Reflecting on 9/11/01
It’s hard to believe that two decades have passed since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, when four commercial airplanes were hijacked. Two of them were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon building in Arlington, VA and one into a field in Pennsylvania (after heroic efforts by passengers prevented it flying into any buildings). When the dust settled, nearly 3,000 lives were lost, including hundreds of first responders. As we mourn the victims and honor the bravery of the first responders and service members who jumped into action, we asked our team to reflect on that day. Read on for some of our stories.
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“It’s a crazy story. I was recently out of college and working for ZipRealty, the first internet startup in the real estate industry. They were headquartered in San Francisco and flying agents based throughout the country out there for a company event & awards program. They had booked three of us from Boston on an American Airlines direct flight, but discovered a couple of weeks prior that it was much cheaper to connect through Las Vegas. My now-husband, Ryan, dropped me off at the airport and I headed to the plane…which happened to board at a gate directly next to one of the hijacked flights. A couple of hours into the flight, the captain came on with an announcement. We expected him to point out a landmark, never to deliver this message: ‘Passengers, I need to inform you that the United States is under attack. The weapons are planes.’ We were speechless, especially when we learned that it was a commercial jet like the one we were on, not some small plane, and that we had practically brushed shoulders with the passengers (and terrorists) at Logan Airport. The captain went on to inform us that we would be dumping fuel and landing at the nearest airport, in Kansas City, KS. He allowed - encouraged, in fact - us to use a cell phone, if we had one, to try to contact our loved ones. We landed safely, but now had to find our way home, and ended up waiting in line for 5 hours for a rental car. We managed to secure the last one, a Mustang convertible, for the three of us to get back to Boston. I was unable to reach my family & Ryan for a few hours due to the chaos, but ultimately got in touch with them to reassure them that I was ok - all they knew before then is that I was flying to San Francisco on American - one of the airlines that had been targeted. On our journey, we stopped to eat, where we first saw footage of the attacks; the magnitude of the day’s events hit. One image burned into my brain is of a man sitting on the back of his pickup truck on the side of the road next to a huge American flag he had spread out over a field in the middle of nowhere; everybody was so united so quickly. It was a close call for me and my family, and gave me a unique perspective to live each day to its fullest.”
- Suzanne Koller, Team Owner & Listing Specialist
“I remember watching and following the tragedy…my best friend’s brother was a state trooper in NY and spent days/weeks in the rubble at Ground Zero searching and recovering bodies. These first responders gave endless time and effort. He ended up getting cancer later as a result, fought it for many years and passed away in January 2020 at the age of 42. RIP and thank you to Ryan Fortini.”
- Andrea Gray, Transaction Coordinator
“I was working at Bedford Farms (we used to have a deli) and I’d always stand at the front counter and watch Good Morning, America while I set up. I was literally standing there just watching the news as it broke! I remember yelling to my dad, brother and others who were there to come to the front. We spent the whole day with the TV on, talking to our customers about what was going on - sharing in their disbelief and fear…I knew Suzanne had gotten on a flight to CA hat morning. For hours, there were many of us who had no idea if she was okay. It was terrifying - we heard about these stories all day… people not hearing from loved ones or knowing someone who worked near there or who was on a flight to somewhere. Like most of the world - we were glued to the TV for days.”
- Becky Venuti, Director of Team Operations & Design
“For me, that day was one of Billy’s first days of kindergarten. Back then there was a transition period over the course of a week where the kids would have half days and then one full day to get used to the cafeteria etc. This day of 9/11 was Billy’s full day. After getting him to the bus stop, I took Jake and Katie for a walk around the neighborhood with a friend since it was such a beautiful morning. When we got back I had left the TV on and I walked into hearing these concerned voices on the TV and then was just glued to the TV for the rest of the day in shock. It was so hard to figure out whether to go get Billy from Davis, but the school had emailed that they were all ok, so I didn’t go. But when he got off the bus he said ‘Mommy, bad people flew planes into a building’ and I said ‘Yes I know, but we are ok.’”
- Maureen Eliason, Director of Team Transactions & Finance
“I have a very interesting experience around 9/11. I was living in Siena, Italy (a small city in Tuscany), studying abroad during college. I remember walking down the street in Siena that morning hearing people saying ‘Torre gemelli.’ Torre means tower and gemelli means twins. Tower twins? I was so confused. We learned shortly thereafter what happened. In the days and weeks that followed, I only heard Italian news; it was so complicated to hear about this event in another language, through a different lens. I had so many complicated thoughts and feelings around the event, but I was living with a host family who only spoke Italian, and we only spoke Italian at our school, so my ability to express myself in any deep or meaningful way was hindered by the language barrier. It was very hard to not be able to talk about how I felt, and hard to be so far away during such a tragic time for our country. Overall, it felt very odd to experience this event while living abroad. I don't know what it was like to be in the US at the time, so my experience with 9/11 feels very different from so many others.”
- Darcy Heintz-Perkins, Buyer Specialist
”I was walking into a class at CU Boulder as dozens of students were leaving the building, saying that class was canceled. I didn't know why or what class, so I kept climbing the stairs to see what was going on, and my professor had taken out a TV to show the breaking news to the students. After hearing the words ‘terrorist attack,’ I didn't know what to do or where to go, so I walked across campus to work (a cell phone store) and called my boyfriend (also my roommate, and boss!). He was visiting his father outside Boston who was sick with cancer. It took a while to reach him, and when I did, we decided to close the store for the rest of the day, due to the tragedy, and phone lines being tied up with emergencies. We were worried about his sister because she was flying from DC that morning to be with their sick father. We were also worried about friends in New York and, of course, couldn't reach them for most of the day but luckily they were fine (yet they knew friends and family that were lost, or just blocks away from the towers!). Two of my friends who lived together said they didn't think I should be alone, so I ended up going to their house and we watched the news all day long; we couldn't break away from it. We kept trying to call our friend in New York, but the calls weren't going through, which added to the anxiety. I felt like a zombie, glued to the screen in disbelief. I truly couldn't fathom that what I was watching and listening to was real life - not a movie or a bad dream. Years later, for my bachelorette party, we were together at that friend's house in New York and we walked around the city. From afar, she showed us the place where the towers had been; at that point, it was just an open space in the city skyline.”
- Steph Fairchild, Listings Manager
“I was in my first year of college in São Paulo - my dad called me to wake up and turn the news on as a big accident had just happened in NY - I at home and him at his office, we both watched the second plane hit the second tower together on the phone. We realized it wasn’t an accident that very minute and I remember clearly when I asked my dad what that meant. As in, if the US is being attacked like this, what does this mean to them and to the world and to us? And he said very calmly but very seriously, ‘It could mean WWIII..’ That always stuck with me, and especially as we continue to see it still developing. We were both perplexed, but I’m glad I had him on the phone with me even though his views about it were realistic and terrifying.”
- Thais Collins, Buyer Specialist
“I was on the treadmill at the gym with my sister. The TV program cut to ‘Breaking News’ and there was footage of the first tower smoking. We stood there watching as the second tower was hit. My initial thought was that we were watching a replay of the first hit. It slowly dawned on me that what we were seeing was live footage of the second tower being attacked. It was such a surreal moment. During the weeks that followed, there were no aircrafts flying and everyone was a bit more reserved than usual. I recall that time as being so quiet and still.”
- Beth Benker, Buyer Specialist
“A recent college graduate seeking full-time employment, I was getting ready to head into Boston for a job fair. Just before 9am, the friend who was accompanying me into the city called, asking if I’d heard from our mutual friend. I replied that I hadn’t, but she was flying home from Florida later that day. At that moment, my friend instructed me to turn on the tv, saying she didn’t think our friend would be getting on a plane. I turned on Channel 7 moments before the 2nd plane struck. I remember dropping the phone and keeping my eyes glued to the tv for the rest of the day. Having gone to college in Virginia, many of my friends worked near the Pentagon. Without the extensive social media platforms we have today, it was hard to find out if anyone I knew was amidst the chaos. It felt like an alternate reality.”
- Carey Sclafani, Marketing Director
“I lived in the South Pacific on an island when the towers were attacked. Because of the time difference, a friend called me early in the morning and told me about the first tower. Then the second one came down shortly after. It was a very strange feeling, being on an island and so far away from the US in a time of crisis. The month after 9/11, there was pronounced change on the island as well. So many flights had stopped that we ended with shortages of basic supplies, and ended up getting provisions from Australia rather than the US. Because the island was also a military base, there were many, many measures of threat con alerts being discussed and announced for months after that.”
- Ann Cohen, Listing Specialist
“I was on my way to work listening to Howard Stern when the first plane hit. By the time I arrived to work, the second plane hit. We were all so confused and scared and didn't know what to do. We were glued to the TV and listening to the radio and headed home early. That day, my husband was actually meeting with Ryan Koller. When he arrived, Ryan said, ‘Suzy's on a plane on her way to California and I don't know where she is.’ It was very scary, but we quickly learned her company booked the trip with a layover, so we knew she wasn't on one of those flights. My uncle lived in Manhattan, and my family was worried whether he was okay. Thankfully he was, but sadly lost many friends that day. We visited him in November and could actually still smell the dust that was in the air. Windows remained smashed out in nearby buildings and cars were still covered in debris. It was something I'll never forget.”
- Katie Gerstel, South Shore Lead Agent
Never Forget