As my son and husband are biking the seawall in Vancouver, B.C. on this warm summer evening, I sit in our living room quietly (Amélie is asleep) reflecting on how things have changed from 10 years ago. Ten years from today, I was fresh out of Drexel, had started my first "real" job 2 months prior, returned from a company trip to St. Lucia the night prior, and experienced one of the most, if not the greatest, catastrophic event in U.S. and NYC history -- 9/11.
I'll never forget waking up that glorious sunny morning, after a wonderful long weekend in St. Lucia with co-workers (we often called it "the trip that never happened", as we never had a chance to exchange pictures, laugh about it, or even speak about it after returning to work on 9/11). I remember getting to work around 9:05am, or so, after a long wait for the most expensive omelet I've ever had at Fresco. I came in to work grumbling about how omelets should not cost $10, as if it were the biggest problem I ever encountered. Man, do I miss that place.
At the time, I sat in our company's "air department", since I was a newbie and there was no room for me in any of the offices. My ex-colleague goes, 'some guy accidentally crashed his plane into one of the towers' (I assumed it was a puddle-jumper, what the heck did I know, I was only 21). My retort: What an idiot. Can you believe this omelet cost me $10??
In hindsight, I reacted that way because the events of that day were just unfathomable. Long story short, I was relieved my dad had not made it to work just yet (he was on his way walking to the South Tower, where he worked and saw the first plane crash and then brought this woman to the hospital as she started having a heart attack) and Melvin was on a project in NJ (he worked in Two World Financial Center-the one with the dome). We quickly evacuated (1/2 to a colleague's apartment and the other half to our CEOs apartment on Park Ave). I joined the crew at the CEOs apartment, soon felt awkward, and started walking with the only other coworker that lived in NJ (I lived in Jersey City at the time). We walked and walked and walked...thank goodness, I was never one to be embarrassed to wear sneakers to work and change into heels there. It took me 7 hours to get home that day, 5 hours of it on line for the ferry to get to Jersey. I witnessed the collapse of Building 7 from that line on the West Side Highway. I also clearly remembered all these people giving blood in Hoboken, NJ....blood that was never used, as there were no survivors to give it to. I took a cab from there to my apartment and remember being so rude and angry at the Arab who was driving. Melvin was working with Canadians on his project and wasn't able to leave work immediately (I continue to believe people far from NYC just didn't get it), but came straight over as he wasn't able to cross any bridges or tunnels. He was stuck in NJ, which was fine with me...and yes, they made him come to work the next day. I remember my friend, Dianne and I sitting in a diner the next morning practically crying into our breakfast as the news on TV showed the towers over and over again....we spent the next week sleeping at each other's places, scared to be alone.
The weirdest memory I have is Melvin and I had made plans to go to the top of the WTC that following Saturday, because I recently told him that I have never been up there.
The events of 9/11, and following days, are so vivid in my mind, so I thought I'd just jot them down in this post. It took awhile, but I try not to relive those moments by way of emotion (anger, sadness, hate), regretful thoughts (what if I did this, what if that person were there, what if we were still in St. Lucia) or action (explode at Canadians that say it could have been avoided, mistreat Muslims, assume all Arabs are horrible, etc). Instead, I've found peace in recognizing that 9/11 happened and it's okay to remember it, but not let it consume me as it did the weeks following.
And today, we were able to explain this part of history to our eldest child (Melvin was watching today's events in NYC and our inquisitive Julian had many questions), as matter-of-factly as possible. This is what happened and it is just that.
After that conversation, we continued with our day and met another family on The Drive (Commercial Drive) for brunch at Little Nest. We spent most of the day in that neighborhood's new park/playground, explored the shops and had great sandwiches for lunch from La Grotta del Formaggio. It is amazing how things can change so drastically in 10 years.
