[RichieLion]

That morning I took the day off to pick up my wife from the hospital. She called me that morning to tell me to turn on the TV because a plane had crashed into the WTC. I was making breakfast and ultimately burned it, as I stood transfixed. They were both on fire now. The company I worked for in NJ is right across the river from Manhattan and had a clear view of the WTC and many on my job saw the second plane's trajectory and it's ultimate impact. My oldest sister and a cousin worked in lower Manhattan and seeing debris falling from the Towers were horrified when they realized that all the debris were people falling. My cousin is still plagued by nightmares of that.

I received a call from the hospital in Englewood NJ, where my wife was, to come pick her up because they were expected to receive casualties from NY. My trip was hampered by all routes to NYC being closed for security reasons, and so I had to take a zig-zag route on secondary roads, but I got there and picked up my wife amid all the preparations being made to accommodate the expected arrival of casualties.

That never happened as most people got out of the buildings and the most of the rest were past medical help.

Every day for the remainder of my career, I could look across the river and see the gaping hole in the skyline. Eventually I was able to mostly look without choking up. But even today, I can only view so much of the ceremonies.