Seven Years Ago

Please visit Project 2,996 to see tributes to the victims of 9/11. Here is a tribute for Carlos Dominguez that I did when I participated in Project 2,996 in 2006.

Below is a reposting of my remembrance of 9/11/01 from back in 2002. It is my own personal memories of that horrible day.

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September 11, 2001 started as just another ordinary day for me. I got out of bed, grumpy as usual, because I'm not a morning person. I got my breakfast of orange juice and a banana, looked at the paper, and turned on the TV to MSNBC to watch a little of Imus.

Except, this time, Imus wasn't on. Instead, was a shot of the WTC, with one of the towers pouring smoke. My mother, who lives with me, came in the living room and saw it too. They said a plane hit the building. We both assumed it was a terrible accident.

After a couple of minutes, I caught a glimpse of a fireball erupting from the other tower. I heard them say that a plane hit the other tower and they replayed it. It was obvious then what was happening. I yelled to my mother, who was now in another part of the house, and told her a plane just hit the other tower, that it was a terrorist attack.

I remember praying for the people in the buildings, praying that they would be able to get out. At the time, I didn't know the planes were passenger planes.

Numb and on autopilot, I went to go take my shower and get dressed. I was already running late as it was.

When I got out of the shower, I heard about the Pentagon. I was also horrified to find out passenger planes were used.

I drove to work, which is just five minutes from my house. As I pulled into the parking lot, I heard on the radio that one of the towers had completely collapsed.

At work, I got on the internet to keep track of the news. I also turned on my radio to listen to the coverage. The whole office wanted to hear, so I turned it up. It stayed on most of the day.

As time progressed, there were additional horrors...the other tower collapsed and another plane crashed. There were wild rumors about other missing planes.

I remember spending the whole day feeling sick and holding in tears. I did allow myself to cry later. The first few days, I felt deep sadness, which then turned to rage. I'm still angry...I believe I always will be.

Better, But Tired

Just a little update on how I'm doing. I'm pretty much over my bad cold, although I still have the cough hanging on. This is always how it is with me...the cough lasts two or three weeks after the cold is gone. However, I have been so tired lately. I've been going to bed earlier than usual most evenings, but still getting up at the same time as usual. And I do this even if I've taken a nap in the afternoon. I guess I'm catching up on all the sleep I missed when I was sick.

A co-worker of mine passed away about a week and a half ago. He had prostate cancer which spread and he worked right up until about four months ago. The cancer had spread to his brain, which disrupted his speech. He could think just fine, but he had a hard time getting the words out. He was in his late sixties, but he kept working as long as he could because he loved to work. He was a very sweet man who I thought of as sort of a father figure. He also was a very devout and deeply committed Christian, so I have no doubt that he is with the Lord. I went to his visitation last week and it was very crowded with lots of people from work, his church and of course his family. He was well loved by all.

I hope to be blogging more soon and I have some fun stuff coming up. I'm toying with the idea of making this more of a "fun" blog, with faith stuff mixed in and creating a spin-off blog for all the controversial stuff: politics, social issues, things having to do with defense and terrorism, etc. I may make it a group blog and invite others to post if they want to. I may even make it forum or something. It's just an idea I'm kicking around. Please tell me what you think if you are so inclined.

Remembering 9/11

I will always have my own memories of that day.

I will always remember the many precious lives who were lost.

I will always despise those who rejoiced that day.

I will never forget that radical Islam was responsible.

I will always despise those on the far left and the far right who make excuses for radical Islam and who out and out root for them to destroy us.

I will always despise the wretched, hate-filled, insane conspiracy theorists who spit on the graves of those lost that day.

Update: Just one more...

I will always despise apathetic moral retards who are "sick of 9/11" because they don't want to deal with anything that doesn't fit their little political agendas.

More on Falwell

Lee Anne Millinger has a very good post on the late Jerry Falwell. She expresses what I think a lot of us Christians feel about Falwell and his legacy:

While I'm sure Falwell and I would disagree on many issues political and theological, I still respect him as a brother in Christ. After all, I expect that we will enjoy the marriage feast of the Lamb together and praise the Lord who has forgiven us both our sins.

However, I regret that Falwell was made out to be a sort of spokesman for all evangelicals, while making regrettable statements that made many of us wince.

Lee Anne has more to say here.

A Week of Loss

On Thursday, I found out a former co-worker of mine succumbed to brain cancer. She retired early because of it and had struggled with it for over three years. When I first started working where I'm working now, she is the one who took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. I knew her over the telephone before that when I worked at my previous command. She helped me with numerous issues with the system I administered there. Here is her obituary if you are interested. I will really miss her -- she was a very intelligent, kind and wonderful woman. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to go to her funeral. I really wish I could go.

The world also lost another great woman this week: Oriana Fallaci. She lived an incredible life. As a young girl, she stood up against the Italian fascists in World War II. As a much older woman struggling with cancer, she spoke out against the Islamist fascists, and ended up being called a fascist herself by pampered, ignorant know-nothings on the left. I have both of her books inspired by the 9/11 terrorist attack and the Islamist problem: The Rage and the Pride and The Force of Reason. I haven't had a chance to read these yet (although I have read passages from the first book). I would like to make reading these books a priority in the wake of her death. I think history will show her to be someone who the world should have listened to more carefully.

Remembering Charles (Carlos) Dominguez

Carlos Dominguez was 1 of 2,996 souls who perished in the 9/11/01 terrorist attack. He died at the World Trade Center. He was 34.

He was an employee of Marsh & McLennan and lived in East Meadow, N.Y. with his wife Maureen and three young daughters Maria, Amanda and Michelle.

Carlos was born in New York City's Little Italy to Cuban immigrants. He was their second son -- his older brother's name is Benjamin. He met his future wife when they were teenagers and they married in 1991 when she finished college. Theirs was an interfaith marriage -- they were married by both a priest and a rabbi.

Carlos went to New York University and was the first in his family to go to college. He majored in political science. However, he ended up working as an IT professional. He worked as an independent contractor for Marsh & McLennan. He set up firewalls for their computers. After three years as a contractor, Marsh & McLennan made Carlos a permanent employee -- on September 10.

Carlos was known as a very open-hearted and kind person with a wonderful sense of humor. Those who knew him say that he was very intelligent and had a way of being able to make things easier in tense situations. He was also known for his love of gadgets. When he and his future wife Maureen were courting, they volunteered in soup kitchens on the Bowery. When they married and started a family, he worked long hours so that his wife could stay home and be a full-time mother to their three daughters.

In addition to his wife and daughters, Carlos is survived by his mother Eugenia and his brother Benjamin. Carlos' father died of cancer shortly after 9/11.

Carlos had so many friends and family members who loved him. One friend of his took this panoramic photo of the New York City skyline just four months before 9/11. He calls this photo "Innocence Lost" and dedicates it to two friends lost on 9/11 -- Carlos Dominguez and Mark Shulman -- along with all the other victims.

Carlos was a family man. He was a caring man of faith whose kindness made the world a better place during his lifetime. It was my honor to write this tribute to him. I would like to thank D.Challener Roe for allowing me to be a part of the 2,996 Project.

The information used in this tribute was collected from the following sources:

• "Deeply Shared Values" - a profile that appeared in the New York Times and is now part of the Legacy.com 9/11 memorial.
• Carlos' page on the site September11Victims.com, where Carlos' brother Benjamin and many of his friends share their memories of him.
• This square in the 9/11 victims memorial quilt. Carlos also has another square here.

Notice: The 2,996 Project website has been disabled by their hosting company because of the heavy traffic they were getting. (One would think the hosting company would make an exception on today of all days, but they apparently decided to be jerks about it.) MVRWC is has a mirror of the list of participating blogs.

Update: The 2,996 Project website is up again now.

Memorial Day 2006

These days it seems like gratitude is in short supply.

Some people think the whole idea of sacrifice -- whether it's for a country or for other human beings -- is stupid, corny and something to be ridiculed and laughed at. I hope that one day they will regain their humanity and moral bearings and feel the shame they should rightfully feel at such sentiments.

Some people, both on the left and right, think that because the political situation in this country isn't to their liking, that this nation isn't worth fighting for. They hate this nation because it fails to live up to their unrealistic standards. If these folks are unable to find their utopian paradise in this fallen world, then I hope they can learn to appreciate what we have in this country, as imperfect as it is. They, too, should be deeply ashamed of their attitude.

While there are far too many ingrates as described above, let the rest of us pay them no mind. Today is the day we set aside to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They deserve our deepest gratitude; they deserve to be honored.

Tookie's Victims

I ranted in the previous post about how the anti-death-penalty people seem to forget about the victims. Well, I just happened to read this post by Discoshaman with a link that will remind you of what he did to earn his execution. WARNING! Very graphic and upsetting images: Tookie's Victims.

Never Forget

This is the anniversary (and doesn't that sound like an inappropriate word) of 9/11. Four years ago, seemingly out of the blue, we were attacked. Here is what I wrote on the one-year remembrance of that day of evil.

As part of remembering that day, I want to remind you that what happened wasn't really out of the blue. If we had all been paying attention, and if the media -- both national and foreign -- had been doing its job, the growing menace of Islamist terrorism would have been taken more seriously.

The best way I can remind you is to link to this excellent essay at Sweetness & Light: Deaf. Dumb. Blind. Please read it. There were signs of what was to come, but nobody paid attention.

Unfortunately, many have forgotten the horror of 9/11 and have gone back to being deaf, dumb and blind. If you would have told me four years ago that people would go back to sticking their heads in the sand, I would have never believed you. I would have never believed that so many people would not only go back to the same partisan bickering, but that the bickering would turn into toxic, insane hatred. As always, human nature never fails to disappoint.

But for those of us who do remember, let us keep trying to shake people out of their complacency. Let us keep the focus on the real enemy. Those 3,000 who died that day deserve at least that.

(Photo courtesy of iStockPhoto.com. Click for larger view.)

Rest in Peace, Pope John Paul II

Fox News just announced that Pope John Paul II has died. Although I'm not Catholic, I have deep respect for this faithful and holy man. Now he has gone to his heavenly reward.

Heartbroken

This morning, I lost my dog.

She was almost thirteen years old. She was a Chow/Golden Retriever Mix. For the past month, she has been going downhill very quickly. At first, she just had trouble walking. Then she got to where she couldn't stand very steadily or for very long, and it was very hard for her to do things like relieve herself. My mother and I would use a towel as a sling to help her walk using her front legs. She weighed over 70 lbs., so I was difficult for us to move her, but we did the best we could.

I had ordered a wheel cart for her, thinking that if I could just get one of those, she could go out and relieve herself more easily. However, her condition kept getting worse and worse. First, she was unable to control her left rear leg. Then she got to where she could no longer move her tail. Then she started losing control of the right leg as well, and then finally she started losing control of her bodily functions. I was giving her medication for arthritis, but she would sometimes moan with pain.

I took her to the vet this morning. They took x-rays and the arthritis was in the vertebrae of her spine. Paralysis was overtaking her. There were only a few options.

They could give her an anti-inflammatory shot that might help her for a few hours. But they can only give a limited amount of those shots, because too many would cause other problems. They could get a neurosurgeon to operate on her spine, but it would take months for her to recuperate from such a surgery, especially at her advanced age. And it probably would not have helped her very much.

The final option was a decision I prayed I would never have to make. But it was the only decision I could make. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do.

I stayed with her. She went peacefully, but I broke down when I realized she was really gone.

She was my Dad's dog. When he died, she became my dog. I had named her Coco as a puppy, but my Dad called her Punkin. I like to think she is now reunited with my Dad. I have to believe that.

The house feels empty without her presence. My Mom and I are grieving. I will miss Coco the rest of my life. She was a sweet, wonderful dog.

Here is a photo of her when she was still a puppy:

This picture was taken in May after bringing her home from the groomers (that's why she has that bandana on):

Here's a picture I took while she was sleeping back in July:

Rest in peace, Coco aka Punkin (1992-2004).

Remember 9/11

This site will go black for the duration of the day on 9/11. See this post for my remembrance of that horrible day.

Tribute

Joshua Claybourn posts a tribute to his mother.

I lost my brother to a brain tumor in 1997 and my Dad to cancer in 1998, so I know the kind of pain he is going through.

Condolences

My deepest sympathy goes out to Joshua Claybourn on the passing of his mother. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Reagan's Wisdom

Roy Jacobsen reflects on Reagan's wisdom in standing up to evil:

He called the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” and the intelligentsia were appalled at his apparent naivety. He wasn’t “nuanced,” he wasn’t being “diplomatic,” he was making it difficult to “get along” with a regime that every knowledgable person agreed wasn’t going to be defeated, and wasn’t going to go away any time soon.

And without a shot being fired, the Soviet Union and all their puppet governments collapsed like a house of cards because Reagan had the wisdom to see it for what it was, and apply the pressure at the point that would bring about the collapse.

Also, Dawn Eden links to Reagan's famous pro-life essay, Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation.

The Procession

I watched the Reagan funeral procession on TV. I cried, too. Like I said before, I always liked Reagan. I didn't always like Nancy; I feel differently now. She reminded me so much of my poor mother at both my brother's and my father's funerals.

This is the first State funeral I've witnessed. I don't remember the one for Johnson. I was just a kid, so I was oblivious to it. When Nixon died ten years ago, there was no State funeral and everything was much more low-key. (I guess this was because he resigned.)

Farewell, President Reagan

Throughout most of Ronald Reagan's presidency, I was a teenager. I was thirteen when he was elected in 1980 and I was 21 when he left office. Like most teens, I thought of myself as a liberal. I wanted Walter Mondale to win in 1984. Although I was starting to shake off some of the immature teenage liberalism by 21, I still voted for (**cringe**) Dukakis for President in 1988 (my first Presidential election).

When I was a teenager, I bought into all the nuclear war paranoia. I used to have nightmares about nuclear war. I thought Republicans didn't care about the poor. I was "personally opposed" to abortion but thought it should be legal.

Despite all this, I couldn't help but like President Reagan. I didn't agree with him, but I liked him anyway. I would even get annoyed when stupid rock stars would put him down in magazine articles or songs.

Around 1988, I began to see the wisdom of Reagan's approach to the Cold War and the Soviet Union. I remember when Reagan was having some talks with Gorbachev. At the time I was working at a store at the mall while going to school. In front of the mall one day, the local news was having one of those "man on the street" things and the reporters were asking people what they thought of the talks. I got roped into being interviewed while going to work one evening. They asked me what I thought and I said it was good that we were talking to the Soviets, but that we shouldn't get too relaxed with them. I was actually afraid that Reagan might "go wobbly"! Then they asked me if I thought we could ever get rid of nuclear weapons. My answer: no, not unless we invented a worse weapon.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, I saw how right Reagan had been in the way he handled the Cold War. I see now that he was right about a lot of things.

I regret that I didn't fully appreciate President Reagan until after he left office. I wish I hadn't been such an ignorant teenager. But I do appreciate him now.

Update: If you would like, you can leave Mrs. Reagan and the Reagan family a message in the condolence book. (Via Relapsed Catholic.)

Memorial Day 2004

My deepest gratitude to those who have given their lives to defend this nation.

Pat Tillman

I remember hearing about Pat Tillman a couple of years ago -- how he gave up fame and fortune in the NFL to go fight for his country. He didn't have to do it...he wanted to.

I was very saddened to hear that he was killed in Afghanistan a few days ago.

I had a class at the main base on Thursday and Friday last week. There's a boat ramp across the street from where the class was held. I sat there in my car listening to the radio while eating lunch on both those days. It was nice, sitting there looking at Pensacola Bay, watching the seagulls and pelicans, smelling the breezy, salty air.

Friday, I listened to Rush Limbaugh comment on Tillman as I sat in my car during lunch. Now, I don't listen to Rush that much anymore, but I think he's okay. I know there are some non-liberals in the blogosphere who despise Rush, but that's not my point here.

My point is that Limbaugh gave a very eloquent and moving tribute not only to Tillman but to all our soldiers who have given up something to defend their country. His point was that we know Tillman's story because he was famous. Rush then reminded us not to forget there were and are many others like Tillman. They all gave up something important and went to serve their country. Some of them made -- and will make -- the ultimate sacrifice. They all deserve nothing less than honor and respect.

As I sat and listened to this while looking at the bay, I thought of how Tillman and the families of other soldiers must feel. When I lost members of my own family due to illnesses, I thought of how they were no longer here under the blue sky, could no longer take in the beauty of the sea or breath the fresh, salty air. Yes, I believe they are in a better place now, but they are not here. I will, hopefully, see them again in that better place someday, but for now, there is an emptiness that will never be filled in this side of time.

When I think of the loss of brave men like Tillman, I pray for their families, I pray for peace, and I pray that their sacrifice will not be in vain.

Lest We Forget

Today is the ninth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Here is a memorial site. Thanks to this post via blogs4God for reminding me.

I remember I was home sick from work that day and had been asleep all morning. I got up to eat lunch and found out about the bombing on the news.

Six Years

I lost my Dad to lung cancer six years ago today. (He died on Good Friday that year.) Here is a post I wrote last year in remembrance of him.

Sympathy

Johnny Cash's Faith

Here's a good article from a while back about Johnny Cash from Thunderstruck: "Johnny Cash approaches Judgment Day with faith".

Johnny and John, Rest in Peace

I got up to sad news about two celebrity deaths -- one expected and one unexpected.

When June Carter Cash passed away a few months ago, I had a feeling that Johnny Cash wouldn't be with us much longer. They are now together forever. When I was I kid, my parents had a compilation of hits from the 1950s on 8-track. One of my favorite songs on the tape was "I Walk the Line". It had such an odd, but yet likeable sound. The lyrics were a beautiful testament to love and faithfulness. Although I'm not much on country music, I always liked Johnny Cash. Perhaps this is because his music didn't sound like typical country music. Although he struggled with many hardships and demons, he was a man of great faith who loved God. And now he is with God.

John Ritter of Three's Company fame also died -- very suddenly of heart problems. I was only about nine or ten years old when that show came on the air. It was considered kind of racy then, but it seems pretty innocent now, by today's standards. I didn't see it as racy...I was just a kid. I just thought it was a funny show. Ritter's character Jack was what made it funny. May he rest in peace.

Remember.

This post will stay at the top until after September 11. On that day, the front page of this blog will go black, with a simple tribute.

My recollections of that horrible day are in this post from last year.

Michele from A Small Victory is collecting 9/11 remembrances in The Voices Project.

Two sites that remember those lost:

• September 11 Victims


• Remembering September 11, 2001

(Photo courtesy of iStockPhoto.com. Click for larger view.)

The Falling Man

I could not finish reading this story, but I feel I should link it. Here are some excerpts:

THEY BEGAN JUMPING NOT LONG after the first plane hit the North Tower, not long after the fire started. They kept jumping until the tower fell. They jumped through windows already broken and then, later, through windows they broke themselves. They jumped to escape the smoke and the fire; they jumped when the ceilings fell and the floors collapsed; they jumped just to breathe once more before they died. They jumped continually, from all four sides of the building, and from all floors above and around the building's fatal wound.

Indeed, there were reports that some tried parachuting, before the force generated by their fall ripped the drapes, the tablecloths, the desperately gathered fabric, from their hands. They were all, obviously, very much alive on their way down, and their way down lasted an approximate count of ten seconds. They were all, obviously, not just killed when they landed but destroyed, in body though not, one prays, in soul. One hit a fireman on the ground and killed him; the fireman's body was anointed by Father Mychal Judge, whose own death, shortly thereafter, was embraced as an example of martyrdom after the photograph—the redemptive tableau—of firefighters carrying his body from the rubble made its way around the world.

Those tumbling through the air remained, by all accounts, eerily silent; those on the ground screamed. It was the sight of the jumpers that prompted Rudy Giuliani to say to his police commissioner, "We're in uncharted waters now." It was the sight of the jumpers that prompted a woman to wail, "God! Save their souls! They're jumping! Oh, please God! Save their souls!" And it was, at last, the sight of the jumpers that provided the corrective to those who insisted on saying that what they were witnessing was "like a movie," for this was an ending as unimaginable as it was unbearable: Americans responding to the worst terrorist attack in the history of the world with acts of heroism, with acts of sacrifice, with acts of generosity, with acts of martyrdom, and, by terrible necessity, with one prolonged act of—if these words can be applied to mass murder—mass suicide.

I couldn't read much more after that.

(Via Mark Shea.)

The Bijani Twins

Lee Anne Millinger posts about the Iranian twins who sought another kind of freedom. These twins were willing to risk death for their freedom. I was sad when heard that they died...I had really hoped that they could beat the odds, that the operation would be successful.

I pray that now they have the ultimate freedom...forever in the presence of God.

Memorial Day

Please take a moment to remember those who died so that you could live in freedom.

Slaughtered by Tyrants

Dean's World has a very important post about genocide...about the tens of millions murdered in 20th century by tyrants. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao and The Young Turks together slaughtered over 100 million people. The post is accompanied by very upsetting pictures of the Armenian genocide.

Also, today is Yom HaShoah, which is the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Remembering Dad

Five years ago today, my father died of lung cancer. He died six days short of his 61st birthday.

He was diagnosed about fourteen months earlier. He had a cold that would not go away. He went to the doctor and found that he had pneumonia and a spot on his lung. The spot turned out to be cancer, an inoperable type that had already metastasized. And yes, he was a smoker -- had been since his teens.

He went through chemotherapy and radiation. It made him sick for a time, but it also extended his life. Without it he probably would have died a year earlier than he did.

I think his strong will kept him alive as well. The following July after he was diagnosed, my older brother died of a brain tumor. My brother's death was devastating beyond what I can express. I won't go into it in this post, but it was something that was not expected. I believe that my brother's death made my Dad more determined to live. He did not want to leave us so soon after what happened to my brother.

My Dad was not a religious man. He had reasons to be bitter and skeptical towards religion. His parents were very religious (his father being a preacher), but they divorced when he was young. He was exposed to a lot of religious people who were not very good Christians.

But as he grew sicker, he turned to God for strength. He spoke and prayed with my pastor and my sister's priest. My pastor baptized him a few weeks before he died.

Dad was a very intelligent man who was good at almost anything he put his hand to. He renovated an old dumpy house he and my Mom bought when I was eleven. Mom and I helped, but he did the hard stuff. He made it into a lovely home. I have a rifle he built before I was born. It's a .243 target rifle. He won a shooting competition with it. He could fix just about anything. He taught himself to write very complex programs on his computer. He loved chess and studied books on chess strategy.

He was not perfect, and he had his demons he struggled with. But he was a good man. I love him very much and I miss him every day.

Michael Kelly

I was very saddened to hear of Michael Kelly's death. This is his last column:

Across the Euphrates

Here is an archive of his columns going back four years.

He was truly one of the good guys. May he rest in peace.

Rest in Peace

"High Flight"

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

In Sympathy

In Remembrance

9/11/01

September 11, 2001 started as just another ordinary day for me. I got out of bed, grumpy as usual, because I'm not a morning person. I got my breakfast of orange juice and a banana, looked at the paper, and turned on the TV to MSNBC to watch a little of Imus.

Except, this time, Imus wasn't on. Instead, was a shot of the WTC, with one of the towers pouring smoke. My mother, who lives with me, came in the living room and saw it too. They said a plane hit the building. We both assumed it was a terrible accident.

After a couple of minutes, I caught a glimpse of a fireball erupting from the other tower. I heard them say that a plane hit the other tower and they replayed it. It was obvious then what was happening. I yelled to my mother, who was now in another part of the house, and told her a plane just hit the other tower, that it was a terrorist attack.

I remember praying for the people in the buildings, praying that they would be able to get out. At the time, I didn't know the planes were passenger planes.

Numb and on autopilot, I went to go take my shower and get dressed. I was already running late as it was.

When I got out of the shower, I heard about the Pentagon. I was also horrified to find out passenger planes were used.

I drove to work, which is just five minutes from my house. As I pulled into the parking lot, I heard on the radio that one of the towers had completely collapsed.

At work, I got on the internet to keep track of the news. I also turned on my radio to listen to the coverage. The whole office wanted to hear, so I turned it up. It stayed on most of the day.

As time progressed, there were additional horrors...the other tower collapsed and another plane crashed. There were wild rumors about other missing planes.

I remember spending the whole day feeling sick and holding in tears. I did allow myself to cry later. The first few days, I felt deep sadness, which then turned to rage. I'm still angry...I believe I always will be.