observance

This is a difficult day. Eleven months before September 11th, I took the elevator down from the 71st floor of Tower 2 on the last day of a consulting job never to physically go in or see the buildings again. I am still haunted by the fact that had my employers decided to keep on the consultants for one additional year, I would have been at my desk at 7:45AM unaware that the closest stairwell did not lead to safety. I wonder if I would have been at the window looking out at the water as I often did before I turned on my computer and seen the plane. Would I have ignored the voice on the intercom that said stay where you are as the building shook (they did sway a tiny bit when the winds were high). Today my thoughts return to where I was when I heard about the first plane hitting the Towers and the agonizing days, weeks, months and years that followed for countless people including me. I won’t say much except my heart still aches for the many lost, wishes that we were more tolerant of one another’s differences, wonders where all that love that united us a country in the aftermath of 9/11 disappeared to and that I am so very grateful to be here.

keep your peepers open!®