A silver lining...

As you all know, it's been 10 years since 9/11.  I've managed to avoid most of the TV specials about this date, and I've tried not to revisit too many images from this day.

Most of you probably remember where you were on that day.  I don't remember too much, but I do remember, I was in my room at Bryn Mawr.  It was about 8:40 am and I was up, getting ready for class (which during that year was a rarity that I was up that early!).  I turned on the TV for background noise, and then I saw what was happening.  I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe it was a movie.

I recalled that my dad worked near the buildings, but not sure exactly where.  I was trying to reach my dad and my mom, while my aunt was calling me and my AIM chat windows were popping up like crazy.  I knew I had friends whose parents worked in the buildings; people from our church, my parents friends, etc.  Growing up in north Jersey, a good percentage of people we knew worked in that area. 

I needed to know if my dad was okay. I soon found out he was okay, and he was making his way to a ferry.  I'll share his story here as he told me because he doesn't talk about it much.

The morning of 9/11, he was on the PATH which he takes to the WTC building.  Every day, he exits the WTC building and walks across the street to his office building, Deutsch Bank.  This morning was the same routine, except as we walked out of the building, he looked up towards the sky and was shocked to see a plane flying so close.  Then before he knew it, the plane hit the building and my dad ran to his building and into his office.  When he made it into his office, he called my mom to share what he just witnessed.  He was okay, but was shaken up, I'm sure.  He was staring out the window as he talked to her, and he saw the 2nd plane hit.  That's when he knew he had to run.  He hung up with my mom and promised to call later, and he left.  He left his leather jacket behind, his laptop, and other personal items.  He left with only his wallet and his phone.

Not sure what happened between then and getting to Battery Park, but he made it to the Park, called my mom again, and eventually caught a ferry back to New Jersey.  Many hours later, he made it home. 

When my mom called to say he was out of the building, I was so relieved.  I knew my family was lucky to have him home. 

As much as my family pretends 9/11 wasn't a tramatic experience for them (my dad to this day plays it off as it was no big deal and doesn't talk about it much) it was.  Lots of changes came about because of this day.  My dad made a decision to move away from NYC.  He had been there during the 1993 WTC bombing and now this, and he was done.  He put our house on the market and moved to Dallas and soon found a new house and job.  My mom soon followed after my sister graduated college.  Around the same time, my parents love began to grow.  They didn't have the best relationship, but by the time my dad moved to Dallas, he was a new man, and it showed. 

It took me a long to go back and visit Ground Zero.  Everytime I thought about it, I thought of how I almost lost my dad and thought of those we did lose.  Seeing the pictures posted all along the subways was hard, and driving to my family home in NJ was hard because the skyline was drastically different.  When my family relocated to Dallas, I rarely drove up that way, and I guess in some way, I started to forget.

A few weeks ago, I was in NYC for a client meeting and to see friends, and my hotel was in the financial district.  It wasn't until I checked in that I realized that my hotel overlooked Ground Zero.  It was literally next to it, and my window looked into the construction in that area.  I wondered if this hotel was where my dad's building was. 

10 years later, I feel like there is definite healing in my family.  We've all become American citizens since, my family is healthy and happy, and we've all learned not to take each other for granted.  I know we are lucky and I am always thankful for that.