Seven Years

Seven years ago today, something horrific happened – a day I’ll never forget.  I was traveling for work – on a 2 week assignment to assist some co-workers in Morris Plains, NJ with the implementation of a document management system (in fact, it’s the same team I’m now a part of in my new job – two of the people I was closely working with are now my bosses).  This was the second week of the assignment, and that Tuesday started out as a beautiful sunny morning.  Then it happened.  Sitting in a cubicle the room started buzzing – a plane hit the World Trade Center.  Then trying to check sites like CNN and CBS News was impossible.  They were totally overwhelmed.  Then another plane hits the other tower.  Then the Pentagon gets hit.  What was going on?

From where we were – about 50 miles west of Manhattan – we could see the smoke rising above the treeline from the Twin Towers.  Sure, it looked like a distant fire – quite small on the horizon – but its significance was immense.  Needless to say, it was decided that my trip should end and I should head home to be with family.  So I did that.  And the confusion of the day played into my decisions.  Not knowing what else could be targeted – first both towers, then the Pentagon – I decided to not travel over the Tappan Zee bridge on my usual way home, instead opting to head north on I-87, and cross the Hudson on I-84.  Took a few extra hours to get home, but the peace of mind was worth it.  I went straight to my girlfriend’s house (who would soon become my wife Jill), and spent time with her there before going home.

A year later, some friends were playing in NY City with their band, so Jill & I went down for the show.  Before the show began, we decided to take a walk down to Ground Zero to see first hand what it was like.  Walking through the observation platforms was eerie.  Dead silence.  I had my camera with me, loaded with some Tri-X black & white film, and I snapped a few shots.  I had no tripod, and no image stabilized lenses, so most were a bit blurry.  One did come out OK, though, and I hunted around for the negatives last night.  Finally around 11pm, I found them, and scanned the frame in.  It’s just kinda eerie seeing the cranes under the lights, and the dim ghostly buildings behind where the World Trade Center once stood.

Never forget September 11, 2001.  Never forget those whose lives were taken.  Never forget those whose lives were directly affected.  And most importantly, never forget who did this to us.