I arrived in Boston for an extended business trip in the wee hours of the morning a week after 9/11/2001. It was eerie. I felt as though time had warped and I was experiencing an alternate reality that should have been a possibility – never real – in the space-time continuum I called my life.
The days seemed dark – the nights even darker. People rarely spoke on the streets. They seemed to whisper to one another unless they were at work where most tried to act as though life was ‘normal’ – as did I.
No one spoke about the attacks publically except those who were most affected by it and then only at scheduled appearances. Some were there themselves at Ground Zero and gave testimony about what happened. Some had lost a son, daughter, husband, wife, dad or mom in the blink of an eye and came to speak of the beloved.
It was as though all of us in the City of Boston – me included – had gone into shock in the weeks following 9/11 and the only way to keep on living was to act ‘as if’ we were still the same as before.
But we weren’t. Terror doesn’t let you walk out the same door you came in. We had changed.
Sadly, that change came about because of one of the greatest tragedies in the history of our land. However, I’ll never forget how valiant the people of Boston were in the aftermath. They were both aware and determined. I’ll never forget how family and friends pulled together and life went on each day ‘in spite of.' It was exceptional and memorable.
Eleven years later I live in Denver. I’ve been here for six years and have enjoyed the cordial, enthusiastic, laid-back way of life that is the Mile High City. Living in one of the ‘sunniest’ cities in the USA is in stark contrast to my time in Boston after 9/11. Life seems happy here for most...a good thing.
Yet, I carry with me because of September 11, 2001 a ‘special something’ in my mind and heart. I vividly remember 9/11, but I even more vividly remember what it gave me. The special something: knowing how to savor the moment.
I do.
