The Day Terror Revealed What Truly Mattered
Lauren Schott met Chris in a college bar at the University of Oxford in 1997. She was an American exchange student, part of a group keeping to themselves during those first few weeks of term. When Chris leaned over from the next table with his one-dimpled smile and cocky chair-tipping manner, her immediate thought was: "Uh-oh, here's trouble."
A Transatlantic Romance With Uncertain Foundations
Despite Lauren's planned single term at Oxford, their connection proved immediate and lasting. They became a couple quickly, maintaining their relationship across continents when Chris began working in London after graduation while Lauren returned to North Carolina to complete her English degree. They visited when possible—Chris made a surprise appearance at her 21st birthday party, they celebrated New Year's Eve together in Paris.
After graduation, Lauren moved to London for an MA program, primarily to be near Chris. Later, she relocated to New York for a publishing career, with Chris joining her a year later to work for an American bank. They rented an apartment together, living the typical Manhattan life of childless twentysomethings: long work hours, extended social drinking sessions, summer weekends at shared Fire Island houses.
"It was love, for sure," Lauren reflects. "But we were still figuring things out." Their differences were substantial: Lauren wore her heart openly while Chris embodied the strong, silent type. She came from a comfortable midwestern American family; he was raised outside Manchester by a single mother who sometimes struggled financially. Lauren acknowledges she was "kind of spoiled," while Chris could occasionally be "a little dour."
The Morning That Changed Everything
On September 11, 2001, Lauren was preparing for work in their Flatiron apartment when news broke of an explosion at the World Trade Center. Watching the slow-motion replay of the first plane strike, she initially blamed crowded airspace around LaGuardia Airport.
Meanwhile, fifty blocks downtown, papers blown from the World Trade Center were falling outside Chris's Wall Street office windows. After the North Tower was struck, he and colleagues went outside to investigate. He had only traveled a couple of blocks west when, at 9:03 AM, the South Tower exploded just two blocks in front of him. The building appeared to bend toward him before he turned and ran.
For several agonizing hours, Lauren couldn't reach him. She watched the towers collapse on television, knowing Chris worked just four blocks away. She climbed to their apartment building roof, seeing smoke billow from downtown, fielding calls from both their mothers. Finally, Chris made contact: he was safe, being held inside his office building until conditions allowed evacuation.
The Aftermath That Cemented Commitment
Chris arrived home mid-afternoon, covered in dust smelling of burning metal, part of the stream of survivors trickling from lower Manhattan. They hugged, watched news coverage, then realized they hadn't eaten. At a Third Avenue pizza shop, the counter attendant noticed their dust-covered appearance and evident shock, refusing to let them pay.
That night, as media coverage shifted to who was responsible for the attacks, Lauren experienced "a fierce, possessive anger: how dare they try to take him from me?" In her rage, she glimpsed the void—realizing that but for two city blocks, she could have lost everything about Chris: his perfect dimple and bossy tendencies, his goofy sweetness and grumpy aversion to fancy dress.
"My instinct was to grab him tightly and hold on for dear life," she recalls, "before the world came at us again."
A Love Forged in Tragedy
This profound realization, mixed with grief for what was taken from so many that day, fossilized over subsequent weeks and months. To Lauren's surprise, it left behind something "hard and unwavering," teaching her that love could be primitive and visceral.
They married in 2003. Lauren no longer keeps tally of their relationship's status, what's fair, or how their marriage could be stronger. When challenges have arisen—grave illness, financial stress, all the pressures of 25 years of modern life—it's simply understood: he's hers, and she will always hold on.
Their story demonstrates how tragedy can reveal fundamental truths about relationships, transforming uncertainty into unshakable commitment that endures through life's most difficult trials.
