story7721.xml
Title
story7721.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-17
911DA Story: Story
My wife and I had just dropped off our 6 month old son for his first day of daycare at the daycare center in my office building in Pearl River, NY.
My wife took the day off from work in case she needed to pick him up early and was on her way home. I had just arrived upstairs at my office on the 15th floor. Just as I was approaching my office, my assistant turned in her chair to tell me something as my cell phone rang on my belt clip. I motioned to my assistant to hold the thought and answered the call from my wife who told me what she heard on the radio in the car on the way home. "An airplane hit the twin towers..." she said. "Do we know anyone that's there?".
"Cesar, Vince, Janet... damn I know so many people there. Which tower was hit?" I asked. Three years earlier I worked in the Information Technology Department of Marsh & McLennan, Inc. After a merger, our department went to hell and I took a job an investment firm in Midtown. A decision that ultimately might have saved my life. Everyone that worked in the Information Technology Department that was in the office when that first plane hit was destined to die.
Back at the office I struggled with my feelings while trying to stay in control for my department's sake. When the 2nd plane hit, I began making moves to have everyone sent home. When word came that the Pentagon was hit, I dismissed my staff immediately to return home to their families which was the only place anyone wanted to be at that time. Safe or not, people want to be with their families when terror strikes.
After leaving, I rushed to pick up my son at the day care center before our building was hit. As much of an impossibility it seemed (being over 20 miles from NYC) anything seemed possible at that time. Driving home, you saw people driving erratically, swerving, running red lights, doing anything to get home quickly. Listening to the radio and crying. It was terrible. And here I was with my son who was barely over the excitement of his first hour of daycare. It was so terrible.
I arrived home to my wife whose eyes were bloodshot from crying. She was on the phone but hung up quickly to tell me "One of towers collapsed!". "Completely collapsed?" I asked in disbelief. I would have the gruesome opportunity to watch it replayed several times over the next 20 minutes or so. They replayed it so many times that the live shot of the 2nd tower coming down went completely unnoticed until Tom Brokaw actually said "... and there you see the 2nd tower coming down. Both towers are now gone.".
His voice was eerily calm as he reported on this catastrophe. I'll never forget that day. The next few months were filled with memorial services and distraught family members of those that I knew and loved. It's been a year now, but I know for sure I will never see life the same as I saw it before. As much as people say the terrorists did not win, they did accomplish one task. They proved, once again to a new generation, how evil human beings can be.
My wife took the day off from work in case she needed to pick him up early and was on her way home. I had just arrived upstairs at my office on the 15th floor. Just as I was approaching my office, my assistant turned in her chair to tell me something as my cell phone rang on my belt clip. I motioned to my assistant to hold the thought and answered the call from my wife who told me what she heard on the radio in the car on the way home. "An airplane hit the twin towers..." she said. "Do we know anyone that's there?".
"Cesar, Vince, Janet... damn I know so many people there. Which tower was hit?" I asked. Three years earlier I worked in the Information Technology Department of Marsh & McLennan, Inc. After a merger, our department went to hell and I took a job an investment firm in Midtown. A decision that ultimately might have saved my life. Everyone that worked in the Information Technology Department that was in the office when that first plane hit was destined to die.
Back at the office I struggled with my feelings while trying to stay in control for my department's sake. When the 2nd plane hit, I began making moves to have everyone sent home. When word came that the Pentagon was hit, I dismissed my staff immediately to return home to their families which was the only place anyone wanted to be at that time. Safe or not, people want to be with their families when terror strikes.
After leaving, I rushed to pick up my son at the day care center before our building was hit. As much of an impossibility it seemed (being over 20 miles from NYC) anything seemed possible at that time. Driving home, you saw people driving erratically, swerving, running red lights, doing anything to get home quickly. Listening to the radio and crying. It was terrible. And here I was with my son who was barely over the excitement of his first hour of daycare. It was so terrible.
I arrived home to my wife whose eyes were bloodshot from crying. She was on the phone but hung up quickly to tell me "One of towers collapsed!". "Completely collapsed?" I asked in disbelief. I would have the gruesome opportunity to watch it replayed several times over the next 20 minutes or so. They replayed it so many times that the live shot of the 2nd tower coming down went completely unnoticed until Tom Brokaw actually said "... and there you see the 2nd tower coming down. Both towers are now gone.".
His voice was eerily calm as he reported on this catastrophe. I'll never forget that day. The next few months were filled with memorial services and distraught family members of those that I knew and loved. It's been a year now, but I know for sure I will never see life the same as I saw it before. As much as people say the terrorists did not win, they did accomplish one task. They proved, once again to a new generation, how evil human beings can be.
Collection
Citation
“story7721.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed April 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/14586.