Twenty years ago America lost its innocence. Four hijacked planes killed thousands and changed our nation.

That day I attended a meeting at Bay Medical Center. I substituted for the administrator of our hospital and joined four or five administrators of area hospitals in Bay Med’s board room. Our plan was to finish plans for a lithotripter mobile service to go to the hospitals that were in attendance: Midland, West Branch, Bay City, Flint, and two Saginaw hospitals. We had met regularly for several months and this was the conclusion of the plan for the lithotripter.

While I was on the way, I had my car’s radio on and about 9 a.m. I heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. At first the report was that it was thought to be a small private plane but soon the information was corrected. A second commercial jet had hit the other tower. By the time I got to the meeting, everyone was aware and a TV set had been turned on in the board room.

Even with the chaos, the meeting continued. We watched the images of the twin towers’ destruction. I had my back to the TV set but the expressions on the faces of those who were on the other side of the table told the tale. It was horrifying.

When the towers fell (at 9:59), the room went silent.

After hurrying through the agenda items, the meeting adjourned, we all hurried to our respective hospitals. I arrived at St. Mary’s to a scene which resembled the one I’d just left. In the building where I worked, the conference room’s TV was on and the staff was gathered around watching the historic events unfold.

As I recall, all the staff left early because nothing was being accomplished anyway.

At home, John was watching the frightening scene. In the morning when it had first started, he’d been picking grapes but a neighbor, seeing him busy picking went out to tell him about the situation our nation was facing.