It was a beautiful bright sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. The boardroom was crowded for an important meeting when there came a knock on the door, it opened slowly and the announcement came, “A plane just flew into the World Trade Center!” Shock, pandemonium, crying, screams, after a minute of complete shock, we turned on the television and watched in horror as the second plane flew into the second tower. We stared motionless, speechless, not knowing how to react or what to say. For the next hour we all tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Finally, the President of our company stood up and suggested we all get back to work since “we have a very important meeting we need to conduct.” As if robotic we all sat down in our chairs, gathered our notes and tried as best as we could to resume the meeting, when soon after another knock and another announcement, “A plane just flew into the Pentagon!” This time, everyone scattered as quickly as possible, not certain what to do we all retreated to our offices. I sat and stared and tried to understand what had just happened, not only to New York and Washington, but to my company?

How could anyone sit in a meeting and discuss anything of relevance after what had just happened to the citizens of this country? I pondered, and decided at that moment, there had to be something else, something better! This was the beginning of the end for me, Tuesday September 11, 2001 a defining moment. Less than seventeen months later I left New York for good. We will never forget.