I thought about posting to X or Facebook, but realized that articulating my thoughts today was for my benefit, and not for public consumption.

24 years ago I was 34 years old. I was a husband and a father of 3 little kids, ages 5, 3 and 1. I flew out of Boston that morning on a perfect day only to have the world change forever. Our plane made an emergency landing in Cincinnati. My wife, parents, brother, sister-in-law and my friends knew I got on a plane out of Boston that morning. People did not know if I was alive or dead. Many tearfull phone calls later I had connected with just about everyone and all were relieved that I was safe. I was stranded in Cincinnati for a few days, but late that week I drove 19 hours home to Boston, to be with my family.

I lost two class mates from St. Lawrence that day.

The picture below is taken from earlier this year and captures what now stands near ground zero.

Today, 24 years later, after a round of 9 holes with Jimmy, I got home and took this picture from our back deck. Another perfect early September day.

Today is even more challenging, as yesterday Charlie Kirk was assassinated. They have not caught the shooter yet, but my heart is broken for his wife and his two children. Imagine hating a person and their beliefs so much that you think killing them is the answer. Imagine thinking that action is justified. We are perhaps more divided as a country today that we were 24 years ago. I am so afraid that it will take another 9/11, another Pearl Harbor, to once again unite this country.