Somber day in New York City today as we remember the 3000 people who lost their lives in the events of 9/11 in 2001. I remember it vividly. I was in Riverside Park up in the West 100’s taking my morning walk, and that day I was listening to the new Sevendust album that wasn’t even released yet, as the band was on their way to the studios that morning. I didn’t notice the passenger jet pass over on it’s way to destruction and chaos. While I was exiting the park, I noticed along Broadway, cars were nearly at a stand still and a few people, a lady with a briefcase, some Columbia University workers and a man in a van were all listening to his car radio about something that was going on. I thought to myself, “Hmm, must be a fire in the subway or something….” and headed up the hill to my apartment. Upon arriving, the door person had the tv on and was crying. I said, “What’s wrong?” She replied, “A plane hit one of the Twin Towers!” “What? A commuter plane or helicopter?” And as I turned to look at the screen, the second plane hit the North Tower! I ran up 5 flights of stairs, turned on the tube and sat with my mouth open and watched the horror unfold. It was surreal. A neighbor whose husband is a musician, came upstairs and we watched the tv for the rest of the day. She was trying to get a hold of him to tell him what had happened. He was about ready to get on a plane in San Francisco to head home. She couldn’t get a line out. All cell phone service seemed down. Over the course of the next several days, all of New York was in a daze, with a lingering odor of noxious fumes from the site permeating the entire city. We were crippled. Friends who lost family. Friends who weren’t able to go to their homes in the area to save pets or anything. Friends who couldn’t find friends & family who worked there. Commuter lines shut down. Tunnels and bridges temporarily closed. Airports closed. Businesses in lower Manhattan on lockdown. Life had ended as we knew it. Was this going to continue to happen? What was coming next? It was unreal. To this day, I do not ride the subway in the morning for fear of something bad happening. Certainly a day we will never forget for so many reasons. I remember Mary Catherine Caulfield, the mother of our former hardDrive engineer Chris, who was in the first tower close to the floor where the first plane struck. Somber day indeed.
