On the morning of 9/11 I was in my office at Marsh, Inc. in Sunrise, FL. My assistant told me that her husband was watching TV and saw a plane hit the World Trade Center. I called a colleague at the Marsh offices in midtown and he confirmed that he could see the smoke but did not know what was going on. I ran to our lobby since we had a television with a live broadcast of CNN and arrived in time to see the 2nd plane hit the South tower. I was in shock and could not believe what I was seeing.
My next thought was that where the plane hit was where Marsh’s technology and accounting operations were located and where my cousin Tony worked. He worked on the 100th floor of the North Tower which was hit first and I knew that if he was there that morning, he was probably dead. I started to cry hysterically and ran back to my office. I called my aunt and uncle who lived on Long Island to see if they had heard from Tony. They had just woken up and had no idea what was happening. They turned on their TV to see the horror that was unfolding. My uncle said that they would check with my other cousin, Yvette since they commuted into NYC together in the morning to see what time they arrived in NY Penn Station on the Long Island Railroad.
It was an agonizing 8 hours before I found out that Tony had been delayed at Penn Station and as a result had stopped for a coffee before taking the subway downtown to the WTC. He was coming out of the subway station when the 2nd plane hit but he had not able to communicate with his parents until later in the evening since the cell phone towers were down, he was caught in the masses of people trying to leave the area and finally, hours later, found a working payphone in Brooklyn and was able to call to say he was okay. It was a miracle that to this day I am thankful for.
Unfortunately, on September 12, we found out that we lost 295 of our Marsh colleagues the day before. In the aftermath of tragedy, I found out 3 days later that a dear friend had died after being hit with debris from the collapse of the 1st tower. After accounting for all that were lost that tragic day, five people I personally knew (2 work colleagues, a high school buddy and a college friend) had also perished.
It is still very hard to process all the lives that were lost that day and 25 years later, it is still something that weighs on me deeply.
On the anniversary of 9/11, I bow my head and pray for all who were lost but I especially remember John Keohane (forever in my heart!), Salvatore “Sal” Tieri, John Tobin, Michael Cahill, Anthony Fallone, Jr., and Norman Rossinow.