09/11/2026
In my mind, today is the most solemn day for our country for those who lived through September 11, 2001. I wasn't in NYC and I am blessed that I didn't lose family or friends that day. I experienced that morning in Boston on the 12th floor of a building with a view of Logan Airport. My future husband and I had a long-distance relationship and he was working in Crystal City, near Reagan National Airport in Washington DC - also about a mile away from the Pentagon. My sister was working in Newark, NJ with a view of the Twin Towers.
We didn't have smart phones then, so we were all emailing each other, back & forth, right after the first tower was hit, trying to make sense of it all. Then the 2nd tower was hit. Then my husband said that the Pentagon was hit. I wanted to believe it was a bad joke and I asked him if he was serious. He was. It was so difficult to wrap my brain around the whole thing.
At work, we had colleagues in NYC just a few blocks from the World Trade Center and nobody had heard from them. I looked out the window from my office, down at the street and it seemed like every car was an unmarked law enforcement vehicle revealing themselves with lights flashing.
Eventually we were told that the city was being evacuated, so we all made our way back home. I took the train out of South Station and I was struck by the silence. Not one person said a word. We were all in shock. I remember thinking everything was going to be different now and it wasn't going to be pretty.
It was such a picture-perfect, beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky - much like today, here in Vermont. It seemed so at odds with what was going on. I went home and watched what had happened on TV and felt sick to my stomach.
It blows my mind that an entire generation has grown up to adult-hood since this all happened. I wonder if they understand how things changed in one morning.
I'll be going out tonight to see if I can see the lights on Mount Washington. It should be clear. I hope most of you reading this will be able to see it too. And think about what we all lost. And hope for better days. Love to you all!
Send a message to learn more