Remember

While TLC was at our house last weekend, she looked through a box of what seemed like zillions of old pictures. I was making a salad as she sat at the kitchen island—giggling or saying “Awww” every few minutes. Then I noticed she got quiet—had stopped on one—and was studying it. She handed it to me. It was a picture I’d taken in the Spring of 1986 as the plane I was on was about to land in New York. It had the Twin Towers.

That was my first of two trips to The Big Apple. (We had lunch one day at Windows On The World. I didn’t like being on the 106^th floor of the North Tower. The building would sway. Significantly. It was an extremely unsettling feeling. I was anxious to be back down on the first floor.) TLC has also been twice. Once with her Dad and me when she was about to be 10. It was the week before Christmas. Two of our sons lived there. It will forever be a special memory. Christmas in New York? Everything you know it’s going to be—marvelously magical. (TLC and I are hoping we can make another trip together. Someday soon.) Her second visit was with a professor and a class in Fashion Merchandising. Also in the Spring—but in 2005.

On that trip, TLC went to Ground Zero. She said I probably wouldn’t ever be able to go. I get tears in my eyes just typing this—thinking of her description. Hearing the emotions in her voice when she called that day to share what she had seen and felt. (Though, as I sit here watching the ceremony at the Memorial this morning, I think I will be able to visit it in person. It's stunningly beautiful.)

Sad isn’t a big enough word for today. It’s a heart-wrenching day. Don’t you find yourself thinking, every now and then, did that really happen? For those of us who only experienced the horror from afar—watching it on TV—reading about it in the newspapers—we can’t even begin to comprehend the magnitude of this tragedy and the forever pain it caused so many families. The problems it still causes the survivors, the First Responders, the firemen and the policemen.

Today we can only cry. And pray. Hope. Remember. Believe. Pray some more.

Please, God, Bless America… always.