I lost many friends that day. Of course I remember the crystal blue sky that day, even from perch at my Long Island office. My company, Sentinel Brokers Company, had a satellite office in the shadow of the WTC, at 7 Dey Street. I was talking to my office manager, Nick, there after the first plane hit the North Tower. We chatted on briefly about my DeanWitter days there in 2 WTC, and the usual talk about how it was probably a Cessna and an inexperienced pilot. As we were chatting, and I was watching the smoke coming out of the building on CNBC, I heard the most harrowing sound over the phone while simultaneously watching the second plane hit 2 WTC, the South Tower. Nick shouted "I GOTTA GO!" and the phone went dead. Nick and his team made it out safely, past the cascading debris raining down on them as they made their way uptown to anyplace that they regarded as safe and a possible way home as I sat stunned and waited for word on them and all my loved ones in the Towers and surrounding area. That office for many months was in the "Frozen Zone", and Nick's words were the last words ever uttered at that office. This plaque has hung in my office since that month. Hastily assembled, it is missing several names of those I found out had passed there in the weeks, months and years after the cowardly terrorist attack. Sadly, it is also missing our friends that have passed since from related illnesses. One sad anecdote: My good friend whom I Lifeguarded with at the Freeport Rec and MLK park while we saved for college, Sean Lynch, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. We would call each other very early most mornings, around 7:15 or so before our days really got cooking just to BS for a minute or 2. We had the same sense of humor and, depending on who was joking, we would say to each other "You're the funniest person you know!". He called on 9/10 and said "Your ears must've been burning this morning!". When I enquired why, he said that he had struck up a conversation with a guy in his gym that ended up being a good friend of mine from the Muni Bond business, Jake Cayne. He said that we would all have to get out for drinks soon, and I said of course. That never came to be as we lost them both on 9/11. Sean had 2 young daughters, Mary and Grace. Sean Jr. would be born a few months later. If this wasn't all bad enough, Sean's brother Farrell was a co-worker and was also lost that day. He also had 3 young children. LEST WE FORGET!