9/11 - 10 Years Later

Traditionally I do not write about anything on my blog outside the realm of programming, but the 10th Anniversary of the tragedy that occurred on September 11th, 2001 is certainly worth mentioning and reflecting upon.

To most of us concerned with reading this blog, we are of an age where we probably remember exactly what we were doing and where we were 10 years ago today. At the time I was living in Charlotte, NC where I was in my last semester at U.N.C. Charlotte and preparing for a large job fair on campus. It was also exactly 1 month after my wedding which was celebrated in Puerto Rico with my wife's and my family on August 11, 2001, and also in which we also just celebrated our 10 year wedding Anniversary last month. It was a new and transitioning period in my life. At the time I was vying for my 1st job and it was right after the ".com bust" and programming jobs were few and far between. We had companies like Alltel come to campus and have 200 people show up to a brief announcement, for only 2 open positions. I was dressed to the nines and headed to Kinkos to make copies of my resume for the job fair. My wife called me and with a bit of confusion told me, "Some hotels in New York City had been blown up...", but I wasn't really sure what she was talking about. When I arrived at Kinkos I knew something even bigger was occurring when I read a sign on the door that said: "We are closing at noon due to the recent events." I went back to my apartment and turned on the TV as was everyone else. The rest is a sad part in our nations history.

I read the tributes made in our local paper today and it was shocking and eye-opening to once again see the names of all of the people that lost their lives on 9/11. It was a bit jaw dropping when looking at what was about a 5 point font used to fit all of the names in on roughly 3 pages. I remember it was about 3,000 people, but seeing it in print was a reminder of what happened on that tragic day. Of course this does not include all of the men and women of our military who have made the ultimate sacrifice since in the wars abroad.

Once such individual that continues to serve and is in Afghanistan as of this writing is my brother-in-law Captain Brain Huysman who is the Company Commander of Weapons Company: 1st Battalion, 5th Marines (http://www.i-mef.usmc.mil/external/1stmardiv/5thmarregt/1-5/subunits/subunits.jsp). On this day and every day I salute you Brian and all that serve in our military that continue to protect our nation. Thank you.

So on this 10th Anniversary, I reflect on something that changed our nation forever and I too will "Never Forget."