11 Years ago today

A radio announcer said "a pilot of a small plane apparently lost control and hit one of the WTC towers"- so I rushed to my roof window and peered out, where I had a view of both towers. A thin trail of smoke rose up. Turned on the tv, and as cameras focused on the first hit, the screen filled with the second plane. The rest is history as we know it today. Nothing has been the same since, nor will it ever be for any of us.

On that day, I watched from the rooftop with my brother and his roommate as the unthinkable happened. Within the hour, documents fluttered three miles over the Hudson river waters and dropped. Smoke and ash soon followed as the streets below filled with silent people walking home, handkerchiefs, the air punctuated by sirens and nothing else. The subway train above, still in it's tracks. All of us in shock. 

Today we are rebuilding, and a generation of middle-schoolers  only know a life that always included this tragedy. Years have helped us heal, but we will never forget.