Of course I remember that day. I was below deck on a 30 foot sailboat docked on the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan Island. It was a beautiful morning clear blue sky, no humidity and a fresh breeze out of the northwest. I remember thinking how that breeze would be great for the sail I had planned that morning heading east on Long Island Sound. I was stowing a few last minute items down below when I heard the first plane fly overhead. Thinking to myself that it that sounded pretty low. Then it hit the North Tower. I heard a bang and the boat shuddered almost like a small tremor. Poking my head up out of the cabin I saw a mushroom cloud of smoke drifting up the north side of the first tower.
I never did take that planned sail trip after that. The harbor was closed down nothing was allowed to move in or out. I came out of my retirement and spent the next month helping to restore the microwave communication systems that were lost when the World Trade towers collapsed. I saw both towers come down from a small dingy that I have onboard that I had rowed out into the Hudson River to get a better view of what was going on downstream. . I remember watching the towers come down. I particularly remember the North Tower how it came down like a candle burning it's way to the base. The cloud that bellowed up from around the towers was mesmerizing. Beautiful and frightening at the same time from my vantage point two miles up river. It truly was what our military leaders would refer to as "shock and awe"! After the towers came down I remember floating in the dingy on the river for a long time trying to make sense of it all and feeling all alone in the river.
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