su2c asked on twitter if we remembered what we were doing eight years ago on September 11th, 2001.  we were living in manhattan.  i was on my way to work.  the streets were filled with frantic police officers.  it was horribly loud, as manhattan so reliably is, but you could feel an eerie silence beginning to settle over the city.

there was a mass exodus on foot.  people fled the city via every bridge possible.  the subways and trains weren’t in service.  grand central was locked down because of the bomb threat. our building was locked down, too.  a cell phone signal near impossible to come by.

nuggetdaddy was working in new jersey then and i was finally able to get a hold of him.  we decided i would take the first train out of the city and he would pick me up wherever we could both get to.  i made it on the first train out of grand central.  it was sweltering.  the train filled with an acrid stench.  most passengers were covered in a heavy white dust; most in more than their fair share of blood.

it didn’t matter where the train was going, people just got on in hopes of making it out of the city.  the train stopped at every single station en route.  it took forever.

nuggetdaddy picked me up at the fleetwood stop and we decided to try to drive back into the city.  we had pets and friends to check on.  family and friends desperate to hear our voices.  we were finally able to make it back in over some tiny bridge in the bronx.

by now the city was silent.  there were no planes in the air, no people on the streets.  when we woke up the next morning the wind had changed direction.  the stench was unbearable.  we stayed in the apartment all weekend, happy to be alive and at home with the pets and dr. roommate.

so, stand up to cancer, there’s your answer.

and speaking of stand up to cancer, did you watch the telecast last night?  did you donate?  did you help find a cure?  did you save lives? did you stand up to cancer?