Where Were You?
Thinking of this date, or writing it down is a cause for reflection. My work had begun for the blog. The subject was going to be “Trailer Management”. Trailer management is an important subject. The 
subject is interesting. Then I realized that it would publish on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedies and it seemed so unimportant. Everything seamed to stop that day. My parents could always tell you where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news about Pearl Harbor. I was 4 on November 22, 1963. I don't remember it, but my sister can tell me exactly where she was when she got the news that day. It is important to go on with our lives, but it is appropriate that we reflect.
I had loaded my pick up truck for the dump and was listening to Imus in the morning when I started hearing the news. A plane had hit one of the towers. The first thought was that a small plane had hit one of the towers. The news unfolded that day. Soon we realized that it was a big commercial jet. I stopped at the dump and unloaded our garbage and continued into work. I was delivering auto parts to Flint, MI for General Motors. The manager at the county dump was listening to the news. We usually chat a bit, but this day we were listening to the news.
They had the news on at the terminal, and I saw for the first time the picture of the towers. It was 
unimaginable. They were still standing. I remember thinking how remarkable it was that they were standing after an impact like that and praying to myself that they would stay up. By the time that I made my pick up in Brillion, WI they had collapsed. My customers there barely spoke with me. We were all stunned. The events kept unfolding.
A plane hit the pentagon. Then Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. When you're a trucker, you get isolated. I don't think that I have ever felt more isolated than I was on that day. I have received the news of my father passing while I was on the road. I got the phone call about my brother while I was on the road. September 11, it was different. It seemed like whatever traffic there was was moving in slow motion.
Everything seemed unreal. It really hit me when I went past O'hare Airport near Chicago. Nothing was moving and it became real to me. 15 years later, I still don't know what to think. I can not understand the level of hatred that it would take to do something like that. Today is not a good day for that. Today is a good day to just reflect on all that happened that day.