September 11

[TotallyOz]

It is almost upon us. I was in NYC when the attacks happened. I had just woken up to a nightmare. I had friends in the towers and my BF was at school on 24th and 8th Avenue. At that time I owned an escort agency in NYC. I had to take my business phones off the hook for days as the tragedy took us all in New York by surprise and we were not sure what we were going to do. It was the most I had cried in years.

The towers are still not rebuilt. I would love to see them again. I can't wait to see what the developers do to that area. My friends still have dogs that needed adoption because of displacement of their families.

For me, each September 11, I pause and think back to those horrific days and weeks. It was almost as if the world stood still for me. It wasn't long after that when I sold my business in NYC and moved on with my life. I still am not sure how much of the move was motivated by fear of a repeat attack and how much was motivated by my desire for a change. In either case, those hours and days are still embedded in my memory.

[KYTOP]

It is almost upon us. I was in NYC when the attacks happened. I had just woken up to a nightmare. I had friends in the towers and my BF was at school on 24th and 8th Avenue. At that time I owned an escort agency in NYC. I had to take my business phones off the hook for days as the tragedy took us all in New York by surprise and we were not sure what we were going to do. It was the most I had cried in years.

The towers are still not rebuilt. I would love to see them again. I can't wait to see what the developers do to that area. My friends still have dogs that needed adoption because of displacement of their families.

For me, each September 11, I pause and think back to those horrific days and weeks. It was almost as if the world stood still for me. It wasn't long after that when I sold my business in NYC and moved on with my life. I still am not sure how much of the move was motivated by fear of a repeat attack and how much was motivated by my desire for a change. In either case, those hours and days are still embedded in my memory.

I think many forget how this one huge horrible event changed this entire country. Those who witnessed it first hand in NYC, DC & Pa, but everyone, and our complete political structure. Too many times we in this country have short memories.

Thanks for your small personal note to make us remember.

[caeron]

I have 2 brothers. One worked in the towers, one in the pentagon.

I didn't know for hours that neither was at work that day for whatever reason.

I don't think anybody is forgetting any time soon.

[marcanthony]

It definitely was an unforgettable day. I remember (being in a more Western time zone) opening up my computer with sleep still in my eyes and seeing the indelible image of the smoking towers, only to watch them come down a very short time later.

It was an overwhelming horror to humanity, but on a personal note, I remember panicking as the towers came down because someone who I met through you, Oz, who I had become very close to, used to catch the train just under that tower to get to Rutgers for school... and that was the time he caught it. The communication chaos that ensued made it impossible to find out if he was ok for days afterward (it might have actually been you who finally told me that he was ok)... and that was a horrible experience for thousands of people across the country scrambling to find out about their loved ones.

He turned out to have overslept for class, and thus was not one of the many who lost their lives that day... senseless and horrifically.

[BiBottomBoy]

For me the worst part was I was in Europe at the time and I remember how none of the phones worked to call America so you couldn't find out if anyone was OK.

[Guest Conway]

I had an office in 1 World Trade. On the 79th Floor in an executive office suite called International Office Center. I was in Philadelphia calling on a client that morning.

To this day, all that I have from that office is the key which I still carry on my key ring and a checkbook with my name and the office address of 1 World Trade Center, Suite 7900.

My office "girls" who answered the phones and served as receptionists all perished that day. They were all wonderful people and friends to a guy who spent far too many hours chasing the American Dream in that office. At least one talked with her family by phone until the building collapsed. For weeks and months after I would grimace after finding more and more tribute posters with both well known and simply familiar faces.

That night, I stayed at a home I owned in New Jersey as I couldn't get back into the city and called an escort agency. The beautiful boy they sent over didn't even have sex with me that night. We just talked about how awful it was and held each other. We ate a simple dinner of pasta and tomato sauce. He asked if he could stay the night and I, of course, concurred. He was good company on a horrible day.

I'm not a crier by nature. But, I sobbed that night for the people and for our country.

The next morning I felt so ill as I approached the train station to find wives, mothers, children and fathers making their way into the city by train holding pictures of their loved ones which they were taking to local hospitals in the hopes of identifying their loved ones either dead or alive. We would later learn, of course, that they were all dead and that the process of identifying them would be more scientific than healing for these families.

It was weeks before I could get back into my Tribeca apartment. I was grateful for the house that I had bought for the purpose of gutting and reselling. It provided me a refuge at a time when I wouldn't have had anywhere else to go.

A few weeks after, I realized that I wasn't in love with New York anymore. It was too painful to see the smoldering heap of ruins everyday and to smell the acrid, electrical smell of death that hung over the city for months. In places where I once found great joy, I could no longer find any.

Seven months later, I packed up and moved to another city which turned out to be a wonderful experience itself.

[BiBottomBoy]

(hugs)