I am sure my story is not an unusual one, but I happened to be at work on 9/11. There I sat with my manager and one of the field reps came in and asked if we heard that a plane had crashed into the WTC? We said “WHAT”, “NO”. So right away we tuned the radio to ABC and listened. I was shocked. I called home to my husband, who happened to be off that day and asked him if he heard what happened. He had been doing some house work and had no idea. He turned the TV on and he watched. A little while later, he brought me my little B/W TV so we could see what was going on. At that time the third plane went down into the pentagon and they were reporting a 4th plane missing. I just couldn’t believe what was going on. How could this happen. I was afraid that something was going to happen nearby being that I live in NJ only about 45-50 minutes from Philadelphia. Then I watched as the first tower started to collapse then the second and all I could think about was those poor people trapped in those buildings. OMG the horror they must have felt, the horror their family members were going through. Later that afternoon, my husband called me and told me that he had been asked to go to NYC to help out. He is an emergency medical technician here for our cities EMS service. At first I was totally against it. All I could think about was him going and something else happening and him dying and leaving his daughter without a father and me without a husband. What would I do? But after a few minutes of thinking, I called him back and told him, if he really needed and wanted to go then he should go. Maybe he would be able to save someone or help someone in need. He asked me if I was sure and I said yes. I knew, as an EMT and as a very compasionate person, that he HAD to go. For me to be selfish wasn’t right. He was just answering the call and doing what he does best. So the next morning came (9/12/01) and he was packing to go. He, at this point in time, wasn’t sure how long he was going to be gone. It wasn’t clear if he would be gone for a week or just a day. After he packed, he went to visit our daughter at preschool and then he came to visit me at work and off he went. He was only gone for 24 hours, but the worry in me was strong. I was so happy to have him back safe and sound, but I am also glad that he got to go.