On the night of Sept. 10, Giancarlo Potente and his friend Jeremiah Marble went for a run through downtown Manhattan. The two had only been living in New York for a few months, fresh out of college and ready to start their new lives in a big city. They ran past the World Trade Center and couldn't help but marvel at the site.
\Damn that's impressive,"" they said, as they looked at the towers that to them represented more than just New York, but also their future.
Twelve hours or so later, Potente got a phone call from a company where he was headed for a meeting.
""Don't bother coming in this morning,"" said the voice at the other end of the line, then suggesting he turn on the TV.
The day that unfolded still seems surreal to Potente, a shock before the pain and fear set in.
He wandered to the highway on the west side and saw a steady stream of people walking out of the financial district. Ties were thrown back, everything was covered in dust, the people moved slowly.
""It was like a mass exodus out of Manhattan,"" Potente now recalls.
While wandering with no destination in mind, he suddenly remembered his friend Jeremiah worked for Morgan Stanley in the World Trade Center. He immediately turned on his cell phone, but couldn't get through. He went to a pay phone on the street and had the same problem, so he decided to walk home to try a landline.
On the other side of town Jeremiah was rushing to get to work in time. He stepped off the subway at 9:15 a.m., just more than 10 minutes after the second plane hit. He saw the smoke, tried to briefly take in the scene and stepped back on the subway.
The two friends arrived at the apartment building at the same time, exchanged feelings of relief and spent the rest of the day wandering around in disbelief.
For the next three months Potente continued searching for a job but remained unsuccessful, in part due to the economic difficulties that hit New York and the nation after Sept. 11. He moved back to Wisconsin in December and now works for the family business.
""In the movie of my life, it's going to start with that whole thing,"" he says as he remembers a day that changed his life, ""and the voice-over is going to say 'and that's when I realized getting a job in New York was going to be difficult.'""
Across town, Paul Wuh was standing in a colleague's office staring out the window when he saw a plane crash into the World Trade Center. On the 47th floor of 1 New York Plaza, just half a mile from the towers, the image was clear, though the details were not.
""It seemed like one of those Bruce Willis movies,"" he says today.
The building was quickly evacuated, and Wuh stood outside with others in the office making sure everyone was accounted for. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like a bomb exploding. He later found out it was the south tower collapsing. There was nothing left to do; he began the two-mile trek home to Brooklyn, covered in dust from falling debris and smoke.
Crossing the Manhattan Bridge with thousands of others heading home, it was the only time that day Wuh felt scared. What if someone had already bombed the bridge and it would explode at any moment? He walked across it as quickly as possible, then spent the rest of the day at home glued to the TV.
When Wuh returned to work a week later, it seemed like a war zone outside, with the military scattered throughout the city. The smell of burning plastic filled the air. It lasted about three or four weeks, and when the wind blew a certain way, he could smell it more than ever.
After the odor disappeared, return to normalcy in a city so scarred would be challenging.
Certain exits on the highway are still closed, and police slow down every car crossing the bridge from Brooklyn. But Wuh observes a feeling of optimism for New York.
""I think that there's a very strong will here of 'Let's clean this up and let's move on,'"" he said.
These days, Wuh is taking his own steps to move on. After losing his job this summer, he is taking a 10-day vacation to France. His plane leaves Sept. 11.
