wife sent me an IM about the news of a plane striking the tower... no real panic yet, just sat there trying to imagine some small plane off course and hitting that monolith... possibly some damage to some corner office I conjectured... So being curious, I turn on my walkman and sat there listening to the news which also was not in any panic, but just trying to get the best scoop on this apparent 'accident'... but all that changed in the minutes that followed as the second plane hit the second tower. Holy Shit! I remember sayin' this out loud to noone... I listened to the news as my wife sent more IM postings, as one tower fell, to be followed by the second. I had been in tower 2 just the other week buying tickets for a show... what did they mean it was ALL GONE?? My wife was now quite agitated, asking me to get the hell out of my building, and out of the city as soon as possible! I worked on 53 St. & Lexington Ave. back then, about 5 miles from ground Zero. All we could hear and see were the wailing sirens of emergency vehicles, fire engines, police cars all running downtown. The firehouse that was quartered in my building on 52 St. lost many people that day. After walking around the cubicles and offices on my floor, a couple of other folks who also live on long island had decided it was time to bail out. I joined them, stopping to grab 2 bottles of water I had in the fridge. We set out to the street, while I listened to my walkman radio. Since all subway and railroad service had been shutdown, and all traffic flow on bridges had been halted as well, this left walking as our only means of exit, so we made our way over to the 59th Street Bridge. While walking across the bridge for the very first time in my life i noted there wasn't anyone among the thousands of others who were also leaving the city who was "Feelin' Groovy" at that moment in time. It was a very subdued march, people speculating amongst their groups as to whether we were at war, under attack, or who knew what? We all started turning our heads to the south as we hit mid-point on the bridge, to see the giant plumes of smoke and dust spewing from lower manhattan over to Brooklyn. After the bridge, we kept on walking up Jackson Ave. until we found the Railroad station at Hunters Point, where luckily there were trains sitting there, sequestered by executive order, but with their A/C running! Did I forget to mention that it seemed to be one of the hottest days of the year that day, and those 2 bottles of water were just about drained after our approximately 5 mile hike. The train crew let us into the train car and we sat there cooling down. It was all a bizarre day. At some point in the afternoon, they resumed train service, and we finally were transported back to our home stations. I got home around 3 PM, and collapsed in front of the TV to watch in disbelief what I had 'missed' by only 60 city blocks....
As I grow older I find many holes in my memory. I'm not the best at remembering lots of details of many things... but this day is burned in there... all that loss of life, loss of property, loss of freedom, loss of innocence, along with the odd feeling of being a small insignificant observer/participant to all the chaos in some weird way... and recalling it all in a heartbeat...

The passage of time does not make it less haunting. I was driving to work when the first plane hit, and thought "what a terrible accident". Shortly after,when the second one hit, my first and immedite thought was"we are under attack".Everyone in the area seems to have a connection. My next door neighbor's son worked in one of the towers, and by the grace of God was running late this morning, and was just exiting the path train when the first plane hit. he got out ok, but was witness to some horrific stuff, including people jumping from the upper floors to escape the fires. At the time, I was still a volunteer firefighter and rescue squad member(since retired). Even at 40 miles away from the city, I was within an hour of going into the city or to stage nearby with our ambulance when there was still a thought that there may be many people to transport. Sadly, there was not. The mission turned into a recovery mission, not a rescue mission.Our response was cancelled.
Being a volunteer firefighter and running up the ranks to chief over then about a 20 year career, I always had a special admiration for firefighters in the city.In some sense, I considerd them to be the major leaguers to our minor leaguers. It's a very different job than it was for me in the rural 'burbs.
I was not there, but I was. Most people of course run from burning buildings, firefighters run into them. I tend to keep an even keel and not get very emotional about things, but this week was different.
One of the volunteers from one of my sister fire companies in town was also a Port Authority cop who perished. Like everyone else, I was glued to the tv for days and saddened by the loss of all the lives, but unaviodably with a deeper sadness and respect for all the rescue workers, fire, police who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

A very sad day indeed.

It was shocking to everyone.

Except for that lady from the FBI.

It is very sad that we have not brought OBL to justice.

It is very sad that w chose to invade Iraq in response to the attacks.

It is very sad that this tradgedy was used to instill fear in voters to manipulate them into voting for "the only party that will keep you safe from terrorism."

It is very sad that our so called war on terror seems to have created more terror and terrorists.

It is very sad that more people die from cancer in America every 2 days than were killed in the attacks. We have borrowed and spent trillions on our response to the attacks and we spend how much on the war on cancer?

I was working for the Florida Department of Revenue and in an audit training class when the news came in about the attack. I immediately thought of the people in the NY State Department of Taxation and Finance on the 86th floor of 2 World Trade Center, some of whom I knew from my NY State career as a tax auditor. I lost one old friend whom I had personally trained as a Pari-Mutuel Auditor when we were both assigned to the race tracks in the late '80's. When the unit disbanded in 1991, he was assigned to the World Trade Center, and I to Hauppauge, LI. So long, Jerry.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memori ... /4080.html

My experience that day was nothing compared to yours. To actually be in the city at the time. I can't begin to imagine!

Hubby was still home when the first plan hit. Like the rest of you, we thought "what an awful accident."
We all know how the day progressed. I was home alone, calling hubby with each new event.
I don't mind telling you that even though I was thousands of miles away, I was scared to death. My personal safety became an issue once the Pentagon was hit and they thought the last one was headed possibly for the Capital.
Why? Because I'm in Austin. You all know who came from here before he made his way to Pennsylvania Avenue. I began to wonder if maybe all state capitals might be targets. Austin in particular due to dubya. I was very panicked until all flights were grounded and all planes accounted for.

I spent the better part of the day in tears for the lost of the people and their families. Tried putting myself in the place of the jumpers who felt they had no other option. What got to me the most was the death of Father Mychal Judge. Those images will be with me forever.

My Dad was a Firefighter. He passed when I was 16. (yes DDR..he died from cancer) I imagine a host of firefighters "up there" waiting to receive him, my Dad in the crowd.

Something else that sticks out in my mind is that long before this, I casually saw a photo of bin laden on TV. I got a slight chill and thought to myself "This guy is going to be trouble" I didn't know then just how much trouble. (I hope I'm wrong, but I got a similar feeling upon seeing that guy Ahmadinejad) I had no idea who he was, same with the guy I just mentioned. Wasn't even watching to see what the story about him was...I just saw the eyes and had an awful feeling come over me.
Really tore me up.

I recall being heartsick when I saw video of people in a faraway land rejoicing about our tragedy. I felt the same feeling when I saw innocent citizens, children...babies ... being blown to bit by our bombs. Watching the videos being released from the cockpits of our military airpower blowing up trucks and shooting the men crawling and running away.

My Brother in law is a blackhawk pilot with two tours of Iraq under his belt. (I believe his job was human transport...the muckadeemucks) He knew some of the men in the Mogadishu incident. How hard is it to be proud of someone for what they are giving of themselves and to be so disgusted with the result? What were they thinking when they flew past the "houses, farms & fields"? Same as we have here, but they were low enough to the ground to really see who's lives were about to be affected by their payload.

Ugh.....sorry! Sometimes momentary recall...has baggage!