09/11/2026
Most people who know me today probably don’t know this.
But I can still remember September 11, 2001, like it was yesterday.
I was working on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, directly across from New York City. I remember looking toward Manhattan and seeing the North Tower burning.
The smoke rising above the skyline.
At first, none of us understood what we were seeing and we thought it had to be some kind of terrible accident. Then we turned on the television and we watched the second plane hit.
That was the moment everything changed.
This wasn’t an accident.
Our country was under attack.
And suddenly, I could only think about one person.
My mom.
At the time, she commuted into New York for work. I had no idea whether she had gone into the city that morning, and calls weren’t going through.
I didn’t know if she was safe.
So I left work and went home.
By God’s grace, when I walked through the door, my mother was there.
She hadn’t made her normal commute that morning.
We sat together watching the television in complete shock as the events continued to unfold.
It didn’t feel real.
It felt like something you would see in a movie.
Except it wasn’t a movie.
It was happening just across the river and then we watched the towers fall.
In the days and weeks that followed, the images were everywhere.
The wreckage.
The missing-person posters.
The vigils.
The funeral processions.
The firefighters, police officers, first responders, and ordinary people who ran toward danger while everyone else was trying to escape it.
Families lost husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and friends.
Children went to school that morning and never saw a parent come home.
But I also remember what happened afterward.
People came together.
Neighbors helped neighbors.
Strangers helped strangers.
Americans stood together.
Twenty-five years later, I still remember that smoke over Manhattan. I still remember the fear of not knowing whether my mom was safe. And I will never forget the thousands of lives forever changed that day.
Today, take a moment to remember those we lost.
Remember the families who still carry that loss.
Remember the heroes who ran toward danger.
And remember how, in one of our darkest moments, we came together.
Never forget. 🇺🇸
