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Tonight I just finished watching an hour program about President Bush's account of Tuesday September 11, 2001.  The hour passed quickly and it for sure brought back some memories.  I am sure you remember what you were doing when you got the news.  I want to share my story of that day.

At that point of my life I was living in Tijuana, but still had a place in Laguna Hills California.  I spent nearly every night in Tijuana and believe it or not I commuted to work in Dana Point California. I was working as a station manager for the Exxon Mobil Corporation at the corner of Stone Hill and Del Obispo. It was one of those stations that had been a franchise location, but the company had taken back.  It was a small station and had a big garage where repairs had been done.  The store itself was small as well, but we did great business with only 6 pumps and a limited staff at a 24 hour location.  I had at least 5 years at the location and enjoyed my customers and the staff I was working with.  I liked to get into work around 4am, so I could get the paper work done and be able to concentrate on other aspects of the store after 6am.  It also allowed me to leave early in the morning and I often was back in Tijuana by noon.  I had the job wired, and I turned down several other opportunities, as I valued my life away from work and was not too money motivated.

So on this particular day, I arrived early as usual.  I had a boom box in the garage part of the station, and I listened to bootleg copies of Springsteen concerts daily while at work.  On this day, my morning employee called in sick and I was stuck working the cash register.  I thought about calling someone to work, but decided that I was going to visit with our clients and just have a fun day. I was thinking of having someone relieve me around noon.  Every now and then it is fun to work the cash register.  It also can open your eyes to problems the cashiers may be having and gives me an opportunity to fix them.

Someone visits the stores and tells me that a plane hit the World Trade Center.  I thought that was pretty strange and thought maybe it was a small plane with an inexperienced pilot.  Someone else enters the store and says a second plane hit the WTC.  I now know that something is really wrong here. I go into the garage and put the boom box on radio. I'm listening to the accounts and I feel helpless.  What can I do?  I'm stranded at my gas station and my Country is under attack.  I was so frustrated.

Now I had a friend named Glenn that was a veteran.  He would come by my station on Memorial day and on the 4th of July and put American Flags hanging from the pumps.  I so much appreciated it and he did it out of patriotism and was not compensated.  Glenn was probably a good 25 years older than me and he had some hearing problems.  I thought that I needed those flags up and I needed them now.  I called Glenn and he did not understand me and he kept telling me not to worry, that justice would be served.  I really felt helpless now as I struck out on that call and I know that if he understood me he would have jumped at the opportunity.  We were probably just both in shock and he did not understand my intentions.

Now I am thinking about my Father.  He passed in 1990 and was a WWII veteran and I know that he enlisted on December 8, 1941.  I will never forget him telling me that his Country had been attacked and he felt it was important to enlist and support his Country.  At age 41 it was a bit late for me to enlist.

Now we had these flags around the landscaping that were advertising our "friendly serve" program.  Basically we were trying to come of as the friendly place that was customer service oriented.  It was a nice thought and I guess it was somewhat successful. Anyway I realized that I had some poles...I just needed American flags.

I open the yellow pages and find a flag retailer in Laguna Niguel.   I called and said I needed a flag.  The guy was really nice and wanted dimensions...I had no idea.  He wants me to drive to him.  I explain that I am stranded at my station and maybe I could send someone.  He says that he feels the urgency in my voice and he is on his way to me.   While waiting for him, I call an employee into work.  I want to be watching CNN and there is no television and no cable or satellite for sure at work. So this nice man ( I cannot remember his name), comes to my station and he has a flag that will work.  We hook it on a pole and we go outside together and hammer that sucker into the ground.  As we are doing it, the cars at the intersection begin honking.  It was incredible the support and love I was feeling by all the motorists in that intersection.  Tears were rolling down my face and they were big tears.  I go back into the store to help a customer and the man comes into the store with one car flag...you know the kind that Lakers fans have.  It is his last one, but he has 200 small flags.  These are like the ones you may see people waving at an Olympic event and he wants 50 cents each.  He tells me I can easily sell them for $5, but I don't really feel like selling them.  I give him the money for the flags and he is on his way.  I start giving away a flag to everyone that comes in.

Soon my employee shows up to work and I get on my way to Laguna Hills to watch the story.  I don't feel like going back to Tijuana that day and was glued to the television the rest of the day.  Less than two hours later, my employee calls to say we are out of flags.  At this point you just could not get a US Flag anywhere.  Those guys had a huge day all over the Country.  Hey these guys sell flags for a living every day and they were not being opportunistic, they were just doing what they do every day. 

So the next day when I come in, we put the flag out again and people are again honking their horns.  It felt good to show support and Patriotism. People kept coming in asking for flags.  There just were not any more available.  I did call and put in an order for another 200 but it takes about two weeks to get them. 

For the next few months I had people come visit with me about that day.  So many people told me that they had seen me knocking that flag into the ground that day and that they became our loyal customer after that day.  People were so appreciative of the free flags, and it really gave our business a boost and our business was great already.  The biggest take away that I had from that day, was that we were all different in some way, but in the end we are all Americans and that is more important that all the other BS.  Our Country put away their racism for just a moment and reacted as a Country.  This will be a day that we will remember forever, and it was tragic, but the way we came together was beautiful and I will always remember it for that.

In the following weeks I would see people standing on bridges waving their flags above Freeway 5 on my way back and fourth to Tijuana. There were so many signs hanging from the bridges in support of our troops. As I passed  Camp Pendleton there was a guard shack near the freeway and I would always honk as I passed and the Marine at the booth would always acknowledge my honks. I am sure he was hearing this all day.

I am sure you all have your memories and take aways from that day.  Bottom line is that we are Americans first and it is a shame that someone has to fly planes into the WTC to make us realize it.