September 11, 2011 (Memorial)

Manny DelValle Jr.

As I was talking to Vivian last night about September 11, 2001 we both reflected about how different our lives were.  I was a full time salsa instructor and performer without a wife and kids.  

In fact a few days after Sept 11 I went to Germany for a salsa event which was the scariest flight of my life. 

Anyway, I had been up late the night before promoting my partner (Candy Mena) and my salsa classes.  So you can just imagine that getting up early was not my thing at that point in my life.  I actually woke up around 10am (My friend Will Vega kept calling me) and the south tower had already fallen.  I then woke Candy up and told her what was going on.  We both got dressed and ran out to see the North Tower from our vantage point on 5th Avenue.  As we were going down the stairs we heard deafening  screams from my apartment building and the people from the street.  The North Tower of the Twin Towers had fallen as well.  

I didn't have any friends or family that died that day but I was acquainted with a very nice Salsero (salsa dancer) firefighter that coincidently worked across the street from my mother's house.  We spoke several times in salsa class and one time when he stopped me in traffic to allow his fire truck to be parked.  I found out that he was the only one in his station that died.  He was 32 years young.  His name was Manny DelValle Jr.

RIP

Until Monday

Jai