Although a California resident, I was in Washington, DC on September 11th 2001, a corporate executive on a business trip. You could see the Pentagon burning from my hotel. I couldn't get out on a corporate jet, General Aviation activity was closed. By the time I tried to get out by rail, the trains were full. My employer told me to "just stay put". I was on an expense account...but I NEEDED to get home. I needed to be with my family.
The only travel option available to me was Greyhound bus. I spent 3-1/2 days in the system and it was an experience I'll never, ever forget. I experienced near riots (as they said, they had buses mothballed, but not enough drivers), hunger and thirst (the machines in the stations were empty). The culinary high point of the trip was when we stopped at a truck stop with a Wendy's one day.
I could write an entire book about my trip, the people I met, the things I saw, the candlelight vigil in Salt Lake City, the bomb scare on our bus in Cheyene, Wyoming. Perhaps some day I will.
But the underlying reason for this post is to explain HOW 9/11 changed my life. First and foremost, I had been a single working mother for most of my adult life, wearing the golden handcuffs of corporate life. I put work first. As I told my children, "Mommy has a good job, and if she doesn't take good care of it someone else will [do it instead]." I was the breadwinner, busy every day winning the bread. Then, in January 2001 I remarried and I had a new lease on life. I had a partner to share the load.
Unbelievably, at that time I was residing in California, but commuting almost weekly to one or two of the corporate divisions. The most common one was in Arizona and the other in Alabama. The new airport security regulations and lines were a force to be reckoned with. I had to be on a plane 2 days after getting back into the Bay Area and just getting to the terminal was really not possible. That flight was leaving out of Oakland and the security line was wrapped around the terminal in tight little snake-curves, out the door and down the road to STOP sign. Of COURSE I missed my flight.
Commuting to Arizona continued to be a relative snap, if you allowed ample time for the security line, but Birminham, AL was another story entirely. I used to be able to take the red-eye from San Jose. The flight left at about 10:15 PM, change planes in Atlanta and be in the office by 9:00 on Monday. 8:30 if the street traffic was light going into the city. No more! Flights were cancelled as fewer people travelled. It was literally impossible to get to the office before noon. Not acceptable! Now, if I had to be in the Birmingham office I had to spend my Sunday flying and stay one extra night in a hotel. In a way, the 9/11 event was directly responsible for pushing me in the direction of something I had always wanted to do. I have always been fascinated by real estate, relocation and helping people. I just didn't have the guts to give up a 6-figure paycheck. Finally, with the support of my husband and the trauma of consistent travel, I gave up the job and the travel. And I really think that had 9/11 not happened, I might still be on the corporate treadmill today.
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