Erev 9/11

 So 19 years ago tomorrow, I thought we had entered the scariest time in the history of our nation, at least in my lifetime. Nineteen years later, the plague said "hold my beer."

Still, it was a terrible time. I was in my car on the way to my office that day. We had an important meeting -- clients were coming in to sign off on a multi million dollar settlement -- a case Paul and I worked on with our former boss, Ed. The parents were, to put it politely, white trash types from West Broward, and the husband had fallen asleep smoking. A bad fire broke out, burning their little girl. We sued the apartment management company for failing to check the batteries in the smoke detector. Back in the day, we had lots of success with those kinds of cases. That was one of them.

Wifey called me. I still remember -- I was near 27th Avenue and US 1. "I sure am glad your office is on the first floor," she said. I asked why -- she said a small plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. At that moment, it seemed like a bad, but not horrific, accident. I agreed -- it would be pretty tough to crash a plane into a first floor Brickell office.

By the time I got to said office, we knew it was far worse. We watched in horror on the small office TV as the second plane came, and as we finished with the clients, the buildings collapsed. Our legal work was done.

Thankfully, Wifey had fetched the Ds, from Leewood Elementary and Palmetto Middle School. They were all safe at home. 

The other two planes had crashed, and it seemed that might be the extent of the operation. It was around 1 pm.

Ed, ever the pragmatist, and a man with a constant appetite, said we'd might as well go ahead with our celebratory lunch. So we drove the 5 blocks to Morton's. It was pretty empty. We ordered martinis and NY Strips. Ed knew right away the thing would prove to be a stunt -- not an ongoing war. He knew aviation. He had worked on explosives in the US Army, and marveled at the "evil creativity" of using wide body jets as bombs.

We toasted to the health of our families. We toasted to our success with the case. We toasted to better times for our beloved nation.

Sure enough, within a few weeks, life essentially returned to normal, other than at Ground Zero. Of course, the day ushered in the era of "security theater," where  Homeland Security makes a big show at airports. Israelis know, and knew better. The only way to stop terrorists is to profile passengers at the airport. We don't like to profile in the US.

9/11 was an awful tragic day. I am happy I don't know directly anyone killed in the crashes. I know people who know people -- that's the closest degree of separation.

Meanwhile, at least in Florida, the plague seems to be easing. The numbers of new cases have been at the lowest levels since June, and, so far, it seems the feared post Labor Day spike hasn't occurred.

I actually took a car in for service today -- Wifey's SUV needed an oil change and tire rotation/wheel alignment. I dropped off the vehicle, and started walking home, and then was picked up a mile later by D2 and Betsy. She's working here today while Miriam, our cleaning lady, does her condo. We've worked out a new schedule -- Miriam alternates weeks between our house and D2 and Jonathan's. Hopefully it will continue when they move into their new townhouse -- I'm guessing late October.

And sports have returned for me, as a nice diversion. The Heat made the Eastern Finals! And, closer to my heart, the Canes play tonight. Mike and Chris are my only friends going to the game -- but I look most forward to watching on TV. As the song about the show about the bar says... to forget about life for awhile.

Still -- 9/11 was a day to remember, forever. May we never see another one like it.