I was late to the office on the morning of September 11, 2001. Living on the west coast we woke to the news of the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center, by the time I was sipping my coffee the news of the Pentagon and Flight 93 caused an uneasy feeling that more attacks might come to LA or some other place on the west coast.
Most of us were late that morning. Knowing people we worked with on a daily basis were in the towers we saw crash to ruins live on the morning news. We had business in those buildings, only the week before we had met with some wonderful people from The New York Marsh Insurance office. Their home office was located on the 100th floor of the south tower.
Marsh Insurance had been hit hard. It would take days to count the losses, or even feel the pain completely. Not only was this morning devastating for our industry as a whole, but for too many insurance people personally. The brokerage I worked with had a lot business in the towers. When I got to my desk I was numb, flipping through my open files I realized I had several underwriting issues pending directly with someone working in one of the two towers. My job after all was to find the best insurance for the more affluent members of my community.
We lost 295 people just at Marsh Insurance, papers on my desk had signatures from people who died that day. They had families. Some had attended that meeting just a week before. I ate lunch with many who died in a tower of fire. I had voice mail from people who were no longer alive. I remember looking at pictures of the children one of the east cost underwriters had shared during lunch–where we laughed and talked about some of us from our brokerage going to New York the next time.
We were asked as Bloggers to try and find something positive to say this year. What I can say is that after we gathered what we could, passed the hat for the families left without loved ones, and figured out who was gone and who was not… After, we tried to put together missing client information, and did our best to help–I was forever changed. I continued my job a few more weeks, doing my best but my heart was just no longer in it. Working in the big building downtown everyday lost a bit of the glamour and I gave notice to quit, went home and completed the paperwork to adopted children… Vowing that my job would never take me away from my family again, and that I will NEVER FORGET.
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