I guess it’s nostalgia week here at RSR. Brian wrote about the Beatles, and I took the time to reflect on my experience on 9/11. If you’re a Facebook friend, you know I posted most of this story there. People seemed to appreciate it, and I was persuaded to re-purpose it here.

What boggles me most is that for Millennials and post-Millennials, a world where terrorism can hit our shores is a part of their reality. Back then it was impossible, until it wasn’t. And that’s how things often turn out. Impossible until they happen.

Fifteen years ago I had just returned from a trip to Curacao where I’d decided I was about ready to leave my job; I was burnt out on the world of being a CIO.

I made a quick stop in New York, where I grew up, to attend my father’s 80th birthday party (September 8 or 9, I think), went back to Boston, and went to work on Monday. Decided that yes, my emotions were getting the better of me and it was really time for me to take my leave. I have a core internal rule: people who come in contact with me should feel better for having done so, and feel that my energy is positive in their lives. I really do try to live that rule still. Neither was true any longer. Plus, when you want to strangle a marketing clerk because she’s using a Mac and you don’t want to support them, you know it’s time to go.

I could not sleep at all the night of September 10th. I thought it was in anticipation that I was going to give my notice the next day.

At around 8:45 am I was taking the “long” 2 mile ride to work and I got a call from my second in command (and friend) letting me know that “something had happened” and the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I got into work, and I think that’s right when we found out the second tower had been hit. Our offices were in a store basement, but somehow other of my staff members got a rabbit ears antenna to work on our TV in the board room.

We watched TV as we could and saw the towers fall, and I spent a lot of time in my office on AOL Messenger (cell service was down) trying to verify the status of my peeps. I remember texting with a childhood friend about the status of our various families. This should have been funny, since we’d been on the phone during the great Northeast Blackout of 1965. We were pretty young back then, and so we were sort of sure the earth was under Martian attack. My mother thought she was going blind – the lights dimmed a lot before they finally sputtered out. But this wasn’t funny at all.

Luckily, all my friends and relatives were safe. A couple of them were late for work and ended up in trains instead of at the WTC. One was doing an AV gig below the building and unfortunately watched people jumping to their deaths. My childhood friend’s relatives were safe as well.

My sister’s brother-in-law was a firefighter. He was there, and while he survived, he did have to take early retirement due to his injuries. That whole first responder thing is something else, really. Thank you for your service, Ed Plunkett and the thousands like you.

Somehow in the middle of all that, I actually did approach the president of my company, and we mutually agreed it was good to plan my exit for a few months later. Even though I knew it would be a long time between jobs, and I had no idea what I was going to do next, it was the right time to make the plan.

My life changed irrevocably that day, professionally and just about every other aspect of my life. There was an innocence lost. My days as a pacifist were over, that much was for sure. In the end, for me it all worked out well. I still feel sorrow for those who died, those who remained behind, and for the loss of innocence that we are safe between our shores.

I’m sort of stunned that it has been 15 years since that day. I’ve been part owner of a company for almost 10 of those years. I am a blessed and lucky girl. Others weren’t so lucky.

And there’s a reminder here: originally I was going to write about the bankruptcy of Hanjin, and its potential disruption of part of the retail supply chain. But the “what to do’s ” about that bankruptcy seem to change by the hour. Still the reminder is the same: “shocks ” happen. Supply Chain shocks, demand chain shocks. Really, anything can happen. We can’t control our world. That’s hard for us humans to accept, but it’s true.