I was 2' away from boarding a plane at SFO, with me was my girlfriend.
In my right front pocket was an engagement ring, we were heading to Vancouver Island for a few days, then onto an Alaskan cruise, where I was going to purpose to my gal. Everything was going great, we had just been upgraded to first class for $40 more each seat.
(We were super excited, as neither of us had ever flown first class).
We are 4 to 5 steps away from boarding, and they close the plane door and tell us there has been a slight delay. Well, the delay ends up being over an hour, so I decide to go grab us a few bloody Marys.
That is when I saw the news on the bar TV and the first plane flying into the trade center, then seconds later they break away from the footage they were showing and show the second plane fly into the second building.
I say we need to get the F out of here, as our plane isn't going anywhere today.
We had been dropped off at the airport, and this is before I had a cell phone.
So I break out my AT&T calling card and start calling friends to see if they can pick us up. I made 3 calls, then for no reason my calling card stops working.
The heavily armed military and bomb dogs were evac'ing the airport, so there were thousands of people scrambling frantically to catch buses and cabs.
Then a hotel shuttle for a city south of SFO pulls up going the opposite direction we needed to go. I tell my girlfriend, too, just follow my lead. We step onto the shuttle the driver asks our reservation name, I tell him, he says that we aren't in their system, I say we better be we've had reservations for months. The driver says no problem, get in, and we will sort it out at the hotel.
We get to the hotel, I hand the driver $100 bill and ask him to call us a cab, he says no problem sir. We take a $150 cab ride home.
As soon as I get home to the phone I call AT&T and ask why my calling card stopped working in an emergency situation, the operator asks if I made 2 calls to Pakistan and 2 calls to Peru? I say not funny, she says she's not joking.
I tell her no that I did not make those calls, she says well someone did using your calling card number which is why they shut it down.
All I can think is someone sniped my number from over my shoulder.
As time goes by, and they start talking about where the hijackers were from.
Which made me question, who in the "F" was standing behind me while I was making calls, it was a weird gut wrenching feeling.
I didn't ask my girlfriend to marry me, I figured it was God's way of telling me to give it some time to make sure she was the one. A year goes by, and I ask her to marry me on a Caribbean cruise, she says yes, and we are still happily married.
Next month I'm taking her to DC, Phily, then Manhattan to see the 911 memorial because of our history together on 911.
God bless the victims & first responders, we will never forget you!!!
They found 3 box cutters stashed under seats on the plane we were supposed to fly on 911, which is not just a coincidence.
I'm going to leave our original plane tickets at the 911 wall, as my way of thanking the good Lord for watching over us that day.
We will never forget where we were on 911.
Dan.
