We all have special thoughts and feelings about this day and what it means to this country. My memories are no more special than yours or any others but because I blog life here, this is what came to mind today as we look back.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. My wife was upstairs getting ready. I was watching the "Today Show" and the anchors had a "deer in the headlights" look when they announced … "A plane has just crashed into one of the twin towers!" I rushed upstairs to tell my wife and get a TV set on for her to see this news. Both of our reactions were of shock and when the other plane hit the other tower – we knew this was a planned event.
What we as parents needed was to get to our 4 kids who were in college at the time. We needed to hear their voices and know they were OK knowing that they surely were since they were far away from the northeast in school. But we just needed to know just the same! I ended up staying at home that day remaining glued to media to follow what would be historic events. It was a very sad day!
Fast-forward to summer of last year. My wife and I were in New York City for a long weekend and we 
made it a point to visit the September 11 Memorial that was still under construction and very close to completion. My thought was – it would be good to see it and although it was a very hot, New York City day, we both felt compelled to visit. What I didn't expect was how stunned I was when I stepped onto the property. We began the tour by viewing videos on the self-guided tour. We followed the tour path outside to walk around the fountain and see the 
engraved names of those who died. Then we came upon the lone Survivor tree that was saved from the disaster and brought back to life. I had chills, tears and totally felt overcome with the the sounds of silence from several thousand tourists paying their respects to those who lost their lives at the hands of terrorists! I have to admit I did not expect any of that and left feeling a sense of emptyness and heavy sadness. NYC has done it right with this Memorial. It's beautiful, respectful and very informative to the point you feel like you step back in time to 9/11/01 when touring it. I highly suggest you visit it if you get to NYC in the future.
One scene that still remains predominant in my memory of the Memorial tour
was a small family … crayon/chalk in hand with thin trace-paper over a name of the one of their loved ones who had died. They were standing there, paper on top of the name, chalk in hand as they traced that name so they could probably take that back home and frame it as a memorial in their own home to one they had lost. And yes – they were quite emotional as they traced it.
I'm glad we pause on this day to reflect. Once again this year, I certainly have!
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