How can we forget where we were when it happened. I was working in Central New Jersey, applying for jobs in the World Trade Center the days before....my department was about to be laid off...All it took was an interview at one of the companies there...and I would have been in those buildings.

Dad worked in the North Tower for more than 35 years....the exact floor the first plane hit....He retired 6 years earlier or he would have been in that building.

My sister worked there with him years ago while she was in college...she worked on the same floor....she would have been in that building too.

My brother worked in Building 7....just next door...his building collapsed...but even he, that day, had a different job in Jersey City...He saw the whole thing unfold before his eyes across the river.

Why did God spare MY family and I from this tragedy?

We received phone calls from my relatives in Ohio...They were sure one of us was working there.

Me....well.....I remember visiting Dad when I was about 8 years old. My brother promised he would take me there and I cried when he tried to break his promise. He took me. I remember the elevator ride...so far up...and there was Dad...his view from his office was incredible.....so high.....you could see about 3 bridges and every other building was far, far below.....I was afraid to go too close to the window, but I did. What a breathtaking feeling...

In my 20's, after college, I worked a few blocks over. At first I didn't have friends to sit and have lunch with...so I would sit by myself in front of the towers. I didn't feel alone there. No matter if I ate alone, there was just too much to see....Tourists, workers rushing, maybe a jazz band playing in front. And it wasn't unusual for someone to be alone. Lots of others were too.

I looked up and remember being 8 again when my Dad said if you stand really close to them and look up, you can't see the top....he was right....Every time I looked up, I still couldn't see the top....they were so tall.

They were my compass. Whenever I lost direction in Manhattan, no matter where I worked...downtown, midtown, uptown....I knew my way...just follow the 2 towers....that pointed to home...to my borough, Staten Island....I took the bus in that direction...they were the first thing I saw when I entered the city and last thing I saw when I went home...every day for 5 years. Now....there gone.

I drove home from New Jersey on 9/11/01 finding that the bridge home had closed. I was panic stricken thinking that this was the beginning of WW3....Something in the air just wasn't right...I was miles from the chaos, but I felt every bit of it....

I was out of work after that day. I live in front of my church.. I watched a funeral every morning in front of my house..... everyday for about 2 months. It was usually for a firefighter. They didn't always have the body.