5 years later
Today is the 5 year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Everyone in the US was impacted to some degree by these tragic events, and the media is naturally buzzing with stories reflecting on the events of that Tuesday morning 5 years ago. I wanted to take the time and share my personal story of the day.
The day started simply enough. It was the first week of the NFL, and the Giants had played the Monday night game the night before. I had gotten together with Blair Seidler, a good friend, bridge partner and co-worker to watch the game together. I stayed the night at his place, and we were commuting to work together by train. We worked one of the major investment bank in different parts of IT. Our office was in Jersey City, NJ directly across the Hudson river from downtown Manhattan - about 200 yds. across the Hudson river from the WTC.
Blair and I were chatting about bridge as we were getting close to the end of the train line in Hoboken, a neighboring city to Jersey City also along the Hudson. We both noticed quite a bit of buzz on the train; we saw many people getting phone calls and trying to look out the window, but we didn’t know what was going on. The first clue we had as to what all the excitement was about was when we both received a page from one of our co-workers that a plane had hit the WTC and was on fire. I know at the time, I wasn’t really prepared for the magnitude of the event. I had mentally assumed that this was a small aircraft that had gotten off course.
Shortly after this, we arrived at the Hoboken Train station. We both followed the masses towards the harbor, to see what was going on. The site of the tower on fire was literally unbelievable; my mind couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I must have been standing there watching numbly for a good 5-10 minutes when I witnessed an even more incredible sight: the second plane.
As I stood there dumbfounded, I still remember a gentleman standing next to me saying “That’s a declaration of war.” I couldn’t help but wonder who….why…
The next few hours were total chaos. They announced over the loud speakers that ferrys and trains into the city were suspended, that lower Manhattan was being evacuated. Trains were pulling up to take the masses out of the area and back to safety. Blair decided he wanted to try to make it into the office (in NJ) to try to help with the chaos. We ran into Lee Ohliger, another bridge playing friend of ours at the train station, and I travelled back with him.
The train ride home was surreal, to say the least. The train was crowded, but everyone was subdued. Someone had a radio with ear phones, listening to the news reports and sharing with the rest of the train. Plane hitting the pentagon, plane crashing in Pennsylvania, the towers collapsing…
Cell phones weren’t working very well. Everyone on the train was using them as communal property. Sometimes one carrier or another might work briefly, so that phone was passed around so people could call their loved ones. I managed to get a call in to my Dad. He told me later that the message was completely garbled and he couldn’t understand it with the exception of one single phrase: “I’m all right…”
We finally arrived at our destination. I sent out some emails and made some phone calls to friends and family to let them know I was okay. I even received an email from an old girlfriend who I hadn’t talked to in 7 years, checking on me to see if I was okay. After all of this was done, Lee and I didn’t really know what to do with ourselves. Lee made what seems like a crazy suggestion now, going to the local bridge club to play a game. It may be difficult for those not passionate about the game to understand, but it was exactly what I needed to try to get a hold of myself. We went and played, although I couldn’t tell you one thing about what happened that session. Every round, we’d go to the TV and watch the news. By the time the game was over, I checked in with Blair. He was home by then, never making it to the office. Lee dropped me off at his place, and we both contacted others at work to see what could be done, what needed to be done, to try to save the company.
9/11 means many things to many people, but for me it will always be the strangest situation I’ve ever played bridge.
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