I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was asleep. I'd gone to bed Monday night a bit earlier than usual, as I had a job interview on Tuesday, and wanted to be sharp. I think I went to bed at 10:00pm on Monday, and had the alarm set to wake me up at 7:30am on Tuesday.

That alarm never did wake me up.

Maybe it was in my dream, but I heard my brother's voice, and it had a frantic tone. I can't recall what he was saying, but it was clear he was upset. I don't know why I would be dreaming that but, surely I must have been.

Or so I thought.

As I opened my eyes, I remember hearing Greg leaving a message on the answering machine. I looked at the clock. It was a few minutes after 6:00am. I don't remember exactly what he said. In hindsight, I wish I would've kept that message.

Hearing his voice, I leaped out of bed and ran to the kitchen and picked up the phone. What he told me, surely, could not have been true. A plane had hit the World Trade Center. A plane had flown into the tower, and the tower was burning.

How does an accident like this happen?

I guess I thought it was bound to happen at some point. Skyscrapers are all but synonymous with Manhattan, and there are three airports in relatively close proximity. Maybe it was destined to happen, as horrible a thought as that was.

I hadn't yet turned on the television, as I still wasn't fully awake and, at the same time, was trying to process exactly what my brother was telling me. Before I could pick up the remote, Greg got even more excited. His voice rose in its volume and its pitch. A second plane had flown into the second tower.

Suddenly, the proximity of those three airports meant nothing. The fact that skyscrapers are all but synonymous with with Manhattan meant nothing. This was a deliberate act. This was intentional. And it was unthinkable.

Trying to process that was even more difficult than trying to process that it might be a horrible, tragic accident. Why would this happen? Who would do such a thing? Why?

Of course, we know those answers today. We know who it was, and we've got a pretty good reason as to why. Certainly, to those who aren't completely nuts, there was no good reason. There couldn't possibly be a good reason to kill all those people.

After hanging up with phone with my brother, I put on NBC. While it was clear this was a deliberate act, what was less clear was who did it and why. The educated guesses were plentiful. I remember Matt Lauer talking to  Jim Miklaszewski, who was (and is) NBC's chief Pentagon correspondent.  Miklaszewski was giving the Pentagon perspective on it, even so early into the event.

While they were talking, Miklaszewski stated that he "just felt something". He didn't know what it was, and I remember thinking that it just wouldn't be possible for a third plane to fly into a building. As we learned not long after he said that, though, it certainly was possible.

I remember when, amidst the talk of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, hearing about United Airlines #93, which had crashed at 7:03am (PST) in Pennsylvania. Could it have been another deliberate act? It seemed odd, if it was. After all, the first three planes hit buildings, and killed people on the ground. This plane crashed in a field near Shanksville. I recall thinking that, in the mayhem and the confusion, the plane must have just crashed. The pilot must have made some error which doomed the flight. We know now that wasn't the case at all. Some surmise that the plane was headed for either the Capitol or the White House. It just never made it to its intended target.

The words "Let's roll" would forever be embedded in our minds.

I remember wondering how long it would take to save the Twin Towers. And I remember, all too well, when that question was tragically answered.

The coverage was, as could be expected, non-stop, and it was on every imaginable channel. In my then-39 years, I don't think I'd ever channel-surfed quite like that. It was an amazing thing that we watched that Tuesday morning and, while it was horrific, we couldn't not watch.

I remember driving to my job interview. I hadn't received a phone call telling me that it had been rescheduled and, frankly, I needed the job, and couldn't miss the interview. I showered, got dressed and made my way to the interview. While waiting for the interview, I was watching the news coverage on the television the company had. It was surreal. Here I was, while all of this horror was unfolding, simply waiting to get on with my life.

It almost seemed selfish.

Of course, like just about everyone else I know, I was glued to the television. I don't know how many hours of coverage I watched, but I don't think I slept much that first night, and the vision of the towers collapsing ran through my head when I did.

I suspect that everyone is able to remember where they were on the morning of September 11, 2001. It's one of those things you never forget. My Mom remembers where she was when Kennedy was shot. My Dad, all of eight years old at the time, remembers when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Not vividly, of course, but he still recalls it.

The only other event I could remember like that was when John Lennon was shot. I'll always remember drinking Southern Comfort in Greg's living room with him and my buddy Mark when we heard the news.

And, now, there's another event which will forever be etched in my mind with a time, a place, and a date.

We wish we would never have to remember events like the attacks of 9/11.

Likewise, we should wish that we never, ever forget...