Like Everyone Else, My 9/11 Remembrances

I ask your indulgence as I, like so many others, share my remembrances of that day 10 years ago, September 11, 2001. I lived in Antioch, California. My house was at the top of a hill that provided some interesting views depending on where you looked. I will talk more about that later. I woke up that morning at 5:30 (Pacific Time) as was my habit. It was my niece’s 10th birthday and I remember thinking that I needed to call her during the day. I was excited to get going and get to work. I was an inside sales rep and September had started as a great sales month. We received a bonus for making our sales goal and an extra bonus for going over our bonus by a certain percentage. The first 10 days had been very productive and I was already close to make my first goal. So yes, I was excited about getting to work that Tuesday morning. As was my habit, I went down to my kitchen to make breakfast. That day is so imprinted on my brain that I even remember the details of my breakfast. I usually have eggs in some form and that morning I was sautéing spinach and mushrooms to go with the eggs. I flipped on the television like I still do every morning. I put on the local Fox affiliate and I immediately saw the pictures of the first hit on the World Trade Center Tower. It was a minute or two after 6:00 local time. I went back to the stove which gave me a direct view of the television. The eggs were in the pan and I was stirring my eggs, spinach, and mushrooms . Just as I looked up, Flight 175 hit the second tower. I will never forget the feeling in the pit of my stomach while realizing what had just happened. I ate my breakfast, transfixed to the news. Normally, I would have channel surfed to all of the news networks and anywhere else to see if any of them had different information. That morning, however, I never touched the remote. I ate my breakfast almost without thought. Watching nervously and anxiously. The world was changing in front of our eyes. Then came the first unconfirmed reports about a plane hitting the Pentagon and about another crashing in Pennsylvania. All planes were being grounded. I remember thinking, “how is this going to get worse?” While watching the news, the normal time for me to leave for work passed. My start time at work passed. Finally, I decided I needed to head to work. I know it would not be a normal day but thought I should go in. As I was gathering my things together, the first tower collapse occurred. My question on how it could get worse had just been answered. Listening on the radio as I traveled to work, I heard of the second tower’s collapse. My mom called me to ask if I had heard of the second tower. She then brought it to my attention of the likely sacrifice of the firemen and police that likely died by going into the towers. ************************************************************* The news continued to come in throughout the day. News with which is so familiar to all of us. The citizen heroes of Flight 93. The heroes at the Pentagon. The NYFD, NYPD, and the Port Authority police. The 19 hijackers. (On a personal note, I hope the souls of those bastards suffer personally at the hands of satan in hell and that each day is worse than the day before.) My niece’s 10th birthday party was cancelled. I remember she told her mom that she didn’t know how she was supposed to feel. She had turned 10 but this terrible tragedy happened on that same day. At work, I never even made my goal that month. People stopped buying. Eventually, I lost my job. I was laid off because sales slowed so much. The economy took a turn for the worse for a while. ************************************************************ But the most indelible image I have from September 11, 2001 was from that evening, after the sun had gone down. At the beginning of this article, I mentioned the interesting views that were available from where my house was located. While taking my dogs for their evening walk, looking to the south from my street, I used to watch the inbound planes for the San Francisco airport. I could tell when San Francisco had heavier fog as I could watch the lights of the planes come in high and then do a big wide spiral and they got in line and circled before landing. They would do a big spiral. I learned how to tell what level meant that any particular plane was next to land. There was also a moderately active commuter airport relatively close to my house. On clear nights, there was usually several small planes flying overhead both inbound and outbound. We also had an occasional flight heading to Oakland airport that would pass through my community’s airspace. There always were lights from planes somewhere in the sky. On the night of September 11, however, all flights had been grounded. When I went outside that evening, there were no planes in the air. No small aircraft with their light buzzing as they passed over. No flights heading to Oakland coming in on their final approach. And there were no flights circling for SFO. The sky was still and quiet. Most businesses had closed and people were staying home with their families. It seemed as if the world was on pause. Maybe it was. Our country and the world has changed significantly in the last 10 years. As we continue to live our lives, I think we all should take moments in time to reflect on that day. I know it is a cliché but we should never forget. We should never forget the images, the pain, the sacrifice, and the way we felt that day and the days immediately following. We need to remember that there is evil in the world. I also believe that if we remember the past proof of that evil, the less likely we are to have it demonstrated to us anew. And when we reflect, we need to move forward with resolve and determination. In the words of one of the heroes from Flight 93, Todd Beamer, “Let’s Roll!” ©2011, Eddy Seegers

Reaching the Summit

The struggles of the climb is forgotten in the exhilaration of reaching the summit.
~(This is one version of many quotes of a similar nature.)


This story goes back many years to my days of playing high school football. I played on the varsity team for 3 years. Not saying much since we didn't have a junior varsity team. During my three years we won a grand total of 1, 2, and, then the triumphant senior year, 4 games during my career.

My sophomore year, I was a small player on a small team. I didn't get on the field very much that year. Early on, we played a team that wasn't really a rival but we did play them year after year. Their nickname was the Wildcats.

We played them my sophomore year at their stadium which was right next to their school. In fact, our "dressing room" was a class room. When we left the building to go to the field, we were behind the bleachers filled with their fans. Those fans would turn around and and chant, "Cat food, cat, food!" as we made our way to the field. It was made even louder as the chants would echo off the building.

What started as a close game, became a rout by the time it ended, with my school taking one of the worse defeats in its history. After the game, their coach came over to our coach and apologized by saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to run up the score." It was a little bit of a hollow apology, however, as even when the runts like me got to play against their first team late in the game.

Fast forward to my junior year. The week before we played this team again, our team was playing a game that we should have won. Yes, we only won 2 games that year but there was one week we played a team that we should have beat. Not only did we lose, we played terribly. I don't think I ever saw our coaches as angry as they were at halftime and when the game was over. At the end of the night, our head coach finished his comments with two promises, in preparation for the game against the team that embarassed us so much the year prior, we were going to work harder than we had ever worked. And then he guaranteed that we would win.

What followed was the toughest, most physical week of my limited athletic career. We practiced the following morning, one of only 2 Saturday practices of my varsity career. We had full blown, hard hitting, full contact practices everyday the following week, including the day before the game. I remember being banged up, worn out, and beaten down. Daily, I questioned my commitment to playing football.

Did I want to play this bad that I put myself through this?

I went through classes during the day dreading the upcoming practice. I went from drill to drill, dreading what was coming next. My teammates seemed to share my desire to stay out of the direction of the coaches attention.

Finally, the game night arrived. As hard as the week of practice had been, the game was just as tough. Our opponents were strong, fast, and fired up thinking they had an easy target for another victory. The game was hard-hitting, back and forth, and very low scoring.

With time running out, the other time had the ball. They were driving for what would be the clinching score. At worst, it seemed, they could have run out the clock to assure their victory and our defeat. With around a minute left in the game, one of their players broke through the line and it looked like he was going to run the ball in for the clinching touchdown.

Over 30 years later, after watching sports of all manner at all levels, I am still amazed at what happened next.

One of our players appearred out of what seemed like nowhere and just took the ball away from their player. He proceeded to run 90 yards for a touchdown. We won. We won by 1 point.

It is here that my Life Lesson really begins. At that moment, and for that matter, for the rest of the weekend I don't think there was a player on our team that felt any of the bumps and bruises. Though we gave everything we had on that field, we had energy to burn. I don't think there was a player that did not appreciate the coaches for how they had driven us the week before and prepared us for the game.

The point is this, once we won the game, we did not remember all of the pain that we went through, we just felt the exhilaration of the victory.

We face many difficult times throughout our lives. There are times when we have mountains to climb that seem insurmountable. There are times where we are pushed to our limit and we question our intentions and desires. There are times where we are tempted to simply give up and make the hardhip and difficulties end.

However, if we stick with it, if we maintain our focus and commitment, if we keep at it, when we come out on the otherside we will discover the joy of victory, or completion, or satisfaction. And more than likely, we will minimize the struggles we faced to get there.

In my last post, I mentioned that my mom is facing a battle with breast cancer. She has already to begun to have to deal with some of the side effects of her treatment. She was told that one medication would make her feel like "every bone in her body was breaking." While it was not quite that bad, it did hit her pretty hard. She has had days where she was barely able to get out of bed and spent most of the day dozing on the couch. She has started to lose her hair. These and other side effects are just some of the battle that she faces.

In the case of my mom, cancer picked the wrong opponent. My mom is a fighter and she is going to beat the Big C. She has good days and some not so good days but I know that Mom is going to be victorious in this battle. And when she does, she will revel in the joy of a healthy life and the struggles will be but a distant memory.

Keep Smilin'!!

© 2009 Eddy Seegers, All Rights Reserved