It's hard to believe that twelve years have passed.
I just had to write the date on a piece of paper and for a second my pen paused and I tuned out of the conference call I was on, and I wondered if it will ever feel normal to write the date "9/11" again. Probably not, and maybe it shouldn't.
Twelve years ago today I was a freshman in college outside of Boston. I was passing through the student center on my way back from an early class when I joined the crowd tightly gathered around the big TV. All day we watched as lower Manhattan burned and life changed forever, my eyes fixed on a city that I didn't know all that well. That was not yet mine.
A few years after that September day I moved to Manhattan and for more than seven years I made it my home. And even though I moved a few miles north, New York City is a part of me. I am proud to work here and play here, and create memories here. To be building a life in the shadow of this place that is full of grit, beauty and ceaseless energy.
Today, this city is mine.
And today, I honor it.
I was in college too, on this day back then. And I'll never forget my time living so nearby to lower Manhattan - hearing everyone's story of that day and realizing the impact it had on those who lived here. The significance took on such a larger meaning.
ReplyDeleteI was a freshman in college, too. I will never, EVER forget that morning. It was horrifying.
ReplyDeleteYall are so dang young! I Was in college when the Branch Davidians burned to the ground which felt like the craziest thing ever. I can't imagine what a college-aged me would have made of the 9/11 tragedy way out in the corn fields of central texas. This comment is totally lame, but I wanted to be connected.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm with Christie! Y'all are SO young! When the WTC was attacked, I was a 37 yo 3yr year cancer survivor trying to keep my 5yo from seeing scary bad guys on TV. It's indelible, in all of us. No matter how it played out.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was at work in NYC at the time (5 weeks before our wedding). It was a horrible, horrible day.
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