September 11th

I watched the Good Morning, America coverage of the dedication of the Twin Towers memorial for most of the morning today.

From what I could see of the memorial park, it was beautiful and peaceful looking even though it's in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world.

They played old footage of the attacks from 2001.

 Survivor stories as well as the stories of people who lost their loved ones intermingled with musical performances, poetry readings, and moments of silence filled the tv segment.

Some of the most touching footage, in my opinion, came across the screen when they showed live footage of families viewing their lost loved ones' names on the monument. 

The emotion exhibited, after 10 years, was profound.

I remember that on that day in 2001, everybody was saying how "everybody will remember where they were at the moment they found out about the attacks just like people remember where they were when Kennedy was shot." 

This is very true, and I think its true with any personal tragedy.

I was in Mr. Brown's first hour Earth Science class.

It was my freshman year of high school.

A few weeks into the new school year at a school that has since been torn down.

All of our classes after that one were filled with newsreel after newsreel of the footage,

wheeled in on every t.v. cart the school possessed.

The one thing I remember most about that day was the drive home from Mendota to West Brooklyn with my dad. I remember pressing my head against the glass staring upward at the stars.
There were no planes anywhere.
Living in northern Illinois, this struck me as such an odd sight.
We lived below hundreds of O'Hare In'tl & Midway Airport flight paths.
I couldn't remember ever looking up at the sky and not seeing the familiar red blinking lights.
I said to my dad, "This might be the only time in our lifetime we can look at the stars with out interruption"
We went home and sat in the driveway looking at the sky, thinking about what all of those people out there must be going through.
God bless every one who lost loved ones on that day. I cannot imagine the pain they must be enduring today. They are in my thoughts.