Anyone within shouting distance of a major metropolitan city has known for years now that New York City had been targeted for a large-scale terrorist attack. Conventional wisdom called for an attack on New York, followed by Washington, Philadelphia and, possibly, Boston. Many people, especially those frequenting Manhattan, had already mentally contemplated a response.

The United States is no stranger to either terror or catastrophe. We have witnessed domestic terror in places like Columbine, Paducah and Oklahoma City. We have survived catastrophic floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and plane crashes. Those tragedies may have prepared us for the relative calm and quickness of response — a reasoned response — as witnessed on Sept. 11.

I felt safe here in suburbia, but I couldn't recall whether my cousin in Washington had transferred to the Pentagon or Pentagon City. It turns out to be neither. She was working in Crystal City, Va., two subway stops from the Pentagon. As in many buildings, office workers learned about the World Trade Center via a telephone call. My cousin's office was no different.

The workers were watching one of the hijacked jetliners slice through the second of the twin towers when a colleague from another office interrupts with news that a plane has rammed into the Pentagon.

Sick joke, the group responded before someone walked over to a window and saw the huge plume of smoke.

"OK, we've got to go," my cousin announced.

She organized the evacuation of the physically disabled before her building was ordered cleared. She's no disaster coordinator, she acknowledged, but common sense was taking precedence over rules and guidelines.

A subway commuter, my cousin would rely on a colleague for an early ride home. Once there, her husband prepared to leave for work in Northeast Washington. Washington Hospital Center was transferring its non-critical patients to Providence Hospital to clear beds for its trauma unit, he told her.

"My dear, I hate to leave you at a time like this," he said. "Say a prayer because I'm going in to help."