geoffism.com

Everyone remembers where they were.  Unfortunately.  Me - 53rd & 7th.  I got in early that day - we just signed the NHL as a client (my dream job!) and I had a lot to do by Oct 1.  The summer was finally relenting in Manhattan.  You could now ride the subway in the AM without looking like you sat in a sauna for 30 minutes.  People are trickling into the office and then the news hits, the North Tower has just been hit by a plane and is on fire.  You guys know the rest of the story.

They shut down the airports, bridges and tunnels.  The streets were flooded with people.  Everyone was evacuating buildings.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t a state of panic.  Most people were just walking and keeping to themselves.  Needless to say, what do you do?  We all managed to meet at this bar on the Upper East Side.  Sat around, drank some beers and stared into space.  It was a crystalline fall sky that day.  You looked south down any avenue and could see a smoke trail  bleeding into the clouds that was in sharp contrast with the blue background.  We managed to pass the day glued to the news.

My first apartment in the city was on E. 2nd, between 1st and 2nd Ave.  Dreaded the 6th floor walk-up.  Man, that sucked.  Moving in really sucked.  What it did give me was great views.  Out of my bedroom window, I could see the WTC and on the other side, my office/2nd bedroom, I could see the Empire State Building.  Really was cool.  I worked not too far from there.  But it was just like everything else, it was just there and you never thought anything could happen.  Fast forward 2 years and at the time of the WTC attacks, I’m living at Mulberry between Houston & Bleeker.  Same great view, except on that very night, you look out and the twins are gone.  All you could see that night are bright lights from the cleanup and the smell of sulfur in the air.  Its crazy, because they were JUST THERE!

So, here we are today.  7 years later.  Still not quite sure what really happened that day.  I just know it did.  Sometimes you can’t help but think about the NYFD and NYPD who jumped into the fray and never came back.  It also is tough thinking about the people who were lost in the building collapse or that perished on the planes.  Anytime I’m downtown, you can’t help but look up, where they used to be.

I think it goes without saying, we will never forget.  But we will go on.