Tuesdays in Manhattan

Starting in the fall of 2000, I began flying to Manhattan every Tuesday to attend meetings with my manager and with my direct reports. This became such a habit that over a decade later I can still remember the Tuesday routine:

• 4:30 am - wake up and get ready
• 5:30 am - leave the house to drive to Regan National
• 6:45 am - catch the Delta Shuttle to LaGuardia
• 8:30 am - breakfast with one of my directs
• 9:30 am - team meeting at 111 Wall
• 1:00 pm - lunch with my manager and peers
• 2:30 pm - management meeting
• 6:30 pm - flight back to Regan National
• 9:00 pm - home again

This continued week after week until the second week in September of the following year.  Monday night that week, my manger gave me a call and let me know that he was feeling under the weather and since two of my peers were also going to be out, I shouldn't come up.

This was the first Tuesday in close to a year that I was going to be able to sleep in!!  In fact, since I always went to Manhattan on Tuesday, I decided I would hold the meeting with my directs as a teleconference at 9:00am from the den in my home. 

Ah, sleep in;
       wander downstairs in my sweats, pour a cup of coffee;
       watch a little of the Today Show;
       and around 8:45 am open the phone bridge for the conference call...

Everything was going according to plan, until:

 

I closed the conference bridge and immediately dialed NormaJo, whose office was in 111 Wall.  While I was on the phone with her, I heard a very loud noise.  About 15 seconds later, the Today Show broadcast the second plane hitting.  NormaJo told me outside her window it was black, with lots of paper flying through the air.  I asked if she was alright? Did it look like anyone was hurt?  I asked her to keep the line open and gather her team. Once they were together, I asked for two volunteers to stay until the next shift came on and sent the rest home.

 

For the next hour I watched the news, first in shock, then with gathering sorrow.  By the time the second tower came down, I was in tears.  After that first call, I was unable to reach anyone outside of the DC area.  No phone calls, no Blackberry messages.  By 11:00 am I had to do something, so I pulled out the Continuity of Business plan (other companies may call it a disaster recovery plan) and decided that the best place I could be was our team's hot site in Delaware. 

 

I spent the day in Delaware, unaware of what was happening beyond what was on the news.  Around 6:30 word came out that the state governors were considering closing the state borders as far south as Maryland, so if I wanted to get home I should go.  That was the longest drive.  Not because of the time it took, but because I was alone with my thoughts and fears for those I worked with in New York and their families.

 

The two volunteers that stayed behind at 111 Wall did not know at the time what they were volunteering for.  Lower Manhattan was closed, nobody was allowed in for days.  Those two dedicated employees lived with a small contingent of IT co-workers and a couple of cafeteria workers until Downtown was reopened.  I found out afterwards that at one point we had to request special permission to allow a fuel truck past the barricades  to replenish the tanks for the generators to keep the building power on.

 

I never did hear details of the days spent there.  When asked, anyone who was there would just say "We got by" or "It was OK I guess".  Those who stayed became my personal heroes from the day that changed America.