I Remember

Today is one of those days that you never forget. Year after year it pops up on your calendar and you always remember. Remember exactly where you were, exactly what you were doing and exactly how you felt when it happened. Today, we remember September 11th.

I remember every detail of September 11, 2001. I was in the 9th grade at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. I was in my ballet class that morning when the Director of Dance at the school came into our studio and whispered something to our ballet teacher. Our teacher immediately started messing with the television and told us to continue doing our barre exercises. Each dance studio had a TV cart in it, used for watching performance tape. There we all stood, at the barre facing the mirror focusing more on our teacher's reflection and wondering what she was about to put on the TV screen, than what our feet were supposed to be doing. As soon as it came on the TV screen, we all stopped dancing. The music kept playing, but we all froze. No one even turned around to actually face the TV. We just stared at the reflection in the mirror, watching in horror. At that moment, while we were still staring into the mirror, another plane crashed into the second tower. Our ballet teacher started crying, other girls were crying, and I couldn't believe that this was really happening. We tried to finish our ballet class, but it was obvious that no one was focused. So we all huddled together on the floor watching the TV until it was time for our next class. 

I was in shock. I was so deeply saddened that something like this was happening in a city that I had come to love. A mere month before that tragic day, I had been in the city. I had just spent that summer in New York taking ballet classes. My mom came to pick me up from my program and we spent some time enjoying the city before we came home. We walked among those buildings every day and I'm still sad that I never made to the top of the World Trade Center.

The first time I returned to the World Trade Center site was my senior year of high school, 3 years later, with my dance studio team. The area was still in complete destruction; however, a fence had been erected around the site so that visitors could look in. There was a giant hole in the ground filled with rubble. The only thing still standing within that fenced area is a cross that had been made out of the melted beams from the Twin Towers. You can sort of see it behind us in the picture above. 

We more recently returned to the Ground Zero site this past Christmas to visit the 9/11 Memorial which has been built over the original site of the World Trade Center towers. I enjoyed coming back to this site to see how it has developed over the years. It's good to see that a beautiful memorial has taken the place of what was once devastation and destruction.

Being at the 9/11 Memorial is a surreal experience. Here you stand in the middle of New York City, surrounded by thousands of people, and yet it is completely silent. Visitors come from all over the world to quietly stand and admire. To reflect and pray. To honor all those who were lost. Yet, no one speaks. Everyone just walks around reading the plaques, admiring the fountains and the newly built Freedom Tower, in complete silence. It just feels wrong to talk while you are there. I imagine that all those silent people around me were thinking and doing the same thing that I was. Quietly gazing upon this site, praying for those who were lost and thanking God that I have been blessed with the freedom and the ability to stand here in this moment. 

Take a moment today and say a prayer for all those who were lost on this tragic day, and for their families who are left to carry on. Thank you to all of our service men and women who give it all everyday so that we can be free. God Bless.