Blue Skies Ruined on 9/11
And the lessons we learned on 9/12 and after
It’s been 20 years since that fateful day of 9/11.
20 years and it still hurts.
Some say time and distance help you heal from a traumatic episode.
IT. STILL. FUCKING. HURTS. EVERY. TIME. I. SEE. A. BEAUTIFUL. BLUE. CLOUDLESS. DAY.
Every time I look up into a beautiful 70ish degree day that is blue and cloudless, it takes me back to that day.
It started out as a typical day.
I had just walked out of the World Financial Center on my way to work at the New York Mercantile Exchange, about a 500-foot walk. This is where I traded Crude Oil in that elbowing throwing, screaming and jumping up and down pit with about 100 other frenzied traders.
A friend who left her job on the trading floor a month earlier would join me for lunch that day. As I walked out of the World Financial Center, I looked up, saw how clear and gorgeous the sky was, and decided we would eat by the water by the Exchange building. There are several places to eat along the esplanade with a great view of the Hudson River, Verrazano Bridge, and The Statue of Liberty. Truly a beautiful day to catch up with a friend and enjoy a meal with a postcard view.
I then heard a loud, high-pitched…
