Twelve years have passed and I remember 9/11/01 as if it happened yesterday. I had moved out to San Francisco in July of 2001 after finishing school in New York. Excited to start my life as an “adult.” The morning started out as any normal Tuesday morning started. I worked in Finance and because the stock market opened at 9am on the east coast, I started work at 7. My alarm went off at 5:30am and I jumped in the shower. My boyfriend at the time was also in the midst of getting ready that we didn’t hear when the phone rang. It was his mother calling to let us know that something had happened in NYC. She had heard from his sister and she was okay. What that “something” was, we had no idea — this was before call-waiting and we couldn’t get through.

I hopped on the train and headed into downtown San Francisco I went. I remember coming up the escalator to chaos on the street. A few coworkers stood outside, we were all confused. And then people started talking. Two planes had hit the WTC and the South Tower had just collapsed. We were in shock and disbelief. What about our clients? Wasn’t our CEO visiting the WTC that day? Questions and confusion flooded in. The city of San Francisco was evacuating all high rise buildings in fear something would happen there too. We were all told to go home and stay put.

I turned around and walked down the stairs to the train. I was so disoriented that I ended up taking the wrong train. I was 22 years old, most of my friends from college lived in NYC. I didn’t own a cell phone. What was happening? I made it home in time to watch the second tower fall. I was sitting on my living room floor — horrified. Hands covering my mouth and tears streaming down my face. I will never ever forget watching people fall from the towers, I will never forget the stories of friends in NYC who were in or near the buildings, I will never forget the images of the World Trade Center on that day, and most importantly I will never forget those that lost their lives on that horrific day of 9/11/01. They were the heros of that day and will forever live in the hearts of those that loved them and in the hearts of those that never got to know them. <3