I was woken up that morning by my BIL who was in town. He said "Your uncle got your dad's effects from the coroner and we need to go out and get you a new suit for the wake. Oh, and some terrorists crashed some planes into the World Trade Center."
Three days before. Ten years ago today, I got a call at work from my mom that my dad had been killed in an accident at his job when a crane he was working on collapsed. That three hour drive home w/ no radio and no-one in the car w/ me was the longest 3 hours of my life.
I got downstairs in time to watch the 2nd tower collapse. We did go out to a Men's Clothing store a little bit later. Everyone in there was sitting around a TV set. We joined them. There were reports of Flight 93, truck bombs, evacuations etc. Eventually one of the salesmen did realize we were there and we got the suit. Then going home to continue watching the news.
Most of those days are a blur but the most striking memory I have is walking outside the funeral home and looking up in the sky. There were two moving lights. That was it. In a city w/ two major airports that was something I had never seen before. And the realization that those were armed fighters patrolling hit me.
So the focus for those days is a little different for me than it is for most. My world has changed. THE world has changed. But we're all still here.
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