I do this to honor my friend, Manuel Del Valle, Jr. Manny.

Let's never forget.



I know a lot of people out there (bloggers mainly) have formed friendships with other people that they have never met, never talked to, even. I never met Manny face to face. But I talked to him daily. He was the best friend of one of the brokers I worked with and even though Manny was in New York and Hodge was in Baltimore, they talked constantly. Manny was a fire-fighter for Engine Company #5. He'd call for Hodge and I'd be the one to answer the phone. We'd talk, and flirt and tell jokes and then I'd hand him over to Hodge. Hell, sometimes I'd just call him at the firehouse just to say hey. He was a constant. And you could tell just how devoted friends he and Hodge were. Since he was still single, flirting was fun and even though it was just over the phone we developed a good friendship. I always enjoyed talking to him.

Obviously, I no longer work at Merrill Lynch. Haven't for years now. Since about 1998. Hodge and I kept in touch though. I got busy with my life and Manny just kind of faded into memory. Pleasant memory. About a month or so after 9/11 I was talking to Hodge. He told me that he had just come back from Manny's funeral. I swear I stopped breathing for a full minute. Sweet, brave Manny had gone into Tower 1 and was killed when it collapsed. They found his body in October. Hodge was devastated. When I got off the phone with him there were tears running down my face.

Remember how even months after 9/11 they were still showing video of the towers collapsing? And of the aftermath? Do you remember that shrill wailing noise? Those are alarms that all fire/rescue people wear so that if they are injured they can be found. They go off when they stop moving. Remember how loud they were? Its because there were so many of them going off at the same time. One of those was Manny. That's all I could think about. I bawled like a baby. As a matter of fact, I'm choking up right now, just remembering. When he died he was 32. That's how old I am right now. I'm going to get older. Manny won't.



So that's my tribute to Manny. Thank you for being part of my life Manny, even just over the phone.