In 2001 I was working at Intel Corporation. It was my second year there. I worked in Milpitas and drove there every day from Danville! Such a long horrible drive with many traffic jams. Dave Miller was leading our team and was a fabulous boss. I was working with some of our B2B partners and traveled all over the world supporting them.
One of my customers was Ariba. A new start up that was founded in 1996. My job involved making sure their software was compatible with our hardware. This included many meetings and customer business events and travel. On Sept 10th I flew to New Orleans to support our customers and to meet with Ariba and their partners. It was a huge event and was originally planned for several days.
I was out late on September 10th, entertaining customers and having a lot of fun. But when I woke up in the morning all the fun from the night before was forgotten immediately. The TV was on and I watched in horror as I witnessed the attack on our country. No words can describe my fear and sadness. I talked to my then husband Rick and my kids and did the best I could to calm my daughters down. They were worried about me but thankfully I was safe and fine.
That night a few of us went out for dinner and drinks. Someone hired a bus to rent and it was decided that we would leave the next day. We cried, we shared our sadness, concern, shock and fear. We were numb and had a hard time comprehending what had happened. Everyone in the country was most likely feeling the same way we were.
The next day around 20 of us boarded a Greyhound bus and braced ourselves for a 2200 mile ride home. It was uncomfortable, it was long and boring and we were all dealing with our feelings about the horrific attack against our country. There were two drivers and they took turns driving. They also stopped so we could eat and stretch our legs every few hours. I remember stopping somewhere in Texas. The only reason I remember that is because I bought a cowboy hat! I’m not sure why other than I liked country music, and I had never been to Texas before. I still have it and it is a reminder of that day.
At one stop in the evening we got some beer and tried to play cards in the back of the bus. Someone put on a movie an hour or so later and I was so embarrassed to be sitting next to one of my customers watching Animal House! It was awkward and probably not the best choice of movies for us to watch.
I don’t remember how I got home after we arrived at the Ariba office. But what I do remember is walking into my house to a beautiful bouquet of flowers. It was the first time Rick had ever bought me flowers.
Today brings up all of these memories and all the sadness that we all felt, and continue to feel. The horror of it all and the stories that followed of all the casualties. I hope and pray nothing ever like this happens again. I think we all lived in fear for quite a while, thinking it might happen again. God bless America and God bless all of you who lost someone during this horrific and tragic terrorizing event🙏🏻🙏🏻
