Reflecting Back on the Quietest Day I Ever Remember in Connecticut

I've lived in Connecticut for more than 50 years, and the two quietest days that I ever remember here were on September 11, 2001 and December 12, 2012. Today is the 24th anniversary of 9/11, and this is what I remember.

After watching the events unfold from home in Waterbury my boss called from Norwalk to ask if I would come in early that day. I didn't want to be any closer to Manhattan than Waterbury, but I knew that my work could help someone whether it be a traffic report or new information that was coming out.

As you may remember, it was a beautiful day in Connecticut. and by the time I started to head down to Norwalk all air traffic had been halted. You don't realize how many commercial aircraft pass over our heads every moment of every day between Boston and NYC until it's no longer there. I'll never forget how stunned everyone driving looked, I didn't see a lot of panicked driving, most were gently cruising along under the speed limit. I remember being behind a few cars at a stop light in Westport, and we all must have been listening to 1010WINS, because the light cycled before anyone remembered to move.

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When I got into work, I was tasked with monitoring the traffic coming into Connecticut via Metro North and 95 and the Merritt. There were no automobile accidents that day, not one. I was surprised but figured that everyone was on autopilot while absorbing what had just happened like me.

We all came together, and by the time the nightly news started I made my way back on a wide-open Merritt Parkway home. I've never seen it that quiet and haven't since.

I will never forget