remembering

September 11th. And I don't really know what to say today. Except that I remember. We all remember. Today we are all New Yorkers, we are all Americans, we are all one.

I was in New York City just a few weeks before the attacks. This picture was taken on July 30th. It seemed unreal at the time, because we had just been there, had just seen the World Trade Center towers. We didn't even go up to the observation deck, I remember thinking about that at the time, because we had just stood in line to go up in the Empire State Building, and didn't want to wait in another line. Strange thing to remember.

My memory from 2001 is different, I'm sure, than most people. Yes, I had friends and co-workers in New York City, and we worried and prayed for them, but I was very lucky, they were all fine and accounted for. My memories of that day, of that week, were of our family spending time with my mom, who was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. Our focus was much closer to home.

But what I remember most, was coming back to my house from the hospital, and the silence... I live less than a mile from a regional airport, so the planes fly right over my house all the time, and very low. They are wheels-down when they're over my house. And it was just so quiet. There were no planes for days.

So today my thoughts are with New York. Because I remember.