After the second plane hit, we went to a lab that had a tv and watched until the towers dropped. After that, I spent the rest of the day in a daze.

My stepson was living in Jersey City and going to school in Chelsea at the time. He took the PATH train right through WTC to get to school. Thankfully, he had later classes that day and was still asleep when it all happened. When he learned what was going on, he went to the waterfront with many others. He later told me that he could see the people jumping from the towers from where he was standing.

I knew a lot of people in the city that day. I lost a high school friend in the south tower. Another friend from HS was was walking up the stairs from a subway station and saw the first plane hit the tower from midtown. The company I now work for lost 4 people who were on the planes that day.

3 days later, we went to pick my stepson up to bring him home for a while. Seeing the plumes of smoke from across the river was heartbreaking and surreal. We had just dropped him off the previous weekend and his mother and I had someone take a picture of us with the towers behind us on 9/9. Just looking at that pic brings tears to my eyes. So much loss.