Icey, this is a wonderful thread! Thank you, buddy...

Big Bastard - damn STRAIGHT, that's what we should do, LOL!! I don't find it in bad taste - quite the opposite, I think 99% of NYers would cheer if they saw that.

OFG and Munky - BEAUTIFUL!!!

Well, I'm getting ready to head out to bring more supplies to the volunteers, even though they've said not to, that they have more than enough. But mine's just more canned goods, which will always get used. I mean, I have to do something! It felt so good to donate that food the other day, I just need to do it again, I have to!

I have no pictures to post (on an off note, could someone please teach me how to uplink my picutes to SBlows? That way Boomer and Ice wouldn't have to keep posting my paintings for me!), but I would like to tell another story of what happened on Tuesday. The person it directly involves survived, although many of his co-workers died, but it's truly a remarkable story, really mindblowing! I call it one of those "Grace of God" stories - the ones we've all been hearing about people who ordinarily would have been inside the towers, but for whatever reason weren't. "I had a doctor's appointment/I overslept/My alarm didn't go off/I went to get a haircut before a big meeting" Little things that saved someone's life, you know?

Okay....one of the women I work with, Karen, lives out in Connecticut. This gives her a hellish commute every day into the city - 2 hours out, 2 hours back, and she generally drives in as opposed to taking the train. On Tuesday the 11th, she was driving in, and had just reached our offices but not gotten out of the car when the second plane hit. Like anyone else in a car, she turned right around and got the hell outta Dodge. Now, bear with me here - although I drive, I don't own a car, take the subway everywhere, and have never driven in the city, so I don't know the highways, bridges, tunnels etc. unless they're written out for me. So, I'm not sure what bridges and highways Karen was trying, but just trust me when I say she turned right around and began trying any and all roads to get back to Connecticut.

She's driving along one of the outer highways, looking at all the gridlocked traffic, when she spots this woman, in her 50's, well-dressed, standing on the side of the highway with her thumb out! Karen thinks "OMG, this woman is just trying to get home too!" So, she hits the brakes, rolls down her window and waves the woman over. The woman runs to Karen's car, gets in, and immediately bursts into tears. Karen says "Look - I'm trying to get back to Connecticut, and I don't know if I can or not, but the least I can do is get you home - where do you live?" The woman said she lived on 86th and Park. Karen nodded and said, "Okay - that's at least do-able, don't worry." And off they begin to drive. Karen, at this point, gets back onto Park Avenue, which runs two ways, and begins driving along Park. Well, here comes the "Grace of God" part that I mentioned above. Karen brakes for traffic at around 55th and Park and all of a sudden, this young man in a suit and tie comes running like a madman across all these lanes of traffic, straight to Karen's car. Now, I can't even brace you for the incredible sharp thinking and presence of mind this kid had - he sees Karen's Connecticut license plates, runs up to her car, and slaps HIS Connecticut drivers license on her windshield!!!! I mean, how many people in NY were thinking THAT clearly to do something like that on Tuesday????? She rolls down the window and he says "Please, PLEASE, take me with you - I have to get home, I don't care where in Connecticut you drop me off, anywhere, just please take me with you and help me get home." Now, actually, the next comment Karen asked was logical, but still almost humorous in the face of everything - she considers him for a second and then goes "Are you a rapist or a murderer?" The kid blinks at her for a couple of seconds, and then goes "Ummmm....no...." Karen goes, "Okay then, get in." So here's Karen, driving along with these two total strangers she rescued, and they're just driving in stunned silence, punctuated now and then by the woman's crying. All of a sudden, five minutes later, in this lull, the young man goes "...I was inside the tower when the plane hit..." Well, Karen practically lost control of the car! She and the woman go, "WHAT????" Karen says "We're driving along for five minutes here, and NOW you say something???" He then began to tell his story.

He was inside of Tower 1, not sure what floor (it would have had to be a lower one, because he managed to get out) when the first plane hit. He said he felt the BOOOOM!!! and the whole building just shook, right down to the bottom. He and his co-workers all began to panic, and someone, not knowing that Tower 2 was about to be hit in a few minutes, or that it would collapse first, said "Hurry! Let's all get to Tower 2, it's stable!" So, they all begin to herd out into Tower 2, basically to their eventual deaths, except for him and three of his buddies. They were so freaked out, they decided to stay outside for a quick cigarette break before going into Tower 2. While the four of them were outside, the second plane hit Tower 2, and it was all over from there. All his co-workers who went inside never made it out. He and the other three guys ran, and this kid didn't stop running till he got to Karen's car up on 55th and Park! Karen looked at her watch and said, "Wait - how did you get up here so fast?" He said, stunned, "I dunno...I just started running and didn't stop till I saw your car." Now, this was only about a half hour - this kid ran from Wall Street to 55th and Park in 30 minutes!!! Must have been running on pure adrenalin! Of course, the whole "Grace of God" part of the story is the irony that his smoking habit saved his life!

Icey, thanks for starting this thread so everyone can contribute something!

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