Our Generation's Pearl Harbor Day

I was driving up Dixie Highway on a bright September morning, and Wifey called. "Good thing your office is on the ground floor," she said. "Someone just crashed a plane into a high floor at the World Trade Center." We both assumed it was some errant private pilot. I immediately thought of the historical crash of an Air Force bomber into the Empire State Building -- my Dad told me about that one.

By the time I got to Brickell, we knew more was going on. Wifey fetched the Ds from school, and called to confirm they were safe at home.

Paul and I had a case closing -- with our old boss Ed. Some folks from a trailer with a failed smoke detector were coming to the office to get their check -- a huge one -- and we were going to get paid, too. Ed and Paul met with the parents of the little girl -- her name was Cheyenne, as I recall -- and closed the case. I watched on an office TV as the second tower crumbled.

The clients left, and we let the staff leave, too. I was going to head home. Paul was already an empty nester -- his kids were both off at college. Ed said, in his famous way "Well, we gotta eat," and so we drove over to Morton's on Brickell, for a lunch of steaks and martinis.

The place was mostly empty, and we knew Florida's only involvement in the affair was that President W had been in Tampa reading to grade school kids when word of the attack came in -- I still remember his goofy expression as he learned the information.

Ed and Paul and I talked -- I happened to know the most about Arab terrorists, and I shared my information with Paul and Ed. And it struck us -- we had all made 7 figures of money that day, our nation was under attack, and we were eating steaks and drinking martinis. There was really nothing else to do.

Of course, so much changed that day. Air travel became more of a hassle. We attacked Iraq -- as it turned out, for nothing at all.  We ended up getting the mastermind of the terror stunt, Bin Ladin, years later after the loss of many more military lives.

But life goes on.

My father used to recall how he knew, while listening to the radio broadcast from FDR, that his life would change, and indeed it did -- over 4 years in the army. It ended with 2 atomic bombs. By the time I was a kid, lots of people were buying Japanese cars. My Dad taught me the absurdity in that -- mortal enemies became trading partners a few decades down the road.

It's different with the Islamic terrorists -- they continue very much to want us all dead. Thankfully they don't have the wherewithal to win.

Happily, I didn't know anyone killed in the 9/11 attacks. I was worried about the husband of one old friend -- he was a NYC cop, but he was out of harm's way.

But it still resonates. D2's man Jonathan works in finance -- he could have been one of the people in the Towers.

We're all very connected -- even if we think that staying safe in our houses immunizes us from the world's ills.

I pray we don't have another day like 9/11 -- at least not in our lifetimes.