The NPR announcer interrupted the music to say a plane had hit one of the World Trade Towers. Having lived within blocks of the Towers for years, I assumed it was a tourist plane flying too low. I had the bad luck to turn on CNN just as the second plane hit.

Frantically trying to reach Dan, my husband, at work, I watched the disaster worsen. The first tower fell; people were running for their lives. I was nearly hysterical by the time my husband called. One of Dan