It was the beginning of the end for me.
Most of us remember where we were on the morning of September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Myself, I was sitting in my office at the law firm where I worked, preparing for a hearing later that morning in bankruptcy court. It was one of several hearings I had over the next few days, and I was anxious about not having enough time to prepare for them. I had arrived early that morning, probably a little after six a.m., early enough to be the first person in the office.
As usual, I was working in silence. Maybe I had a CD playing; certainly not the radio or the televison.