For like 2 weeks prior to 9/11/2001, we'd had a terrible time with Staples corporate making arrangements for a trip to Detroit for the annual Telecommunications conference. They couldn't get the dates right, then the times, then the names of attendees, and so on... Because of all the mix-ups, I'd seriously procrastinated in my personal trip planning and packing.  I remember telling my wife and co-workers the day before, "you just watch... I bet we still don't make this trip..." and we didn't.

I was watching CNN, chatting with my wife while she got ready for work that morning.  The first plane hit while I was in the shower. Like everyone else seeing it on TV, we assumed it was an accident. I recall seeing the smoking hole and thought it must ahve been a big plane, no little Cesna. We continued to watch CNN while I half-heartedly completed my much-delayed packing.  I hadn't quite finished when the second plane hit the other tower.  I said to my wife, "This is no accident."

Suzie had to leave for work before the first tower fell, and I don't know which of us said it, but it was said -- "This will change our world forever." And, ever the pragmatist, I said, "This is going to kill our economy..." which, of course, is just what the terrorist's wanted to accomplish - and didn't - yet.  She kept calling me that morning asking for updates... no TV in the Credit Union where she works. Some of the rumors and reports she got 3rd hand from members walking in were wild to say the least. 

Eventually, I called the store and ended up going in, but it wasn't busy at all... in fact, the store wasn't busy for most of that whole week. Everyone appeared stunned and in shock.

I also remember being angry with BMHS for not suspending classes and for making my 10th-grade son write three essays about his feelings and reaction to the events on TV, in three different classes, during the course of the day's classes. Talk about depressing! What were these people thinking?!

Needless to say, not only did we not make the trip, the conference itself was soon canceled altogether because 1/2 the vendors didn't want to travel.

I still think the understated reason for the Iraq War is to draw the terrorists into the open, in a place somewhere other than the US; giving them a new target that doesn't have a US ZIP code.