I can still remember what I was doing at the time, I called one of my medical suppliers and he told me a plane had crashed into the WTC, at first I thought it was a joke until I got online and turned on the TV in my office. Everybody was in shock and then the second plane hit. I thought it was a computer animation because the plane looked black and went by extremely fast, but then it became a bigger nightmare when the second plane crash was confirmed.
The routine at the workplace went into slow motion a surreal feeling. News reports drove fear even higher because we did not know exactly what was going on, reports from the Pentagon made matters worse. When the first tower came down I had left my office and made my way to the pharmacy, since nobody knew if the attacks where going to continue or full out war was going to follow I bought insulin, syringes and medications for a long time and then headed for the grocery store to buy food and supplies, The Johnson Space Center was being evacuated but traffic in the streets was virtually non existent.
After dropping all my stuff at home I headed back to my office. We where all in a very somber mood and actually thought that the casualty numbers where going to be a lot higher. I cannot think about this without getting goosebumps, the people in the planes and towers, the heroic members of the NYFD and NYPD hurtling toward the site and running up the stairs and giving their lives in order to help and save people and I am willing to bet all I know that they knew the danger of an imminent collapse of the buildings because of the damage and the fires eating the structure.
This is a date that will always be present in my mind and heart, I have to deal with death many times a week or even in the same day, but one can never be prepared to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude. The families are always in my thoughts and prayers.
