09/11/2026
25 years ago this morning, I woke up and came to work at County Line Auto Body.
We had just renovated an old house on the property and converted it into our new office. That morning, I had one mission. I wasn't writing estimates. I told my dad I was going to spend the day making sure every workstation worked, every computer was up, every phone rang, and that we were ready to start working out of that office the next morning.
I remember getting everything fired up and then being called back over to our original office.
I was actually annoyed.
I had a job to do that morning, and I didn't want to be interrupted.
But walking across the property, I could tell something was wrong.
I opened the door to my dad's estimating office.
And the second plane hit the tower.
Everything else about that morning suddenly became meaningless.
The world changed.
Twenty five years later, I am still working on the same property. I'm still sitting at the same desk. I realize there probably aren't many people who can say they're sitting in the same place today that they were when they watched September 11, 2001 unfold.
Sitting here this morning, that really hit me.
Because I remember what that day felt like.
That's the part I don't know how to explain to someone who wasn't alive or old enough to remember it.
You can watch the footage. You can see the photographs. You can read about it in a history book. But I don't know if you can ever completely understand the fear, confusion, sadness and disbelief that swept across this country that morning.
We didn't know what was happening.
We didn't know what was coming next.
We didn't know if it was over.
It was the scariest day I can remember.
But I also wish I could explain what happened afterward.
For a little while, we weren't Republicans or Democrats. We weren't divided into a thousand different groups arguing over everything.
We were Americans.
People hung flags from their homes. Strangers spoke to each other. Neighbors checked on neighbors. Police officers, firefighters, first responders and ordinary people became heroes right before our eyes.
There was an incredible sense of camaraderie in this country born out of an unimaginable tragedy.
I never want America to experience another September 11.
But I wish the generations who don't remember that day could somehow experience just a little bit of September 12.
The unity.
The compassion.
The pride.
The understanding that despite all of our differences, we belonged to each other.
That's why it bothers me when September 11 begins to look like just another day on the calendar.
It isn't.
2,977 innocent people were killed that day.
They had jobs to get to that morning. Meetings to attend. Phone calls to make. Kids to pick up. People waiting for them at home.
Just like the rest of us.
Except they never came home.
So this morning, 25 years later, I'm sitting at the same desk, on the same property, thinking about a 25-year-old version of myself who walked across a parking lot worried about getting a new office ready for work.
Never Forget. 🇺🇸
— Richard Gardella
County Line Auto Body
