9/11 Memorial Thread

A bunch of us took a motorcycle ride from Long Island, through Manhattan going up to the Poconos the weekend before 09/11.....We passed right by the towers not knowing it would be the last time we would ever see them.......

View from my office in Midtown of smoking tower. Then watching Tv and saw second one hit. My first thought was “I don’t want to die in this miserable job of stress with these people who are not friends”. Walked to Brooklyn as there were no subways. A stream of shocked humanity flowing across Queensboro Bridge. The unknown was the scariest part - what was it, why did it happen, is this the start of nonstop attacks, should I escape the city? Then the anxiety whenever a siren was heard - is this the next one? Fear of a dirty bomb. Yet I stayed - in NYC, in that job. Cant believe I’ve lived another 25 years. However horrible our current political state, I’m more pleased to just still be alive. After AIDS and 9/11, we learned life is a gift that shouldn’t be taken for granted. So many lost theirs too early.

Pulling into the garage near my office a bit before 9 am instead of flying out of Logan Airport on American Airlines at 8 am. The parking attendant told me about the first crash.

Wondering how I’d explain being there at work: I’d been told the night before I had to cancel the cruise we were supposed to be flying to because I needed surgery ASAP. Never turned on the radio or TV until I got to the office. Nobody gave a shit I was going to be out for a month instead of a week. Happy I’d bought the cancellation insurance. Happier we weren’t on American Airlines.

Under the circumstances the “urgent” surgery wasn’t all that urgent and didn’t get done for two weeks.

My birthday is Sept 12. Always seems to be a melancholy day for me given the proximity to the events of the preceding day.

On 9/11 I was on a business trip in Vancouver city and ran into Donald Sutherland at the Marriott. We chatted about getting home, given the grounding of all flights. He said he was going to drive Calgary.

Years later, in 2023 he was honored with a Canadian stamp. He stated to the press that he wanted Canadians to write him (using his stamp lol). So I did, and recalled the 9/11 story.

He wrote back! Two months later he was dead. I framed that postcard, it's very precious to me.

They asked for a moment of silence in ShopRite this morning. The guys in the deli kept yakking and they turned the Muzak back on right away.

I didn’t know Donald Sutherland was dead.

Grampa told me all about it on his knee.

I just heard that 1/3 of all Americans were born in its wake.