On Friday, September 7 I moved in with my then fiancee in Milwaukee, Wi. When I arrived at her/our apartment I was in for a surprise to find out she was in bed and sick. I did my best to help her to feel well over the weekend as I needed her to be better as I couldn’t be with her on Monday as I was scheduled to start a new job selling new vehicles at an auto dealership. Monday came and I went to my new job and was fortunate to learn that Tuesday would be my scheduled day off. That was fortunate as when I got home that Monday evening my fiancee was still very sick. We decided that it would be best for her to go to the doctor immediately. To make this part of the story short, we were at the emergency room until 4:30 am while the doctors determined that she had just a bad case of the flu, which turned out to be incorrect, as we found out weeks later that she was indeed pregnant and her symtoms was her versions of “morning sickness”.
After returning home at 4:30 am, Tuesday, September 11, 2001 I proceeded to bed and my fiancee went to sleep on the couch as she didn’t feel well enough to sleep on her bed. The next thing I remember was being woken by her, shortly after the time the first plane hit the first tower, turning on the 13″ TV in our bedroom. She had the telephone in one hand and said that my mother, who lived 1 1/2 hours away in a small town, on the phone and that something bad has just happened in New York. My mom was scared for me as I was living in a “large” city and, even though it was still unknown that the attacks were indeed terrorist attacks, she was cared that something like this could happen in Milwaukee. We hung up and I continued, although tired, to watch the national news.
I remember thinking that this had to be an accident simular to what happened to the Empire State Building being struck by a plane. Then, as I was watching the first tower burn, I saw the second tower being struck. “My God” I tought. “There could be upward of 10,000 people in those towers. “I sure there should be no problem with eveyone below the impact sites getting out.” As I contnued to watch news was announced about planes being lost and another plane striking the Pentagon. I was in shock. At this time I was sure the whole world was aware at what was happenening so I called a friend at the job that I had quit days earlier. She was shook up and was practically crying to me over the phone.
Later that morning I needed to go out to get medicne for my fiancee. The atmoshpere was very subdued around the St.Francis area of Milwaukee that morning. Traffic, pedestrians, even the clouds in the sky seemed like they were all in a dream state. What I remember the most was seeing General Mitchell International Airport and the fact there were dozens of airplanes sitting on the tarmac and runway, grounded by the government. At that moment it all hit home. I tied thinking if I knew anyone that might be in New York, which thankfully I did not. The rest of 9/11 is a blur. Life as I knew it, as well as for the rest of the free world, changed that day.