September 11 Attacks (911)
Some thoughts on how the events of 911 effected me
Ground Zero - after the fall.September 11, 2001 - New York, NY, Washington DC, Shanksville, PA -- I was still living on the Central Coast of California in 2001 (and would be for another 7-10 years). My home was on a peaceful 5 acre property in Arroyo Grande, a veritable polar opposite of the metropolis of New York City. However I had visited New York and my love affair with the city had already begun. I was asleep when the first plane had hit.
For some reason, when I got up I turned on CNN. This was not a daily routine, but not that unusual either. It became instantly evident that something serious had happened. It wasn't long before the second plane hit the other tower. As soon as that happened, I knew that the world had suddenly changed. I was glued to the TV for the rest of the day and many days afterwards.
The event haunted me for a long time. Even today, eleven years later, it is a numb memory of trauma that sits in my soul in a very uncomfortable way, like a bad meal. It would be seven years until I visited New York again. By then, the documentaries had been filmed, commentaries written and photographs posted everywhere. But nonetheless, I went directly to the site to see it for myself. There were no "oh wow" revelations, but just a calm absorbtion of the reality of seeing it myself, in all the perspective of being there in person.
Three years later, Joe and I had moved to the city and the memorial had been completed and opened on the tenth aniversary of the crashes. We managed to get tickets to visit the memorial on October 17th. It was rather surreal.