Remembering...

photo taken from http://www.msnbc.com/


I spent my day today with a dear college friend. We had not seen each other for quite a while but it was just like old times. The only thing that made it different today was date. 9/11. 9 years ago is still so vivid in all of our memories. So many lives were lost, tragically. For my friend, her memories are likely more vivid than mine, as she was in New York City.

That morning she went to work as usual and called me to tell me about the great deal she found on some Capri pants….I can remember the call like it was yesterday. We were chatting it up when all of a sudden she was interrupted by a coworker. I could hear the person in the back ground telling her something was wrong and something was falling from the building next door. She tells me to hold on for a moment, very casually, and then tells me she will call me right back, kind of disgusted that she was being interrupted.

I then went back to work for the next few minutes until one of my coworker flew in to my office to announce that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Numb from the news, it did not dawn on me exactly where my friend worked. After the initial shock wore off, in comes the coworker again to announce the second plane had hit. That is when I frantically searched the Internet to find out where my friend’s company was actually located. I found that she worked in the building right next to one of the World Trade Center towers. So I then started dialing her cell phone, over and over again. I was unable to reach her.

At that point, the rest of the day was a wash for many many people including myself. I was not able to reach my friend, the country was in shambles….and oh ya, I was getting married in 11 days. Putting that aside all I could think about was my friend and praying she was OK. About 4 hours later, my got a call….it was her Mother. My friend was alright (physically). She was able to exit her building quickly and started walking out of the city, away from the disaster and terror. It took her a couple days to get out of the city and return to her permanent home in Boston, but she was one of the lucky ones. Although she still has her life and her health, she will live with the memories of what she saw that day forever. 9/11 each year will never be an easy day for my friend.

I am positive we all can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing on that dreadful Tuesday morning. It will live in our memories always and those who lost loved one will be in our hearts forever. I was very fortunate that my story had a happy ending.

So on this Day of Remembrance, I hope you all took a moment to remember those who lost their lives.