I remember......

I remember September 11^th, 2001 like it was yesterday. I remember the clear blue of the sky and the warm summer breeze.  I remember phone calls, lots and lots of phone calls. I remember sleeping in at my Mother’s home in  Queens, NY , the second day of my visit from California and the phone ringing off the hook that morning , all the messages inquiring if my brother who normally worked downtown was okay. I remember thinking in my slumber, ”Why wouldn’t he be okay?”  I remember finally getting up to answer the phone when I heard my sister -in-law voice saying, “Vicky, I just spoke to John – he’s okay” fortunately for us, he was safe at his union hall in Queens. I remember turning on the TV and not  comprehending the magnitude of what I was seeing before my eyes that morning. Unfortunately, we did have a friend in the towers that day. Later I spoke to my Mother, she asked if I could call the help lines to find out anything I could about her friend Janet.  None of those calls yielded any information or news on Janet, it did not look good. I had met Janet but didn’t know her well. She was a good friend of my Mother’s, they had met through their needlepoint guild – each of them very talented in needle arts and the art of friendship to each other.  Janet was a generous friend to my Mom and had even sponsored me $100 in the AIDS marathon I was planning to do in December of that year. It was slightly eerie later that year when I also received the matching donation from her company but I remembered how wonderful a lady she was and that helped carry me in my one and only marathon. 

Janet in her WTC office.

 I got another call that day too, from the fella I had met on the internet a few weeks earlier and had just started dating 10 days earlier. He was also from Queens and had drove me to the airport 2 days before to see me off on my trip home for my best friend’s wedding.  He wanted to know – was I okay? Was everyone in my family okay? I was worried about you….I remember everything that day and the following weeks seeming so surreal.  The quiet was the most remarkable thing. No plane noise from the sky, no chatter in the supermarket, even traffic seemed to quiet in stunned silence due to what our city and the world had just experienced.  I remember after traveling back to California having that same pain in my heart that you have when someone close to you dies and you see others walking around in the world carrying on with their lives - not just for Janet but for my home, my city, New York. 

And I remember choosing my wedding day 2 years later with that fella who called me on 9/11/01. Our wedding date was supposed to be September 25^th, but then a conflict – it was Rosh Hashhana, so we needed to pick a new date. Our choices for the location we had selected were 9/11 or 10/12. As it turned out 9/11/04 was the only date that would fit in our timeline for our honeymoon plans. So we said okay, we get married on 9/11 and we take back the day from those who etched that date in our memories forever.  So on 9/11 and many other days during the year we remember those who are no longer with us, how a few zealots affected world,  and how our lives changed for the better when we exchanged our vows. I will never forget September 11, 2001 or any  9/11 for the rest of my days.