For 15 Years I had the same office overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River from the 82nd Floor of One World Trade Center. I had worked in the World Trade Center for over 20 years. I loved working in that building.
On that morning, I had stayed home because I woke up not feeling too well and my mother had a 1 pm flight back to Florida on Sept 11. My wife had complained the night before about the mess at Newark Airport with construction and how she did not want to just drop my Mom off.
My son called me from his office in Jersey City after the first plane hit and everyone in his office ran to the windows after hearing it. When I answered the phone at home, he could not believe it.
I watched the TV saying Oh My God, time after time as I was sure that everyone in my office was gone. It turned out that 29 of the 56 people of my office were in - many were still on the way to the office. All but three made it out successfully. One of the three apparently hurt his leg and two Computer staff that worked directly for me stayed to help him after hearing from Emergency Services that they should wait to be evacuated. One of their bodies was found intact, apparently after he tried to escape too late.
Below is a poem that I recited at the Memorial Service for the 3 people that we lost. I had come across it some weeks before and the author is unknown. I found it particularly fitting.