Most of us have vivid memories of exactly where we were on that fateful morning and this is my story – but I write fully cognizant that others experienced that day in a much more tragic way. But this is my story.
I was scheduled to visit a financial institution at the very top of one of the twin towers on the Monday morning, September 10th, 2001 to finalize the financing of our new 360,000 sf furniture showroom in High Point, North Carolina. This was a major transaction for us and my expectation was to finalize negotiations on the Monday and possibly return on Tuesday to sign the documents.
September 10th -11th were also the dates of “pre-market” at the Furniture Show and would be an important event for our company and the new showroom. At the last minute I decided that attendance at the market was more important and would deal with the documents at long distance – and you know how that story turned out!
We are always making choices in our daily lives – but we seldom know the outcome of the alternative script!
The tragic events led to drama for many people and we were no exceptions. There was a group of about ten Canadians from Palliser at the market, and the Twin Tower tragedy clearly ended any interest in furniture. We quickly became aware that planes were not flying and were concerned that the Canadian border would close. Before we developed a strategy several in our group jumped in their rental car and headed in the direction of Chicago and beyond.
At that stage my experience in war zones around the world – whether Somalia, Cambodia border or Moscow in August of 1991 kicked in. Those still in town evaluated our situation and realized that if there were targets in America – High Point would be very far down the list – so best to sit tight until we had some perspective. We quickly instructed those on the road to return to High Point so we could develop a strategy and act as a group.
We could not fly and were told that no rental cars would cross the border – but we could rent cars as far as Buffalo – so left in a group of cars. We arrived at Buffalo late evening and were able to find taxis that would take us to the American end of the beautiful Rainbow Bridge. Cars could not cross, but we were permitted to carry our luggage and make the somewhat dramatic crossing on foot right at midnight. We had friends waiting with cars on the Canadian side and immediately felt a greater sense of security.
Many of us like to refer to the poetry about “the road not taken”. We make choices every day – but we seldom really know what was down that other road. The memory of that day and the road I took remains as a powerful memory.
Written as I listen to the 9-11 Memorial Ceremony.
