HoneyLee

Hey Lee...hugs....

These hits impacted me personally.  I was often in the towers visiting clients, some of which had become close personal friends through the years.  One of my son's God Parents worked in tower 2 and we would often meet for lunch at Windows on the World, which was in tower 1.
On that morning I had gone to my corporate office first so I was just reaching my office at the clients location when news on the radio reported that the first tower had been hit by a plane.  I thought "What an idiot to not have seen it" thinking it one of the many small planes often seen circling the city for viewing purposes. I had a quarterly report due in half an hour and immediately focused on the final dotting of I's and crossing of T's before meeting with the client.  I ignored my office phone line that was ringing off the phone.  Now and then someone would pop their head into my office to say something and I'd wave them off saying 'Sorry I need to get this done'.  Finally, the client walked in and just stood in front of my desk with tears streaming down his face.  He took my hand and led me to the conference room where many of the executives were gathered to watch the big screen television.  On the way he attempted to gently relay the news and caught me as my legs gave out. There must have been 50 of my colleagues gathered in that room and no one spoke. You could have heard a pin drop, with the silence broken only by an occasional sob.  Then the first tower fell and in unison we groaned/screamed.  We all knew we had each lost people very close to our hearts.
As I made my way back to my office the news came that there was yet a 4th plane heading for Pennsylvania.  I quickly checked my many messages, avoiding looking out the window at the billows of smoke in the distance.  My husband and then my mother were the only people I called back.  Mom to assure her that no, I was not in the tower that day as I had been with the attack years earlier.  My husband told me they were evacuating Exxon, a huge complex in northern New Jersey, as they believed it to be a likely target.  If a plane had hit the refinery it would have blown up half of Jersey.
I grabbed my keys and raced home to my kids as we lived only a few miles from Pennsylvania.  There was not a parent in the tri state area who was not in a state of shock mixed with panic. As I made my way towards home I did not know that in the next weeks I'd be attending 22 funerals.  Some of my clients and friends survived but 22 of them did not.  Each road I traveled were lined with cars pulled over with people staring behind me.  Many taking pictures.  Many clutching each other. Some just standing still like statues.  I glanced in my rearview from time to time to see it, but the smell was a continuous reminder of its presence. In front of me were people draping American flags from the over passes.  
I shall never forget that day as it changed our lives forever, both personally, in how we lived our daily lives, and as Americans. Never Forget.