[Simon]

I was at home at the house we had in Key West back then, watching morning CNN in the background as I got the day started at my home office.

I hate to admit it, but I think I must have had a 'reading to schoolchildren' moment when it happened. I do remember the breaking news, the second plane hitting while I watched it happen, but when my wife (just waking up) came into the room she said I was just sitting there staring at the screen, not saying a word, even when she was asking me what I was watching, thinking, she says, it was a little early in the day for a "blow stuff up" action movie.

Then she realized it was real.
It was the news I had on, as usual. It was CNN she was seeing.

She says she still couldn't get me to respond. I was staring at the screen, listening too it seemed to her, but non-responsive. At that point she shook my shoulder hard enough that I came back to the room.

I don't remember any of that. All I remember is the stuff I saw on the screen, and what I heard them saying.

I'm thinking my brain didn't believe what it was seeing and hearing.