Thinking about September 11, 2001.........

It's impossible to arrive at September 11 without thinking back to that fateful day in 2001 when the world somehow changed. Almost all of us can vividly recall where we were that day when we first heard that something was happening in New York City. For me, I was running late for work, stuck in traffic on Bigelow Boulevard, impatiently switching radio channels, trying to get a snipet of information on why the cars had not moved in over 5 minutes. It was an unusually pretty morning....sunny, cool. But, as I snaked through rush hour traffic after the mad dash to drop the kids off at their respective schools, it was just another morning commute. I didn't notice the weather---I was late. Unable to find a traffic report, I settled on listening to the banter between 2 morning disc jockeys. It was the usual stuff....celebrity sitings, silly insults, bad jokes. A few minutes into it, another member of the morning team said "hey, something just came over the wire, seems like there's a fire at the World Trade Center." The banter stopped momentarily and then they began discussing their individual trips to New York City. Fortunately, the traffic started to move and my mind focused on getting to work. When I finally got to the office, I casually said "anyone hear about a fire at the World Trade Center?" A few people switched on the radio. I went into my office. Within seconds, phones started ringing. Voices started to rise. It was as if the entire office said "WHAT?" in unison into their phones. Then, as quickly as the voices rang out, they stopped. Silence fell. Together, we joined the rest of the world. That moment in time. That day in September of 2001.

Today, I went back to work after being gone for 1 month. You know, we all have our own reasons for working. In my office, more than many places, jobs are what we do. To be more precise---our daily focus is on jobs---or, more appropriately--careers. Although I know in my heart that all of us are committed to these things---what we officially call our mission---I've been around long enough to realize that is not the sole reason why we keep coming back day after day. It's about other things. Fullfillment. Paychecks. College tuition. Health insurance. Retirement. Vacations. Shoes for the kids. Extra things. Bills. Yet, on most days, I think it's about the responsibility and commitment we feel towards each other that gets us out of bed, puts us in our cars and ushers us from places near and far. A bond, I suppose you can call it. We've been through life's ups and downs together. The good. The bad. The ugly. The celebrations. The losses. The laughter. The mourning. The joys. The times we play the lottery together. The happy hours. The little things we know about each other. It's the good mornings and the let's go to lunch and the have a nice weekend's. It's all the moments of our lives that we bring with us each day to the place we go each day. To do the things that we do. And, it's a good place. A place I was happy to return to today. To share the moments.......