22 years in the blink of an eye

22 years ago today, I was down in Florida, in Ft. Lauderdale meeting with some of the world's largest international event producers trying to negotiate a massive event that would take place in NY, Florida, Texas and California over a three week period.  On this trip Diane and I were together visiting venues and hotels.  We had just walked into the cocktail party on the top floor of the hotel, got ourselves a drink and started talking about our plans for Daytona Bike Week.  As with most cocktail parties, the chatter was incoherent unless of course you concentrated on one particular conversation.  If memory serves me correctly, we were at the Airport Marriott and it was one of the nicest airport hotels that I have ever seen.  Servers were walking around with trays of tasty morsels and there against the wall was a long table with all kinds of fill your belly goodness to hold off the power of the booze and carry folks through till dinner.  On the wall above this table was a fairly large tv for the times.  One of the servers put her tray down and turned the television on.  I can remember not only being excited about the trip to Daytona but really feeling great about the momentum that the event was building, there was an excitement in my heart and a satisfying feeling of accomplishment in my soul.  I was a fairly young man back then and to pull off what we had in the works would have been epic.  I can recall feeling at the top of my game and you could not wipe the smile off of my face.
As people wandered around the room the noise suddenly went down by half and it was instantly noticeable.  I wasn't sure what had happened and as I tried to ascertain what it was, the room fell deadly silent, everyone staring in the direction of that big table of food.  My first thought, ALLIGATOR!  Well you have to forgive me, we were in Florida and I had an inherent fear of them. All eyes were glued to the television and many stood there with their mouths wide open.

A bomb had gone off underground, under the World Trade Center!  I'll never forget the images on that screen, the chaos of the situation and the fear on the faces running past the cameras.  That smile on my face only moments before that I was sure nothing on earth could remove was now forgotten. My mind raced to all the people we knew who worked in those towers, how many trips I made up to Windows On The World, the restaurant on top of the tower and quietly pleaded with God that all would be okay.

I recall a story I read years later, the feds were flying a helicopter past the towers transporting a man they had in custody for the attack and the agent nudged him and said "see, they are still standing" and his reply was "yeah, for now"!  Hearing that account sent a chill deep within me and in my gut I knew there would be more to come.  I can't believe that today is 22 years since that day.  I really don't know where the time goes but it sure does pass in the blink of an eye.  Every single time I go to Florida for Bike Week, I am reminded of that trip, that attack and those who suffered from it, I can never forget and I will never forget it!  I won't be going to Daytona this year as I'm still healing up from surgery and didn't book any events, so I hope you all have an amazing time, make some life long positive memories and be safe, come home to your family in one piece but never forget all who serve, have served and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice since that day 22 years ago to fight radical Islam so that we could retain our freedoms and live good, happy lives.

Until we see each other on the road again,

keep the wind in your face,
tits in your back
and the man off your ass!

Your friend,
Jack Shit