9/11/01

"This morning was no different from yesterday. I arrived at my coffee shop just before 7am to get the coffee brewing and check my supplies and set up my register for the day. My "thank you" ad had already run in the local paper announcing the closing my business the 15th. Been open for nearly two years and time had come to help a friend out with his business. When I finally turned on the radio, it was close to 7:30am (mst) and heard that New York City was experiencing a sad changing of its skyline. I was in my small coffee shop-on-wheels and heard the news that the two planes had already hit the twin towers. As I was sitting there listening to the news, one of my customers pulled up in a rush because she left her coffee on the roof of her car. I had to break the news to her about the planes and she had not heard anything about it. After she left, I ran home to grab my small portable B&W TV and took it back to work. Somewhere during the morning, I realized that there was no one, I mean absolutely no traffic on the road for about an hour. I watched my small TV and struggled to see that the buildings were falling down. It showed all the people running down the streets to escape the dust and debris before I realized what was happening. My heart sank for all of those who were unable to escape the building prior to the total collapse of eventually both buildings. Somewhere though the morning, I made the comment to myself that, “The sleeping dragon has now been awaken, again!” Only time would tell how we would settle this wrong. So many things we didn’t know then, only the miracles that would soon be discovered in the hours and days to come."

I remember seeing my Uncle and his wife parked on the side of the road praying for all those affected. He was forced to return the big rental car they got and was put into Ford Fiesta to make the 18-hour drive home from Albuquerque to Alabama, because all the planes have been grounded indefinitely. My Uncle was on his last trip to see his big sister (my mom) before the cancer took him. My Uncle was a big man, standing over 6 feet tall and filled the doorway when he stepped through it.

As scheduled, I closed my business and moved to my next adventure, but stayed very aware to the news coming out of NYC, DC, and Shanksville.