Seems everyone is recalling their day so I thought Id tell ya about mine.
I worked in NYC on 44th and 3rd avenue. Our company had just gone back to winter hours so work started at 9am - By the time I got to work at around 8:45AM things were already happening. Everyone gathered around the lunch room to view the TV. I worked about 4 miles north of it all. The company owners had meetings in the lunch room and informed us we were free to head home but with trains and bridges out we were not going very far.
My Uncle worked in One World Trade and no one heard from him so my cousin was freaking out. They lived in Queens at the time and happened to be home when they saw everything on TV. My sister who worked a few blocks from me called me, took forever, but when she finally got me she was leaving work and heading to Queens. So she met me at my office and we walked from 44th and 3rd to Queens. There were so many people in the streets of Manhattan also heading North, Ive never seen so many people in my life. We walked North on 3rd Avenue till we got to the Queens borough bridge - while crossing the bridge we stopped to see the smoke downtown, shocking as it was. The walk was 3 miles away and with all the other people walking it took a long time to get there. When we finally got to her house she was still freaking out. We waited at her house till around 6pm. There was still no word from him but I had kids to get home to so we left when they finally opened the bridges. We were able to find a cab from Queens to The Bronx. Traffic was horrible, but he drove us up to the Bronx. Tolls were suspended that day and the silence in the air was very Erie. When he got to our exit he kicked us out of the cab and charged us $40! We had to walk home from there, another 3 miles or so.
A few hours later they found my uncle. He was downstairs smoking when the towers hit! Guess he walked away from it all, Imagine that! What I find funny is that he was also outside when the other bombing happened in 1993! My uncle was never the same after that., he has since passed away. We also found out that a distant cousin of mine worked at the top of the trade center in that restaurant, I cant remember the name of it, but the event has effected my family.
The next day I had to go to work. My boss lived in Staten Island and had no way to get into work, it took him 6 hours to get home. I was able to catch the train into Manhattan. Everyone was so quiet reading their papers and I couldnt even get my self to glance at them. Why would they put images of people throwing themselves out windows on the cover?!?!
When I got to Mid Town it smelled like burnt flesh, it was horrible. The smell lingered for a few days - I didnt want to be there but I really didnt have a choice.
Finding out they killed that horrible man is bittersweet. It would have been better to find him alive, but thats my two cents.
Ill never forget that day.
