9/11

Wow. What a day.

First off, a huge Happy Birthday shout out to Mom - hope you're having a fantastic time in Austin!

Second, I absolutely dread and hate this day. I go most of the year - probably 350 days - without giving more than a passing thought to 9.11.2001. But as the day begins creeping up on the calendar, so do thoughts and memories and the bone-chilling terror of what started out as such a beautiful, warm, and sunny day in downtown Manhattan.

I can only say that every year on 9/11, I wake up with the same innocence that I did on that day seven (really?) years ago. And, as on that day, it quickly turns to a churning stomachache, mixed in with lots of sadness and a bit of anger.

In an odd way, as much as it hurts, I like to think back to some of the things that happened that day. I was so lucky that I, for ONE time in my career working for Jody, had to leave early that morning for a client meeting. As terrifying as it was being under the plane as it crashed, I think it would have been worse had I still been in my apartment and then waited to get out. I still am in awe of the fact that I witnessed one of the major events of our lifetimes, and yet the first thing I thought to do was find a payphone to call work to say I was late (cell service went out as the tower was on top of the WTC). What an odd thing to do, but I guess it was my way of maintaining some normalcy in the midst of disaster.

A short time later, as I took a moment to sit and catch my breath and try to deal with what I witnessed, the second plane crashed into the building a few blocks behind me and pure panic set in. I was so fortunate to have been sitting next to the uptown subway - I got on before they were shut down and was able to get up to work before the towers fell. I am so thankful for that.

Carrie and I went into full-on survival mode. We decided, after running around midtown collecting friends and siblings, that the safest place to be that day would be in Central Park - no buildings - nothing to explode or fall on you. And it was. For a few hours, I actually had a sense of peace, although I was probably still just in shock. When I finally walked to Harlem and was able to catch a train that night to Connecticut, it ended the longest day of my life, and I was never so happy to see my little town of New Milford.

I try not to let this affect me anymore. But somehow I always find myself in a pretty ugly place on this day, and that's something I'm working on every year. We'll get through today, and I'm hoping that the American public has the sense to elect someone who won't permit us to go through this suffering again.

My final thought - please take a few moments today to reflect on 9/11/01 - it means so much to me that we not forget.

~Sarah

I've gotten