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I was off work that morning, getting ready to leave in the afternoon for a Branson vacation. I was driving to the grocery store in the morning when I heard the local country DJ say that two planes had hit the WTC. I called my wife on the cell and told her to turn on the TV.

After I got to the store, she called me, crying, to say the first WTC tower had fallen. People at the store were beginning to talk about it. As I drove home, she called again, barely able to speak, to tell me the second tower had fallen. "Please, please come home now!"

I got home a few minutes later and we watched it on TV as we prepared to leave (we were meeting her parents from Texas, so there was no consideration of cancelling). We made a decision to allow our two oldest children, at that time 14 and 11, to watch it all with us. That afternoon, we drove to Branson (about a 3 1/2 hour drive) and were surprised by the long gas lines and the rapidly escalating gas prices (many of those stations were subsequently prosecuted by the AG for price gouging, a crime in Missouri).

We met my in-laws in Branson, where we were renting a large cabin. We did Branson stuff during the days, went to shows at night, then watched Fox News until about 3:00 am each night. The Branson entertainers changed their shows to meet the emotional needs we all had. There was a lot of patriotism (even more than normal for that great town) and prayers. I will never forget that week and now, five years later, I am as angry as I was that day. I, for one, will never forget.