General Discussion

It was my last day as a laboratory bench chemist/researcher and first day as a manager/supervisor.

I remember being in a hurry that morning and rushing out the door literally seconds before the first plane hit coverage began on TV. I rushed out with my daughter and dropped her off at daycare (a few minutes drive from my home) and went to work, listened to music on my radio on the way in and then went directly into my lab and began finishing off my required documentation for the final production lot I was releasing that day. After I dropped off my daughter I had no human contact again for a couple hours - the exact time things were unfolding.

Then we had my first managerial staff meeting scheduled for 11 AM CDT and I learned what had happened - one the other managers said "the towers are down" and I remember thinking to myself "what towers is he talking about?".

The rest of the day was an out of body experience. I called my wife and could not reach her for about 30 minutes. She had left her job and immediately went to pick up our daughter from daycare and had left the phone on her desk. I spoke to my mom and dad, my sister and my brother and then finally left and went home around 2 PM after I had finally gotten through to my wife. Between 11:30 AM CDT and 2 PM CDT the PC's and internet system at my lab and office were overwhelmed and essentially frozen. Once I knew that my family was accounted for, not flying that day and safe in our home, I had to get home and left work.

The rest of the day was just horror after horror and a numb shock of feeling it was unreal.