My hub is a Sigma Pi from the University of Kentucky. One of his fraternity brothers worked in the North Tower on 9/11. He’s alive today……..this is my retelling of his story and one that I always remember on this day.
He got to work a little early which was fairly unusual. His normal routine was to go up to his floor get the morning started, then after about a half an hour take a break and run down to get some coffee. On the morning of 9/11 he got on the elevator to go up to his floor, but he got off the elevator before he reached his destination. The elevator doors had opened to let more people on and when they did he caught a glimpse of “a really hot chick.” (Those are his words not mine.) He impulsively decided he had to meet her, and before the doors closed he yelled from the back of the elevator, “I’m getting off here.” He wasn’t usually the guy that goes after a girl like this but something in him just made him want to take a chance. Maybe it was because he wasn’t running late as usual or maybe she was just as he said a “really hot chick”, but something made him decide to take a risk and go after the girl that day. As soon as the doors closed behind him he felt a little jolt. He later learned what that jolt was. He never caught up to the girl. She was moving pretty fast. I guess he didn’t want to scare her away by running after her. It wasn’t too long after that he learned what had happened from people that were evacuating the building. He followed the crowd out. The rest of the day was a blur. He was standing there right outside the building when the 2nd plane hit. He never did catch up to the “hot chick”. If this were a movie they would have met and fell in love, but this is real life. He did get married years later to an even hotter chick. 😉 Although it was the hot chick on 9/11 that changed his normal routine and maybe even saved his life.
I love this story. How often do we “follow the hot chick”? We’re so focused on our routines that we rarely take impulsive risks. I’m not saying that being cautious is a bad thing just that maybe taking a risk can be a good thing too. It certainly was in this story.
I’ll never forget that day,
and I’m sure you won’t either. I can’t watch or read a single story about that day without tears rolling down my face. The pictures from that day are permanently ingrained in my memory.
I’m grateful that not only did my hub’s fraternity brother make it out alive that day, but also that his story reminds me to “follow the hot chick”, whatever that might represent in my own life. Thanks to all the men and women that have served and continue to serve this country we’re blessed to have the freedom to take risks and follow our dreams.
I’m so proud to be an American, today and every day!
So beautifully said, Carmel. I heard so many inspiring stories like this in the days and weeks that followed 9-11. I think, in part, so many of us clung to stories of hope like this, while we attended the wakes and funerals of so many around us, or were simply bogged down by the sorrow of that day and its' fallout.
Thank you for sharing this uplifting story and incouraging us to 'follow the hot chick' ; )