I'm sorry for your loss, Bill.
I was sitting on a park bench on 106th St. and Broadway. It was such a beautiful day. I was on a phone call, was put on hold and the person never came back. I remember now hearing a lot of fire sirens, but not thinking much of it. I hailed a cab and the driver practically screamed at me, "Two planes hit the WTC!" I knew right away it had to be terrorism. I wanted to get to a television and see for myself. I was in shock, running up my block, but I felt like I was in slow motion. As I got in the front door, my husband called and told me to go get the kids from school and he would be home as soon as he could. He worked on a trading desk in Rockefeller Center and was on the phone with a guy from Canter Fitzgerald when the plane hit and the line went dead.
I was the first parent to get to both of my kid's schools. I jumped into another cab to go back uptown to pick up my son when I heard on the radio the Pentagon getting hit. It felt so overwhelming.