I grew up in Buffalo, but was living in Las Vegas at the time and was working the night shift. I woke up to my roommate talking at the top of his voice to his wife – “don’t you see what this means? We’re at war! This means war!”. I didn’t even get out of bed, I just immediately turned on the tv and both towers had already been hit. Shortly after I got out of bed, the towers fell.

I don’t know why this hits me as hard as it does, not knowing anyone who was even near the towers that day, but I think about it all the time, to this day. I make it a point to watch the french brothers firefighter documentary at least once a year. If you haven’t seen it, it’s by far the most up close view of the events of that day. I highly recommend it.