This Entry is Only About Cards a Little Bit

Like many of you, I distinctly remember where I was and what I was doing on September 11, 2001.

It was a Tuesday, which meant that it was an off day from work. My daughter had just turned 3 and was part of a preschool. Since I wasn't scheduled to go to work, I was in charge of getting her to the center. It wasn't far from the house, so I went and was back home at about 7:45.

At the time, I was still building my Vintage Baseball Cards website and was working on my page about the history of baseball cards. At some point, I went to check my email and saw that something had happened in New York City. So I went and turned on the TV.

At that point, there was only one plane that had hit the World Trade Center. I specifically remember thinking, "looks like somebody's head is going to roll at the air traffic control center." A few minutes later, the second plane hit and I knew right away what had happened.

I am a native (Upstate) New Yorker, but my wife is from Long Island and we had family and friends who were working in the city, including inside the WTC. One of her cousins worked there (she got out), and a kid from my Little League baseball team did too (he was sent to New Jersey that morning, which saved his life because he would have been in the path of one of those planes). I lost count of how many phone calls I made that day, as well as the number of emails I sent out...to friends, family, people I went to college with.

I thought about getting my daughter out of preschool, but realized that she was better off there. Since she was so young, I was fortunate; I didn't have to answer her questions about why this was happening like some of my co-workers did.

At some point, I went back to what I was doing on my computer. I pulled up the page about the history of baseball cards...and at the bottom was the last thing I wrote before I learned what had happened: "Last Updated -- September 11, 2001."

I never changed that line, even as I tweaked and updated the info in the page. And I won't. Not as long as I remember what happened that day.

It's my way of saying I won't forget.