09/11/2026
September 11, 2001
A Day We Will Never Forget. 🇺🇸
There are some days in your life that you can remember as if they happened yesterday.
For me, September 11, 2001, is one of those days.
What many people may not know is that I was living in North Caldwell, New Jersey, during 9/11. At the time, I was working in Human Resources as a manager with Prudential Financial, with an office in Newark and another location in Roseland, New Jersey.
That morning, I remember getting into my vehicle and heading to work. I was listening to Hot 97 when I heard them reporting that they believed a plane had just hit one of the towers.
As I drove toward the office, I had a clear view of the New York City skyline.
And then I saw it. Smoke rising from the skyline. My heart dropped.
By the time I walked into the building, there were people crying everywhere.
I immediately went to our Information Technology department because they had a computer room with a larger-than-life television. And there it was…..LIVE. The unimaginable was unfolding right in front of us.
I looked around that room and saw colleagues weeping. Their wives, husbands, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, parents, friends and other loved ones were in those buildings or were somehow connected to the tragedy.
I remember staying at work for more than 24 hours.
I called my grandmother, my mother and other family members simply to tell them: “I didn’t go into the New York office today. I’m still in New Jersey, and I’m safe.”
And while I was grateful that I could make that phone call, I couldn’t stop thinking about the thousands of people who would never get the opportunity to make theirs. That thought has stayed with me.
For nearly 24 hours, I stayed strong for so many of my colleagues because they didn’t want to go home.
They knew that when they walked through their front doors, their spouse, their child, their parent or their loved one might not be there waiting for them. Phone calls went silent.
So I stayed. I held people I barely knew. I cried with people. I listened. I comforted.
And what many of them did not know was that I had just found out that I was pregnant with my first child!
I was carrying my own emotions, my own fear and my own uncertainty, but at that moment, I felt that my place was there.
So I held back my tears long enough to help someone else get through theirs.
For a very long time, I didn’t know how to deal with my own feelings about 9/11. There were years when I simply didn’t want to talk about that day.
Because I can still hear the sounds. The crying. The screaming. The fear.
The voices of wives, husbands, mothers, fathers and families who were desperately trying to understand what was happening.
Those sounds are forever pierced into my heart and my mind.
Twenty-five years later, I still reflect on the lives that were lost.
I think about the passengers and crew members who showed extraordinary courage.
I think about the people aboard Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers and ultimately prevented an even greater tragedy.
I think about the first responders who ran toward danger while everyone else was trying to escape.
I think about the people who went to work that morning expecting an ordinary day and never came home.
And I think about the families who were left behind.
But one of the things I remember most about 9/11 is how we came together at Prudential.
For that moment, titles didn’t matter. Departments didn’t matter. Positions didn’t matter. We became a family. I still keep in touch with many of them.
And that experience changed something in me professionally. It taught me that Human Resources is truly about the HUMAN.
HR is not just policies, procedures, forms, performance management or employee relations. It is about people. It is about compassion. It is about listening. It is about showing up when someone is experiencing the worst moment of their life.
Twenty-five years later, I honor every life lost on September 11, 2001. I honor the first responders. I honor the passengers and crew members. I honor the families who lost loved ones.
I honor the people who survived but carried invisible wounds.
And I honor all of those who continue to live with the memories of that horrific day.
Today, I also honor the woman I was that day a young woman who was scared, newly pregnant, emotionally overwhelmed, but somehow found the strength to hold other people together while quietly trying to hold herself together.
September 11 changed America and it changed me.
And it reminded me that in the face of unimaginable tragedy, human connection matters.
May we never forget the lives that were lost. May we never forget the families who were left behind.
May we never forget the courage, sacrifice and unity that emerged from the darkness.
And may we never forget that every person has a story behind the face we see.
We remember.
We honor.
We will never forget.
September 11, 2001 is Forever in our hearts.
Be blessed!
