236: Hannah jumped into the lake

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Documentary, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2025

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sometimes it can be pretty amazing how one small decision can have a huge impact. Mike Jaffe knows about that. Mike was usually on his way to work in the morning when his wife, Sabrina, woke up their one year old daughter. He was also on his way home from work when Sabrina was putting her to bed. But one Monday morning, he decided that the next day, Tuesday, he would go in to work late so that they could all have breakfast together. On Tuesday morning, he was having second thoughts. This job was important to him. But he decided to stick to the plan, and they had a nice family breakfast together that morning. That breakfast saved Mike’s life. He worked on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower, and that Tuesday morning breakfast was September 11, 2001. Hundreds of his colleagues were already at work and did not survive. My guest today is Hannah. She was driving one day over a small bridge, on her way to meet someone, and just by chance looked over at the water below. That quick glance ended up having a life-changing impact. If you’d like to contact Hannah, she’s in the WWTL Facebook group: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/236 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sometimes it can be pretty amazing how one small decision can have a huge impact.
0:11.2	Mike Jaffey knows about that.
0:14.6	Mike was usually on his way to work in the morning when his wife, Sabrina, woke up their one-year-old daughter.
0:21.6	He was also on his way home from work when Sabrina was putting her to bed.
0:27.5	But one Monday morning, he decided that the next day, Tuesday, he would go into work late
0:34.3	so that they could all have breakfast together.
0:39.1	On Tuesday morning, he was having second thoughts.
0:42.9	This job was important to him, but he decided to stick to the plan and they had a nice
0:48.7	family breakfast together that morning.
0:53.6	That breakfast saved Mike's life.
0:58.0	He worked on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower,
1:03.0	and that Tuesday morning breakfast was September 11, 2001.
1:09.0	Hundreds of his colleagues were already at work and did not survive.
1:18.1	My guest today is Hannah. She was driving one day over a small bridge on her way to meet
1:24.8	someone and just by chance looked over at the water below.
1:31.0	That quick glance ended up having a life-changing impact.
1:43.2	Real people in unreal situations.
1:47.0	The eerie silence when I walked in, and he's just staring at me.
1:53.0	I was like, hello, like, are you okay?
1:56.0	And then I had to tell him, it was me.
1:59.0	There was just blood everywhere.
2:02.7	They're shouting, they're screaming, they're being hit by bullets, they're hitting the ground.
	...

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