And no, I'm not referring to Sgt. Pepper. It was a sunny, Miami morning, and I was driving up US 1, and Wifey called to say "Boy -- I'm sure glad your office is on the ground floor. Some airplane crashed into a high story in the World Trade Center -- sounds like some Cessna off course." Well, we knew a bit later it was more than a simple case of Mayday for some errant pilot out of New Jersey.
Paul and I and our old boss Ed had a meeting with clients -- a family whose huge case had settled and we had worked on together, and they were coming to the office for the closing. They were some Tennessee folks living in Broward whose smoking caused a fire which burned one of their kids -- and so we successfully sued the landlord for not having working smoke detectors. The little girl was thankfully doing well, but scarred on her legs and body -- and we had won a very tidy sum for the family. The parents badly needed their checks, and the bulk of the net funds was going into a special needs trust.
We had a TV on, and watched the Towers fall. We got the closing done, and I spoke to Wifey -- by then she had fetched the Ds, from Palmetto Middle and Leewood Elementary - and all were safe at home. Paul's kids were safe in colleges, and Ed's kids and grandkids well, too. We sent the staff home, and Ed, the pragmatic gourmand, realized well -- we gotta eat. So we headed to Morton's on Brickell.
By now, it was early afternoon, and we sat in the bar watching the carnage on the big screen, while we drank martinis and ate steaks. I felt a bit Nero-esque -- but really -- what else could we do? Our families were thankfully safe, and even if the attacks somehow reached Miami, well -- might as well go out with a Stoli martini "colder than my ex-wife's heart" as a favorite bartender in Chicago used to say, and a good NY Strip.
Well -- the days afterwards were tense. President W launched a war which, 20 years later and tons of money wasted, succeeded in replacing the Taliban with...the Taliban.
Thankfully our family matured and prospered. Our then 4th and 8th graders grew into accomplished, wonderful women who married amazing men -- and there is, of course, the beautiful grandson who turns 2 in just over 3 months.
We lost my Mom 12 years later, and Wifey's Dad a few years after that, but both had lived long, full lives. Somehow my ancient suegra is still with us -- with a life that began in Poland and has spanned the 20th and now first 5th of the 21st century. Wow. Lots of years there.
Today the plan is a visit from D1 and the baby -- Joey will be golfing. Jonathan just left for his Gables office -- that young man is in major deal making mode -- he spent all day yesterday in Charlotte -- arriving home late to one of those very cold martinis.
D1 usually leaves in the early afternoon -- and then the couch will call me -- lots of college football to watch, including my Canes at 7. I actually sold my tickets online -- the majority of my group is giving the Plague a bit more time to subside here -- though we hope to regroup next Saturday for Michigan State.
The year after the attacks, I was in a mediation, and wise man Murray Meyerson described what the terrorists did as "a stunt." And it struck me how apt a description that was -- no bombs, no expensive materials, just suicidal zealots with box cutters who knew how to exploit the openness of the USA.
Still, the stunt killed thousands, and 9/11 is our generation' "date that will live in infamy." May we never see its like again.
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