Where were you on 9/11? It was one of those defining moments that will remain with me forever. I was on a business trip to Washington, DC. This was the first trip that I opted to bring my wife along on — hindsight being 20/20, I’m so glad she came along. My boss and his wife were along for the trip as well. He and I were in DC for training, and we decided it would be fun to try and see the sights with the families while we were there.

I remember while in class, we got news that something had happened to one of the towers.

I remember how the tension built up from the moment the first plane struck to when the first town came crashing down.

I remember how we all first thought how terrible that a plane crashed into the tower, and then watching everyone’s faces as we realized later what really was happening. It was made even more tense for us in the training since we had no access to TV. It wasn’t until much later that I got to see the visuals of those towers coming down.

I remember when I discovered there were two terrorist cells in the hotel we were staying at — one cell directly above our room. Being questioned by an FBI agent, and looking at the mugshots to identify a suspect really drove it home…

I remember the trouble we had trying to organize a way out of DC, and then finally giving up and staying.

I hope we all remember what happened that day. I hope we can all put aside differing beliefs about who is at fault, and remember the people who lost their lives that day. Let’s not forget how easy it was for our country to be attacked. Let’s not forget to stand together as Americans — all of us — and make changes to be sure something like this can’t happen again.