That was then...9/11 revisited

We were sitting in the main conference room at work getting ready to start the day as we usually did - reading the previous 24 hours worth of crisis calls. Everyone was gathering slowly, making sure we all had coffee, something to take notes on, getting to our usual chairs. "Good morning", "How ya doing?", "Another beautiful September day out there!"

We were about 15 minutes into reading the calls when Gina, the office admin, opened the door and stuck her head in and said, "A plane just hit the World Trade Center in New York!" We discussed how that could be. "Must have been a small plane." "Pilot must have had some medical issues." "So weird!" And then we continued reading the calls again.

A short while later, Gina returned. This time her face was pale and she had a terrible look in her eyes. "Another plane hit the other tower!" She exclaimed, "They're reporting that they're commercial airlines plane! Jets! With passengers on board!"

Stunned, we left the conference room and started gathering in small groups around our computer screens and radios, desperate for whatever news we could get. Everyone felt it. The silent fear of not knowing what exactly was happening. The sketchy information we were getting wasn't enough. People would come in to the office for their appointments and we would bombard them with questions. What have they heard and seen that we might be missing? Another report - another plane crashed into the Pentagon and another into a field somewhere. It was suddenly clear that we were under attack. But who would do this? Why?

  And then the live images started streaming on line. The towers on fire, black smoke billowing from the highest floors. People leaning out of windows trying to get someones attention or just some breathable air. Fire fighters, EMT's, police officers rushed to the scene as civilians looked up in fright. We all stopped. We waited. We yearned to know what has happening and why but there were no answers. We stayed close together. We longed to be home with our loved ones. Then, unbelievably, horribly, terribly, incredibly - the towers began to fall. We watched helplessly as New York filled with dust, rocks, papers, crumbled cement and smoke. People ran for their lives and our hears stopped as we watched them run. It seemed the world was ending.

  It was difficult to focus for the rest of the day. The city was eerily quiet when we were finally on our way home. We sat in stunned silence watching the images over and over again on TV, getting any new information we could. Slowly the whole terrifying story unfolded. We felt scared and unsafe. We lit candles for the dead and prayed for the recovery of anyone who may have survived. Survived? How could they have survived? But they must and we held onto the notion for weeks afterward. Even when the evidence was contrary we hoped beyond hope that there would be survivors. But there weren't.

This is now...

Today we were gathering in the main conference room to start the day as we always do - reading the previous 24 hours crisis calls. We had the usual good mornings and the getting of the coffee. We all went to our usual chairs. Then we realized the date and noticed how we were all there, as we were then, and how that day impacted our lives forever.

We will never forget the events of September 11, 2001. We will always remember that feeling of helplessness and fear and the wanting to be home with our loved ones. We will have those horrific images in our minds for the rest of our lives. Time has healed and we moved on but we will never, ever forget.