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I remember this day seven years ago, as I imagine do most of you. I remember sitting in an office, arriving early as I am inclined to do, listening to the morning complaints and gossip floating around the open work area while anxiously waiting for the coffee to finally finish dripping.

There was a little giggle at something or another and then someone said words I will never forget. The words immediately piqued my interest and I remember asking my coworker to repeat it, “A plane ran into the World Trade Center? When? This morning? Are you kidding?” It seemed like a joke at the time.

Then another coworker walked in and joined the conversation, “Yeah, there was another plane, too!”

I remember this all vividly because right then, my life changed forever. There were no more smiles. In an instant, we all dashed for the nearest radio to find out what was happening. I remember thinking, “This can’t possibly be real, can it?”

The following few hours were rife with an ever increasing dose of horror: A plane crashed in Pennsylvania, The Pentagon was hit, The World Trade Center’s twin towers collapsed, Thousands of people were dead, some leaping from eighty stories to their deaths!

The infusion of terror refused to stop. The voices of the media were as confused as I was by the rapidly unfolding events of the morning. I remember that some how a television set appeared in our work area and then those terrifying images began to appear before us. I cannot remember breathing after the first time the image of an airliner disappeared into the side of one of the towers.

Even after seeing the images over and over, I still refused to believe what I was witnessing.

In the days, weeks and now years that have followed the feelings of dread have not completely subsided. To this day, I remember back then – everyone I met, everyone I talked to had a singular focus – 911.

I remember a few conversations that still haunt me to this day. I am sure we all have had them. Someone’s brother was at the Pentagon. Another’s uncle was at the World Trade Center Most of all I remember the collective fear that invaded us all.

Seven years later, there are many lingering questions. How could this have happened? Will it happen again? What about the power plant and the LNG terminal sitting invitingly out in the bay beckoning an attack?

I am not sure when those feelings began to subside or even how I let them begin to dissipate. I do know, however, that certain things will never be the same. I still look up at a passing airliner and think, “I wonder where they’re going?”

Even now, I see a plane and stare after it hoping it will land safely where it is supposed to go. I think of the military jets flying over our heads and take comfort in the fact they are protecting our skies.

By now, most of us have moved on. The morning gossip, complaints and jokes are back in the office. The coffee pot is back to being more important in the morning than the phone or the filing or the work. We are back to worrying about the economy, our bosses, our kids and parents more so than events we cannot possibly control.

Now, here we are, once again – 911—two thousand, five hundred, fifty-seven days past the worst day any of us can remember and I wonder: have we really moved on? I am not sure we have. I will never look at travel in the same way as I did seven years ago. I do not think I will ever be able to look at a skyscraper anymore without considering whether it might be a target.

I have driven past the power plant on a number of occasions and remember each time, breathing a sigh of relief when I am safely away. It is an unwelcome feeling I just cannot seem to shake.

This is the legacy of Sept. 11, 2001 – a lingering uneasiness locked within our collective psyches. In those few hours when the world of terror reined over us, we were made to carry a burden that may never go away.

I cannot pretend to know whether that which we all carry will fade completely. Just as I am sure those who lived through Dec. 7, 1941 would not have ever imagined their feelings of that morning ever leaving them.