September 11th - Remembering

On September 11th three years ago, I got up early and hopped into a rental car to make the drive to Chicago for a client meeting, to be followed by an internal company meeting out in Lisle. Somewhere on the north side of Indianapolis, the first report came through the radio about an airplane that seemed to have crashed into a World Trade Center tower.

As I continued driving the story continued to unfold, including a chilling interview with a man on a cellphone within sight of the towers, who in near hysteria described seeing a second airplane crashing into the other tower. Then we heard about the plane crashing into the pentagon, followed by all kinds of speculation and unconfirmed rumors about other planes in the skies that may or may not be targeting other buildings. Everyone knows the rest of the story, heard on the car radio as I approached the Windy City.

I arrived in Chicago, where the local radio stations were broadcasting advice for people to leave the tall buildings in the city in case they were targeted as well. My meeting was scheduled in one of those big buildings, and I tried to call my colleagues, but was unable to reach them. So, I called our office in the suburb of Lisle, and reached my boss, who suggested I skip the meeting and come into the office.

It was an interesting contrast that while all this was going on that day, the newly hired VP, who was in town to meet with his management team, went on with business as usual and seemed unaffected by the events of the day. He even went forward that very day with the termination of my direct supervisor, who just before had told me to reschedule the client meeting and come on in.

Anyway, after completing a day of meetings that would be stressful enough, given the reorganizing and job uncertainty, not to mention losing the supervisor that had been a great mentor, I was sort of emotionally numb.

Jerry, a co-worker from Louisville who had flown into Chicago, now had no way to get home since all flights were suspended indefinitely. So I brought him as far as Columbus in my rental car, then he hired a taxi to take him the rest of the way. It was interesting that when we stopped for gas, I think around Lafayette, they were just cleaning up lots of cones and barricades at the station. We asked the guy what all that was for, and he explained that there had been a pretty serious run on the station that day from people who were filling up on gas, and the lines had been long.

What a day, the likes of which I hope we do not see again.