“Making friends and uniting communities one good cry at a time.”

Good day gamers,

• Getting OctaCon ready for October 23 & 24. If you want to help us out, drop me a line at Dave@GameMasterGames.com.
• Ginger and I watched the first episode of “Professor T” on Amazon Prime Video. It was pretty good. We couldn’t access the other episodes without paying though.
• Listening to the podcast “Haunted Road” with Ami Bruni from Ghost Hunters. Pretty interesting. She revisits sites that she ghost hunted at, gives some history of the site not covered in the show, and interviews someone there, usually the caretaker or employee. Pretty interesting.

My small 9/11 story: With the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I am feeling a bit down. I’m too busy though to pay it enough attention, but it is looming over my head. I have to work that day, so I’m not going to be able to watch any of the President speeches or the reading of names. Twenty years. Wow. So, here is just a collection of thoughts I have about what happened to me on 9/11 and in no particular order and to the best of my recollection…

• My wife at that time, Roberta, had a small side business called Stampin’ Up. One of her family members that lives in downtown Manhattan ordered something and it arrived at our apartment. I worked in Manhattan at Swifty’s, a restaurant on the Upper East Side, and I was scheduled for a lunch shift on 9/11 that would start at about 10am. The day before, Roberta asked me if I could go to work early and drop off the items downtown before heading up to work. I said I could. I was supposed to be exiting the World Trade Center subway station at about 8am. At about 10pm the night before, the family member called and said, ‘Don’t worry about the purchased items. We will get them another time.” Thus…I was not at WTC at 8am on 9/11/2001.
• At about 8am on 9/11/2001, I was outside running for exercise. We had just gotten back from taking the kids to school. We lived in Fresh Meadows, Queens. As I crossed a footbridge bridge, I looked to the West and far in the distance, with a partial view of the Manhattan skyline, I saw a puff of smoke arising from somewhere downtown. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from Manhattan or closer. I said to myself, “A transformer or something must have blown and started a fire.” On my way back across the bridge, there was a construction worker on the bridge, looking West. He was on the phone. I looked West again and now there were huge clouds of black smoke in the distance above lower Manhattan. The construction worker said to me, “Run home and turn on the TV. The WTC is on fire.” I ran home and walked into the house and found Roberta watching the news on TV.
• On TV, Roberta and I watched the 2nd plane hit and both towers fall. We were in shock and went into emergency mode. We drove to get the kids out of school. I called work and they said that my job was closed for the day. We continued to watch the news the rest of the day as all the events unfolded.
• Over the next several months, I tried to volunteer, but with limited success. I went to the Jacob Javits center twice and waited 3+ hours each time and was sent home. I called the Red Cross and told them I have restaurant, typewriting, phone, and organizational skills, but they never called me back. I did get a chance to plate up hundreds of sausages for serving emergency workers from about 11pm-2am one night. This was at a restaurant in lower Manhattan. I don’t even remember which one.
• I learned that Darren Bohan, who worked at Aon Company as a data entry operator died on that day. He had been a server at Swifty’s for a couple months previously. I worked many lunch and dinner shifts with him.
• I learned that Sean Caton, from my high school graduating class, also passed away. I knew him, but we weren’t close.
• I heard horror stories from many of my friends who were there or knew someone who was there.
• A very close friend of mine from high school was an emergency responder from New Jersey and spent days washing out workers and emergency personnel’s eyes while they were working on ‘The Pile’.
• A couple years later, I had the desire to serve the country again because of this event. I served eight years in the National Guard in field artillery, but had always wanted to serve in the Regular Army in tanks. So, at 35, I re-enlisted and went to training and Korea for 3 years.
• Visited the museum four or five years ago. Very poignant. Found Darren’s and Sean’s names.
• Every year, though now divorced, Roberta and I text each other on 9/11 to remember and reflect.

So much pain. So much loss. So much war.

You are not forgotten Darren and Sean and all the others killed on 9/11 and in the aftermath of years of conflict.

I can say I served during the ‘War on Terror’, but that war will technically never end now. We will be fighting terrorism forever.

We must learn and love. Love your neighbor as you would love yourself. Love life. Say, “Hello”. Welcome the stranger. So hard to forgive, but try. We will never forget. Life is beautiful. Remember. Reflect. Take a moment to be quiet. Heal as you are able. If you see something, say something. Always keep moving, forward if possible. Keep trying. Keep crying. It’s okay to cry. Stand together. Do something. A simple smile can changes someone’s day.

I can never give enough thanks to Roberta, Devon, and Gio who also served the country while I was away in Korea.

Love to everyone and a special message of peace to those that have lost because of these events,

• Game Master Dave