9/11 Rememberance

As is usual on this day, calls go out for remembrances of 9/11. They reverberate across the nation and throughout the blogosphere. But as one who lived just miles from Ground Zero and who spent much of his career in those towers it is never far from my thoughts.

I remember seeing the smoke plumes in the distance as I crossed the George Washington Bridge that morning and the fear my son experienced when he could not reach me after early dismissal. I remember the stranded cars in commuter parking lots in my town waiting for moms and dads who would never return to their families. I remember fire and police department friends who worked in the filth and stench during the months of cleanup. Then there were the televised NYPD and NYFD funerals, often several a day. And of course there were the heroes, who demonstrated time and again how we come together in tough times.

So how will I spend this 9/11? I will not be attending any memorials nor will I watch anything that has to do with 9/11 on TV. 9/11 permanently occupies a corner of my heart and the reel plays in my head whenever it seems to think I need a reminder of that Indian summer day when this generation lost its innocence.