September 11th, 2006five
Five years ago…
I still lived on the West Coast.
I had just graduated from high school
My sister had just gotten married.
My Nana was still alive.
MSNBC is running a “living history event,” where the actual footage from this day in 2001 is being broadcast in real time. In other words, it’s like seeing it happen all over again.
One of the hardest parts for me is that I clearly remember watching this happen with my Nana, who was living with us at the time and undergoing treatment for cancer. I remember her looking at me and saying, “You know, the world is going to change now. It will never be the same.”
My family didn’t lose anyone we knew that day. I think to some of us on the West Coast, it seemed surreal and incredibly far away. Once I moved here, and met people who had lost someone, and spoke with those affected, it crystallized and became real.
I was down at the site six months later, then two years later, then four years later and I’ll probably be down there again sometime this year.
If you’re in NYC, and you get the chance, go down to the site.
It’s the only place I’ve ever been in New York where the silence is only broken by the sound of tissues and tears.
i don’t think i can ever bring myself to go to the site. even seing the intangible pictures causes too much pain. to be in the space where a void was created in so many lives, would be near unbearable.
Comment by wendykat — September 11, 2006 @ 11:27 am
One year ago we were celebrating National Day in Catalonia, Spain. I was stuffed in my sofa when all those scary images popped my TV. I didn’t even know what the WTC was….
Five years later I am flying to NYC the 6th of October. And I am sure I am going to visit the “0 Area”. I dunno if I’ll cry but I’ll really feel the sadness & the impotence in my skin.
Comment by Me, Myself and I — September 11, 2006 @ 11:54 am