It happened 21 years ago today I had started my own consulting job a few months back. The kids had gone to school. I was listening to our local rock station and they reported that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers. Thought nothing of it. A small plane most likely. Went downstairs to my office. Still had the radio on. Heard that a second plane had crashed. What the hell is going on? Turned on the tv. First image I saw was both twin towers. Dark smoke pouring up. WTF?! Glued to the tv the rest of the day. The Pentgon. The planes being grounded. George Bush making a short speech. Planes landing in Gander. Knowing things would never be the same

I remember being at the pub the following Friday night. Talking with friends. The anger. The depression. Depressed for a while.

I remember a couple of weeks later. Flying from Ottawa to Edmonton. A layover in Winnipeg. I stayed on the plane. I remember a stewardess (what they were called then) opening an overhead compartment at the back of the plane. She saw a bunch of bibles. She had a breakdown. Crying. “What are these doing here? Why are they here” I don’t remember if she flew on to Edmonton.

I remember my wife and I going down to Florida in November. Trunk searches. The US Customs Officer saying “they have a kettle loaded, they are ok”. I remember all the signs displaying support for the troops in Afghanistan. I remember hearing on the radio of a plane crashing, on takeoff, in New York City, going to the Dominican. No apparent survivors. Oh No!. Another attack. But no. Turned out that the plane had been caught in the turbulent wake of a plane that had taken off before it.

This affected all of us, in different ways. Those who did not survive that day and those of us who remember that day. The world will never be the same.