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I was on my way to work. At the time I was a marketing consultant at a marketing firm that catered primarily to stock brokers and financial planners. When the radio announcer said that a plane had hit one of the towers it felt like I had been hit in the stomach. I was torn between pulling over and speeding to work to call my clients and friends.
When I got to the office everyone was standing around with the radio playing, that's when the second plane hit. Everyone in my department knew someone in the towers. Some people where crying, others sat stunned with their heads in their hands or staring blankly into space. My third call of the day was supposed to be to a man who I considered a friend. Whenever I called him he was very upbeat, kind and intelligent, I always looked forward to my calls to him. He was killed that day, a man I had never seen but was my friend.
At about 9:00 am two televisions were brought in and we watched the second plane crash into the building over and over. We listened as the announcers strained to explain what was known at the time. When the camera focused on people jumping from the buildings I had to leave the room, it was too close to me.
I called my wife and asked her if she had heard what happened. When she said yes, we both sat on the phone saying nothing, there was nothing to say, nothing seemed appropriate. I told her that I was supposed to be on the phone with my friend. I told her I didn't know if I would talk to him again. We cried together over the phone.
The next week another friend/client killed himself. Some of his close friends had worked in the towers and died. He was already on shaky ground emotionally when the attack came, it didn't do it directly but the attack killed him as well.
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