Project 365 - September 11, 2011

Ten Years Later

As I opened my eyes this morning, I remembered the date.  Memories flooded back to me.  I will never forget where I was the moment that I heard those words from Matt Lauer and Katie Couric that a plane had just hit the World Trade Towers.  I was in my car on my way to the Fort Lauderdale Branch Library.  Mary and I were meeting our new volunteers there to train them on how to work in our new, not yet opened, Cultural Information Center.  The reason I could hear the Today Show in the car is because we used to be able to pick up NBC before radio went completely digital.

At first everyone thought it was just a terrible accident.  But when the second plane hit, well that is when the realization hit that something terrible was happening.  Then Joel started calling me and describing to me what was happening.  I couldn't stand listening to him.  I could feel the tension in my body, in my shoulders, in my stomach.

At the library, all the volunteers, most of them former New Yorkers, were all on their cell phones trying desperately to call their family members.  There was chaos in the room and in all of our hearts.  My parents were in New York and were supposed to be on a plane flying to Fort Lauderdale later that day.

Well, we all know the outcome of that terrible, awful day.  Our lives and our way of life is completely changed, forever.  No longer are we innocents believing that just because we live in America, that we are safe.  But we can't live in fear, we must protect ourselves and our families and our homeland, but we must also live our lives.

So we do.  And today, we did.

After watching a few hours of the memorials in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania, we got dressed, and went about our lives like any normal Sunday.  It is what we do.  We remember, we honor and we move on. 

This guy caught my attention while we were having lunch in Wendys.  He was bouncing his grandson on his knee.  Turns out he is from the Bronx and had memories to share with us.