Robert Safuto

The morning of September 10, 2001 I caught a Continental Airlines flight out of LaGuardia Airport in Queens. I was heading to Houston since I had been working there on a long term consulting job. At the time I was actually living in Austin, TX but had recently decided to move back to New York to sublet a friends apartment on Hudson St.

Monday, September 10th was much like September 11th in that the sky was clear blue as we took off around 7AM. Whatever I was thinking I stopped as the plane banked south and I saw that I would be privy to a solid view of the Manhattan skyline. I have flown into and out of NYC many times and I always admire the skyline if I've got a window seat. My eyes tend to set on the Empire State Building and then drift south towards the next major recognizable structure which was always the twin towers of the World Trade Center. That's exactly what I did on 9/10/01. The sun was hitting the towers and they looked proud, standing tall, acting as a gateway to the city. In a few seconds the towers and city were out of sight and my mind drifted to other things.

The towers seemed to be stalking me in the days leading up to my departure. I was showing some friends from New Zealand around town and we spend a decent amount of time downtown. I remember crossing a street in the Soho area in the late afternoon on Saturday the 8th of September. As I hit a north-south cross street (I forget which one) I looked left and saw one of the towers hit with a blast of orange from the setting sun. We all stopped to look for a moment to admire that. Someone snapped a picture I believe. I'd love to have that pic right now. Then on Sunday we laid down on a patch of grass near Battery Park City and there they were right behind us.

I have lots of World Trade Center stories. Back in 1998 I remember going to Andersen Consulting's "Anderprom" which was a ridiculously over the top party for New York area employees. The party was across the road at the World Financial Center. But individual consulting practices threw parties. And the one I went to was at Windows on the World. We were sky high drinking champagne and eating hors d'ourves. After the party we went back to the bar they had up there (called Top of the World I believe) and I remember the Port Authority kicking us out after closing time since they were going to be shutting down the elevators.

I have lots more World Trade Center memories. I was too young to remember all the controversy over the construction of the towers. Evidently people said they were too big, too ugly, too whatever, etc. I always thought they were impressive even from my earliest memories. When they opened the towers to visitors in 1973 my Mom took myself and my brothers to the observation deck. We were some of the first people ever to experience what were then the largest buildings in the United States.

I miss those buildings. They should be rebuilt as they originally looked. They won't be rebuilt but they should be. I miss the people too. I didn't lose any family members or any of my closest friends. But there were people I knew, people who I had recently spent time with, people who I went to school with and people who I worked with who were killed in the attack. And just about everyone I knew from home knew someone who died on 9/11. The months following were tough on everyone I knew.

So that's a bit of my story. I think its important that we remember the buildings, the people and all the good things. I'm sure the folks who experienced and knew people on the planes and at the Pentagon feel similarly. That way the creeps who were behind the terrorists attacks can't win...ever.