{"id":460,"date":"2002-09-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-09-09T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/?p=460"},"modified":"2011-05-04T13:43:02","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T18:43:02","slug":"ground-zero-goodbye-pat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\/","title":{"rendered":"Ground Zero: Goodbye, Pat"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Originally printed December 23, 2001)
\nI really don’t talk about September 11th much.<\/p>\n

I remember the grueling 12-hour day I put in checking the latest AP wires and keeping live coverage on the website, amid rumors that NY and NJ may have no way of communicating with the outside world… way before some of the events even made it on TV. Walking into work that morning, never suspecting for a second that this would lead to the devastation and unspeakable horror that we’ve all stared in a state of shock over the past few months.
\nI can’t think about it.
I won’t think about it.<\/p>\n

I did a pretty damn good job at avoiding it, until this morning.<\/p>\n

Joe Flounders<\/a> lived only a few miles from me. His wife Pat begged him to flee his World Trade Center office after the first plane the other tower… He stayed behind to help a co-worker, suffering shock; trying to get him out also…<\/p>\n

Moments later, the second plane crashed and exploded right through his office…
\n
\n… New Yorkers were breathing in his bone fragments for weeks.<\/p>\n

\"JoeI believe with all of my heart that State Rep. Kelly Lewis<\/a> is going to be our President someday. He’s a fast thinker, he takes action immediately… and he has a heart of gold. He worked tirelessly with the victim’s families here… even did their grocery shopping. <\/p>\n

He took special care of Patricia Flounders. She was devastated. Her entire world was gone. He did everything in his power to help her, ride through this insanity.<\/p>\n

Pat committed suicide December 10th, 2001.<\/a>… she shot herself to end the pain, and find a closure she’ll never find in this world.<\/p>\n

There was a memorial service for her<\/a> yesterday, here in East Stroudsburg. Front page news.<\/p>\n

It’s only one of millions of stories… but it was one that I followed from the beginning. I never met the Flounders, but I was secretly rooting for her… hoping she’d beat the odds and the despair. Today hit me so goddamned hard that I was actually forced to think about that day again.<\/p>\n

You’re at peace with Joe now, Pat.
\nGod bless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really don’t talk about September 11th much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21,2,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ground-zero","category-heartbreak","category-old-stuff","category-tributes"],"yoast_head":"\nGround Zero: Goodbye, Pat - WHUZZUP!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ground Zero: Goodbye, Pat - WHUZZUP!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I really don't talk about September 11th much.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/whuzzup\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WHUZZUP!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EricBrooksDotComWeb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-09-09T03:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-04T18:43:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.poconorecord.com\/images\/photos\/0911flou.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eric Brooks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EricBrooksCom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EricBrooksCom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eric Brooks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eric Brooks\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3addcc1e092289f4bb7dbdaf170c2123\"},\"headline\":\"Ground Zero: Goodbye, Pat\",\"datePublished\":\"2002-09-09T03:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-04T18:43:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":360,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.poconorecord.com\\\/images\\\/photos\\\/0911flou.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Ground Zero\",\"Heartbreak\",\"Old Stuff\",\"Tributes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ericbrooks.com\\\/whuzzup\\\/ground-zero-goodbye-pat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ground Zero: Goodbye, Pat - 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