If you’d asked me 10 years ago where I thought I’d be today I probably wouldn’t be able to picture my life quite like this – I know I had aspirations of getting to this point one day but that’s all they were back then.

About 11 years and 6 months ago my life changed, in a blink of an eye. I met someone with whom I began a new chapter, in fact, a few new chapters. I convinced her to move with me to the UK where we made London our home a year after we met. Six months later we returned and got married.

We went back to London where we lived and worked for another 3 years. Somewhere along the way we did some travelling in and around the UK, Portugal, Greece, France and Mexico.

And then another chapter began, Melissa was born. Four months later we packed up our belongings, shipped them off to South Africa in a container and flew back to Cape Town.

Yet again another chapter began, our family and life back in Cape Town. As the years went by so did the changing of jobs, meeting new people, making new friends. And almost 4 years later our lives took another turn, for the better, Rebecca was born. That was a little over 3 years ago now.

It almost feels like it was only yesterday that I met Dina, and look how much has happened and how much time has passed.

And so that brings me to today, the 25th of September, 2009. Ten years on, so much has happened and so much that I’m grateful for.

Dina, Melissa and Rebecca – I love you. Thank you for being a part of my life and letting me be a part of yours. May there be many such milestones ahead and many more joyous times.

To my friends and family – thanks for being there for us too, in good times and bad.

Right now, as of the (automated) time this post goes live, I’ll either be lying next to Dina in our lodge at Monkey Valley (where we spent our honeymoon, 10 years ago), in Noordhoek, or having breakfast – enjoy the weekend, I know we will.

Yesterday was Friday, September the 11th. Prior to 2001, this was just another day. Some people celebrated their birthdays on this day. Just like a good friend of ours with whom we shared a great evening and dinner last night to celebrate his birthday, on September the 11th.

As I said, before 2001 this was, for most, just another day of the 365 days we go through from one year to the next. But on that fateful day of September the 11th back in 2001 the world changed. Not just the world but the world of many people’s lives and those of the families they left behind.

It was a day I won’t forget, as many others, even though I didn’t lose anyone close to me or someone I knew. It’s amazing how a traumatic experience can go either one of two ways. You either build up a mental block about the event and never conciously recall the event or any details thereof, or you remember the details vividly, like it just happened.

I still remember I was working at home, in London, and I happened to have Sky News on  and there was a sudden panic in the news room with breaking news and it turned to footage of one of the World Trade centre towers billowing with smoke. Then there was replayed footage of a passenger airliner crashing right into one of the towers.

Without skipping a beat Boston.com’s Big Picture reminds us with striking photographs of that fateful day. Take a look and remember with me.

Eight years after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, we remember and here, take a look back, and a look at the present. This year’s remembrance is emphasizing volunteerism and service, honoring the private citizens that volunteered after the attacks and encouraging the observance of the anniversary to be a day of service. Construction at Ground Zero, the site of the former twin towers, is years behind because of construction delays, design disputes and litigation involving developers, state and local officials and insurance companies. At this point, One World Trade Center (formerly the Freedom Tower), the 120-story anchor building on the site, is scheduled for a 2013 completion. (38 photos total) - source Boston.com Big Picture

The south tower of New York's World Trade Center collapses Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)