it's hard to believe it's been 2 years already. i remember it was a weird morning to begin with. w's mom was visiting, so w was staying with her in SF. i woke up a little early, just about 6:15, and turned on the tv to pass the time before i hopped in the shower. channel 2 was on, but the picture i saw was at first glance confusing. what was going on? i think that's the world trade center, but is this a movie? then i listened to what they were saying, the world trade center had been hit by a plane. how in the world did that happen?! i watched the news for 10 minutes or so, and still unable to understand the severity of this, i hopped in the shower and got ready for work. i just assumed it was an accident and the sprinklers in the building would put out the fire, and everyone would be just fine. when i got to the bart station, more people were trying to leave the city than enter. when i arrived at embarcadero center, it was pure mayhem on the streets. people just going every direction. i was so used to always walking briskly with the crowd, toward the big buildings of the financial district. but today was pure chaos. i got to work and saw a couple others there. then one of my coworkers says, "they've collapsed, the world trade center has collapsed." then it hit me. then i realized just how "serious" this was. i will never forget that feeling in the bottom of my stomach. by the time i got to w and his mom in union square, the tv was showing the footage of the collapse over and over and over. i just couldn't watch it anymore. it was so surreal... this morning while i was at the gym, one of the stations on the tv's was showing a recap of the events of that day, and i just couldn't watch it. it's not that i wanted to forget or push it aside or not think about it. i just don't need to see the pictures over and over again to remember what i felt that day. i remember my cubemate went out and got me the new york times the next day. i have it still, tucked away in a box under my bed. i've kept several pictorials from time and newsweek and so on. just in case i do forget...but i have a feeling i never will.