Working at the World Trade Center: A Life Lesson

Your first real job.

They say you always remember your first.😍

I graduated from college and landed my first real job.

It was at the World Trade Center.

Tower 1.

The 13th floor.

I was initially shell-shocked by the ungodly 40-minute train commute from central New Jersey into lower Manhattan.

I went from college hangovers to harried businesspeople in suits. 😎

It was the summer of 1984. I listened to my Sony Walkman and the song "The Warrior" from Scandal.

The greatest lesson I learned from working at the World Trade Center is this:

🎯People-watching is priceless.

Why pay for entertainment when a slice of real life and stories are all around?

I'm glad there were no cell phones and tech distractions.

I quickly discovered the best part of the day was lunch! 🙌

I would sit outside and eat lunch at the fountains between Towers 1 and 2.

Tobin Plaza.

🔷Watching tourists take pictures with Kodak Instamatic film cameras.

🔷Seeing couriers on bicycles delivering who knows what to who knows who.

🔷Catching glimpses of people hurrying in a million different directions.

I was 20 years old.

I worked at the Trade Center for only three months before landing a full-time job as a broadcast journalist.

I became a professional storyteller.

A curious communicator and speaker who quickly learned that everyone has a story.

If only we would pay closer attention to who and what surrounds us.💞

Today, I only wish I'd had a cell phone in 1984 so I could have captured just one of those precious moments in a photo.