Where were you?

Seven years ago today, I dropped Norm off at the Metro and he headed to work at the Pentagon. On the ride back to my house, I heard the radio announcer talk about a traffic plane that had hit the World Trade Center. Once inside my home, with the TV turned on, I watched the horror unfold in New York City and soon realized the Pentagon was attacked. Our phone service after that was spotty--I was able to call my boss in Miami (I worked for a cruise line then) but local calls were difficult. Norm did not have his cell phone with him at the time--they don't work in the Pentagon--but, it wouldn't have mattered--no cell phones were working around here.

It was several hours before I heard from him--and he was safe in his home. I was lucky. 184 people lost their lives at the Pentagon seven years ago--and thousands more in New York City and Shanksville, Pa.

Today, the Pentagon Memorial Park was dedicated. It consists of 184 benches on the western wall of the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building. The memorial benches are designed so that if you read the name of a person who was on Flight 77, you face the sky. If you read the name of a person who was in the Pentagon, you face the building. The park is open 24 hours each and every day.

My life, changed so much that day, as did everyone else's. The biggest for me was that I lost my job with Royal Caribbean, and Norm and I moved in together. I think about September 11, 2001 in some fashion every single day--whether it is driving past the Pentagon like I did last night, or draggin' my bags through security at the airport, or just seeing an airplane in the sky on the Mount Vernon approach up the Potomac.

I hold close in my heart the families of the people who were killed that day--and hope that they have the strength and peace they need to continue to carry them.