Looking back, I can't believe it's been 5 years.  Like everyone else, I'll never forget where I was at the time.  I was in New Orleans on a road trip vacation with Skot and Jeanie.  We drove from South Florida to Biloxi, MS and stayed the night and did the casino thing.  Then on Sunday afternoon we headed over to New Orleans.  We stayed in a B&B.  We were to spend 3 days there and then hit little beach towns on the Florida panhandle on the way back to Southwest Florida.

I was in the court yard waiting for Skot and Jeans when they told me to come inside that the World Trade Center was just hit with a plane.  I didn't believe them, but I went in and then the second plane hit and there we were for the rest of the morning and into early afternoon.  When we finally left we would only go someplace to get a bite that had a TV so we could keep on the events unfolding.  I called my family to tell them I loved them.  Then the rest of the week and a few weeks after were really just a blur of images and emotions.  I doubt that life in US or around the world will ever be the same as it was before the events of that day.

We shall never forget the events of that day.  It is with all sincerity that I pay respect to all the people that lost their lives on 9/11/01, to their families, and to all my fellow Americans as we mark the date of this fateful day.