<p>Does anyone else remember how friendly everyone was the days following 9/11? Driving was almost a surreal experience with nobody fighting for spots, people not blowing through yellows, and, just in general being very courteous. It’s a shame it takes an event like that to bring out the best in all of us.</p>
<p>We had bought kayaks in summer of 2001. We took them for one of our first trips in the Hackensack Meadowlands in late August. Beautiful afternoon–i’d brought a camera and was taking pictures as we went up and down the creeks.</p>
<p>I had the pictures developed (remember that?) about a month later, and there in the distance, seemingly floating over the creek, were the towers, shining in the late summer sun, like they’d always be there.</p>
<p>Basically, I spent time remembering where I was that day- just processing my memories. How the sky was so blue in September, how I never bothered to notice it before that day and how I’ve changed since. I try to remember to notice the natural gifts God provides - beautiful skies and clouds and birds chirping, how the whether in September varies from hot to chilly and how I love that change. Just trying to be conscious of my daily living vs. taking advantage that today will be the same as yesterday. I remember exactly where I was, how I was praying the Rosary and then turned on the radio, in my car, to hear that there was a plane crash and immediately flipping to an AM station to see if this was for real! Looking back and feeling grateful hoping that my prayers somehow helped those in the towers. The sound of the jets passing my the office every day thereafter. Leaving early to get my son from school and seeing the firetrucks from upstate New York drive south towards the city. Wondering what my son knew or didn’t. People flocking to church to pray. My brother, a police officer was greeted with gratitue thereafter- not the more common response of people berating his profession or pretending to shoot him (yup, true). I remember how one business partner, from a western state, expected us to be running full speed two days later and how devastated we were by his unrealistic expectations. Yesterday, I prayed for the people who died, for their families and friends, and for peace and protection for our nation.</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t quite say all of us. In the aftermath of 9/11, there were definitely hate crimes committed against Muslims and Sikhs.</p>
<p>9/11/01… I was still in high school at the time just a few blocks away from WTC. There are some things that I remember so vividly. Something I’ll never forget is when the first tower collapsed, I had happened to be staring right at it at the time from the classroom. It felt so surreal so see this enormous dust cloud approach our building and eventually black out the windows. Seeing the school buses frantically trying to turn around. People running. Etched into my memories forever.</p>
<p>After college, I actually had the honor of being invited to work on the rebuilding efforts at the WTC.</p>
<p>It was such a long, hard day - a somber remembrance. I’m from NY - I used to work summers in my dad’s office in the WTC. He wasn’t working in the towers anymore but he or siblings had reason to be in or near the towers that day. It took a long time to get the news that all were fine but my dad’s apt. was across the street from the evacuation zone. All he talked about for weeks was how hard it was to breathe - all the dust - within a year he was diagnosed with cancer.</p>
<p>9/11 solidified my career goals… took a hs degree, college degree, and graduate degree, but I am finally working in the national security field. My employer lost some people in the Pentagon that day.</p>
<p>[Astronaut</a> Frank Culbertson Saw 9/11 From Space - ABC News](<a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/09/astronaut-frank-culbertson-wittness-911-from-space/]Astronaut”>Astronaut Frank Culbertson Saw 9/11 From Space - ABC News)</p>
<p>soccerguy, that is an amazing photo.</p>
<p>I won’t tell my story of 9/11. </p>
<p>Several years later, my H and I visited Disney World. He went on a ride I didn’t want to go on, so I went to the American Experience instead. At the end of the show, they did a montage of quick pictures and included a picture of the Towers. As it ended and people filed out of the theater, I just sat by myself and cried. I had never been able to cry about it, even at all the funerals I attended. But I sat in the dark theater, and for the first time in five years was finally able to cry.</p>
<p>The week after 9/11, they were looking for structural engineers to help at the site - for example, evaluating whether certain areas of structures were safe to enter. We had three young kids at the time, but DH and I agreed that he should volunteer. One obstacle was that he needed to get registered as a professional engineer in the state of New York. This process usually takes weeks if not months, even if you’re already licensed in other states as he was. But he called the state and they were able to license him in two days! As it turned out, they had enough engineers from the immediate area volunteer so they didn’t need him. I was still proud of him for being willing to offer.</p>
<p>I have family who lives in Pelham. My niece a child 10ish when 9/11 happened. She told us what it was like for her. Children were being called out of class. And the parking lot at Pelham on the New Haven line had a lot of cars in the lot that stayed there. She told that she “just knew” that those people were dead.</p>
<p>My hairdresser was in the air approaching JKF when they saw the fire. He was there for Fashion Week. They landed at JFK. And then shared a cab with many others to the bridge into NYC. Then they walked into the city. It’s funny…I still don’t know if Fashion Week took place. We usually discuss it…Fashion Week. But not that time.</p>
<p>And finally one of my best friends lived on the UES on that day. She said that for weeks everyone inhaled smoke and stuff from the Trade Center. It was, she said, that you knew you were breathing in the ashes of people. </p>
<p>hayden: I am glad that you could finally cry. It is so hard to keep emotions under lock and key.</p>
<p>so sorry hayden</p>