On 9/11/01 I was living in Alexandria, VA waiting to move into a new house that was being built in Fredericksburg, VA where I live now. I was working at CliCKS Document Management where I still work today. We had this amazing team of people working with us in our location at 1424 K Street, NW and on that day we were slammed in litigation scanning and photocopying work. We had a full team and we were all in the office early that day to try and get the work done. Micala had called me on the phone and told me about a plane hitting the World Trade Tower and as she was on the phone with me, another plane had hit the second building. The radio was quickly turned up and the world began to go a bit crazy.
That day we heard a bit of everything and because we had staff all over the city, I sent everyone home north away from the mall and waited for the last staff to get back to the operation and then about 1pm I walked down to the mall to see the smoke and then came back to the office and drove home. On the drive home there was not a single car on 14th Street, and not one single car on 95 except police cars. That freeway was like a bad dream with not a single car on it. I stopped on the middle of the freeway and took this picture.
I came home by 4pm and was glued to the television for the evening and I was up until about midnight. The next morning at 7am, I got up and drove back into the city and the Pentagon was still on fire and as I crossed through the smoke line, I could smell smoke and I finally cried for all the people and I think for this entire country. That day in the office we all cried.
Today as I drove by the Pentagon this morning, I cried as well and I will for every year I am alive. It is a somber day and we must never, never forget.
