My office closes at 10:30, and I meet with my parents. Together we try to contact my aunt, but phone lines are still overloaded.

My father’s sister is small in stature, but big in heart. If she can survive cancer she can survive this.

We hope.

At 2 PM we finally hear from her. She was already at her office, blocks south of the WTC when the first plane struck. She was fine.

However, she’s stuck in New York. Mass transit is shut down and all bridges and tunnels are closed to everyone except outbound pedestrian traffic.

My aunt decides she’ll walk to the George Washington Bridge on the city’s north side, if we’ll meet her in Jersey. We all jump in the car.

As we approach the GWB , traffic slows to a crawl as National Guardsmen direct us away from the bridge and into Fort Lee, NJ. We look for ways to get close to the GWB , but roads are blocked.

We park blocks away in a lot and I go on foot to meet my aunt.

It’s late when we meet in a shopping center near the bridge, and we drive her home.