*
[Richard Pecorella]: I knew as soon as I looked at her that uh, she was the one.
It was magical. I can't describe it.
I couldn't tell her that, but I was like a 15-year-old again.
I got all google-eyed and didn't know what to do or say,
and stumbling -- wasn't like me at all.
Wasn't the typical macho Italian guy from Brooklyn. (Laughs)
When I met Karen, somehow she relaxed me.
She just taught me patience. I had very little patience.
Basically, I was one of those guys that roll down the window
and screamed at the drivers when they weren't driving the way I thought they should be.
And she toned me down, she showed me to be nicer to people,
give it a second thought before you start yelling.
And, I've carried that with me.
Other than her going to work,
there wasn't a time we weren't together.
Every morning, Karen would drive with me to my office,
and then she'd take the subway from my office one stop to the Trade Center.
I worked in Brooklyn, so my window across the East River,
I could see the Twin Towers.
So, I'm doing some work, and one of my workers comes in
and says, "Richard, uh, I just heard
that the Trade Center got hit with a plane."
I turn around and I see the building burning,
and I took my office chair and I threw it at my window.
They brought the nurse up, she gave me a bottle of water.
I have the bottle of water. It's in my hand.
My hand is trembling so much that it's splashing all over me.
I couldn't even hold the bottle in my hand.
I miss her eyes.
Her eyes sparkled, to me.
One day they were blue, next day they were green,
depending on how the light hit them.
Karen, I'll always be in love with you,
and I will see you again.
I will do enough good to make it up there.
*