Sacramento Real Estate Views

Where I was 7 Years Ago Today

Today is September 11 and I got up thinking about that 2 week period from the 11th to the 25th of September, 2001 and what I was doing during that time.  On 9/11/01, my wife and I were 10 days from getting married with a honeymoon planned for 10 days on Kauai.  It was a busy time for us finalizing all of our plans and getting ready to tie the knot.

I remember getting up about 630am on 9/11 and going to the computer to check my email as I do every morning.  I got to MyYahoo homepage and the initial image I saw was the impact of the first plane flying into the WTC.  I honestly thought I was looking at a preview for a movie.  That was my first impression.  My brain kind of flipped over inside my head.

I immediately went to wake up Andi, my wife, to let her know what was going on.  We sat there in shock for the entire day watching it all unfold on live tv.

As a veteran of the U.S. Army, I carried around an internal anger the depths of which came from my soul.  It was the kind of feeling that wasn’t expressed by me but felt by all I came in contact with.  The silent, intense feeling that meant that action was going to be carried out with steadfast resolve and no concern for anything other “mission completion”. Point a to point b with nothing in between.  I had been trained to feel that way when I needed but had never experienced it before or since.

I walked around that way for about 3 days before I came to my senses and saw the futility of feeling as I did.  It wasn’t healthy and I let it go to rally behind those around me who were truly afraid of what was coming.  Being reassuring for others was more important than retribution.

My wife and I got married with no delay.  On the 20th, the airlines lifted restrictions and we flew to Hawaii on a virtually empty plane to enjoy our first vacation together as husband and wife.

When we landed in Kauai, it was like a ghost island.  There was no one on the beach, the hotels were virtually empty, no traffic; the perfect vacation.

My wife and I both agreed that we would have preferred it otherwise.

Tags: 9/11