Poignant piece from the Washington Post, describing our world on the Day Before:

"Sept. 10, 2001. Cloudless skies welcome the sun to the East Coast at 6:32 a.m. This Monday looks to be a beautiful late summer day. Tuesday, however, might see some storms and clouds, as a hurricane is approaching. The worst of Hurricane Erin is out at sea and will remain there, but rough weather is still expected along the New Jersey coast later today or early tomorrow.

Not that people are all that focused on the weather.

The gossip around the water coolers this morning revolves around the latest about California congressman Gary Condit and missing intern Chandra Levy, the U.S. Open final match on Saturday between sisters Venus and Serena Williams, Michael Jordan's possible return -- again -- to the NBA, tomorrow's release of Bob Dylan's 43rd album, "Love and Theft," and the summertime paranoia about shark attacks, "killer mold" and dangerous roller coaster rides."

...

"Monday Night Football doesn't end until well past midnight. The Denver Broncos are hosting the New York Giants. Perhaps some diehard Giants fans in New York, having opted to stay up to watch the Broncos win 31-20, opt to sleep in a little in the morning. They set their alarms for a later hour, and settle in for a peaceful night's sleep."

Link: \"We Thought it Would Always be Like This\" (reg. req.)

I'll never forget 9/10/01. It was such a blend of happiness and sadness for me. I remember that it was a picture-perfect morning (as was 9/11) and I recall snapping pictures of my daughter before she went off to her first day of school, she seemed so grown up. The picture of her wearing her little back pack and smiling in front of a giant terra cotta pot filled with blooming flowers remains one of my favorites of her. Later that morning, I took my (then) wife for her chemo treatments where we learned from her doctor that her treatments weren't working as planned and that more radical treatment would likely be necessary.

Geez I have little recollection of September 10. I know I finalized my plans for a business trip to Dallas that was subsequently cancelled. I since lost that job in budget cuts a few months later.

I do know that sometimes it seems like much longer ago than 3 years while other times it seems like it was just last week.

My bank records are online and since I use my debit card for almost everything, it's pretty easy for me track myself on Sept. 10, 2001.

I remember going to work that day because I had to leave early. I charged my psychiatrist appointment ($25 copay) in the early afternoon. Soon after, I charged my new prescription ($35 copay) which I still use to this day. How appropriate that I begsn a new anti-depressant on the day before one of the most depressing days of my life. That evening, I did a $40 ATM withdrawal at an ATM at Round Rock Express Baseball's Dell Diamond stadium. It was the second game of the championship series and I don't remember if they won the game, though. The championship series was eventually cancelled, though, and both teams shared the title. I couldn't wait to get home that night (it was well after 11p.m. Austin time) so that I could call my college buddy Matt in Alaska (it was still early evening there) to wish him a happy 31st birthday. Little did I know what was already coming together.

I remember a couple of things about September 10. I'd been having a massive battle with a fossilized bureaucracy for MONTHS that was stressing the HELL out of me. On the 10th it finally started to move. So I was more relaxed than I'd been for quite some time. That evening I listened to the A's on the radio. They beat Texas 10-1 with Barry Zito pitching a complete game. My cat Celia (who, sadly, used up her 9th life on 3/1/04, just shy of her 18th birthday) was watching with me. Celia is/was a high strung cat and I noticed that she was more relaxed than usual and realized it was because I was more relaxed.
Also, that day at work, I had revised a procedure. I work in biotech and I did most of the technical writing. The procedure was on how lot numbers are assigned. Since they are based on dates, I wanted to select an arbitrary date as an example. I knew the document would be circulating the following day (as it happened it didn't because we were all in front of TV all day) so I used the example of a product for which manufacturing began on September 11, 2001. That stayed in the document for a couple of years until finally someone asked me if I'd change it because it gave her the creeps!

I'll never forget it...on the evening of 9/10/01, I watched some cheesy action movie with friends that involved a downtown building blowing up. One of the friends remarked "like that would ever happen". I was at home and asleep in 30 minutes after hearing that remark, and woke up to the phone call to turn on the news...