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I woke up early to drive from Brooklyn where I was staying with friends to my office just north of Manhattan. I went in earlier than usual that morning because I knew I would be leaving early to finally (after six long weeks of limbo, couch surfing, house sitting and hotel hopping) close on the purchase of the first home I would own. Given the hard-won momentous occasion that would be happening that day, it was not surprising that the stunningly perfect morning that unfolded around me as I drove along the outer edges of the island of Manhattan would sear into my memory. I took the not-too-hot/not-too-cool/just-right air in which a spectacularly bright sun hung in a seemingly endless and cloudless vividly blue sky plus my tingly excitement as a sign that September 11, 2001 would be a day I would never forget.
I hadn't lived in and around New York City long enough for the twin towers of the World Trade Center to become touchstones, totems and landmarks for me the way they were for so many who lived and worked in Manhattan. Nevertheless, when one of my co-workers came by my desk to tell me that people were gathering in a conference room to watch the news because a plane had crashed into one of the towers, I knew it was a big deal and so I joined them in viewing. It feels like I still have muscle memory of the collective shock, gasp and shudder felt when all of us in the room witnessed the second plane hit the other tower, live as it happened.
As soon as I saw the fireball, the gash in the building and the plane disappear, I knew what had happened, what was happening. I couldn't watch much more. I threw myself into spreadsheets and working with the finance department on a particularly tricky bit of analysis. As speculations circulated they were passed on from cubicle to cubicle. I tried to call family members who lived in Queens but phone lines were understandably jammed. Instead I called my mother in California both to reassure her that I was safe and to ask her to call and check in with my New York family for me.
There were several women who worked around me who had met their husbands in business school. They had pursued brand management after graduating and their husbands worked in banking and finance. Our company, so close to Manhattan, allowed such couples to navigate a pursuit of those interests and live in a city that was both exciting and accommodating so there were quite a few. These women were especially terrified in the chaotic aftermath and frantic to connect with their husbands to make sure they were still alive. The woman in the cubicle next to mine broke down in tears after she spoke with her husband. Though he was safe, the comprehension of what so many others were experiencing finally overwhelmed her. Another woman I worked with was married to a popular morning news anchor in Manhattan. Like several of our executives, she was in Chicago at a company sales conference at the time (they eventually had to take a bus home because flights were grounded). She told us she knew her husband was OK when she heard him interview Mayor Giuliani on CNN.
I went to my closing and it was delayed as we waited for a substitute title agent to arrive from New Jersey. The agent who was to attend was in Manhattan and by then the bridges in and out of the island were reportedly shut down. The full weight of the tragedy had not yet sunk in and that was the only reason why I think we were able to complete the closing and I left the real estate office with a set of new keys. Had it been scheduled for September 12 I doubt it would have happened.
My furniture was all in storage. Everything else was in a suitcase in Brooklyn. Fortunately I had a sleeping bag and a small radio a co-worker had loaned me. That night I settled into a dark empty apartment and listened to the one news station I could receive clearly and listened to the same news report over and over, long into the night. My cable and television wouldn't be set up for several days so other than the the bit I had watched at the office that morning, I never saw the news reports. It is a hole in
