The Victors

My oldest son was born on September 8, 2001. We brought him home from the hospital on the afternoon of the 10th, and so 9/11 was our first morning at home with a newborn. Came downstairs to find my MIL watching The Today Show, and the first tower was already down. Watched the surreal events unfold from there with a perfectly pure baby on our laps.

My wife and I got lots of calls from our colleagues at Latham & Watkins (where we both worked). They asked about the baby, but also told us about being evacuated from our offices in the Sears Tower. The next morning several of them appeared on the front page picture of the Trib.

A couple of years later I was defending a deposition of a higher-up from Aon’s NY office. My opposing counsel — a very prominent Chicago attorney / former AUSA — had reached the point in his deposition outline to berate the witness over the dearth of documents produced. His eyes welled up with tears as he explained that most of the company’s NY records had incinerated with the towers. I thought only of my family at home.

9/11 for me is often a reflection on my son’s birth, and how lucky I felt then in the moment and now to have a safe and healthy family.