Wedding Blog

When 9-11 hit I was working in finance in NH. Giant monitors lined the walls of the gargantuan office building I worked in at the time. Images of what was happening crowded every screen but there was no sound, and we mobbed around the televisions to try to discern what it all meant.

That day I realized life is just too unpredictable to dwell on unhappiness and let the little things keep you down. I abhorred my job, was sick of crying over it and a recently broken heart, and found the strength I needed to finally sever all ties the following week. I went back to school in DC and within a few months started dating the person I am now engaged to marry.

My dad worked across the street from the WTC. He was coming out of the building (the path); just got out of the building when he looked up and saw the plane speeding in. He started running when the plane hit the first building and ran up to his office to call my mom. While he was on the phone, the second plane hit, and he dropped everything and ran to battery park. He didn’t get back into NJ until 4pm, but my family was fortunate enough to know he was okay almost instantly.

I was in college when all this happened and it was surreal. While I was so joyful my father survived, I mourned for my good friend. As others would later tell us, he stayed behind to help others get out and got trapped. He had a memorial without his body, but it was more touching than sad because he was a testament of selflessness and goodwill.

My father, sick of all the craziness, eventually moved out to Dallas last year. Every day, I’m thankful he’s alive. He’s a hero to me because he made it back home safely, and my friend’s a hero because he stayed behind to save others. It’s a hard day to remember and sometimes I have to ignore it… but the previous poster is right: it changed my life.