I Remember

I remember September 11, 2001. It was a Tuesday and my best friend and I had an early English class that morning at Snow College. We never watched tv in the morning, so when we got to class and saw that our teacher had the tv on we were shocked to see what was going on. Everyone in class stayed there and watched for awhile. School was canceled the rest of the day. I then went home and just watched the news all day long.

I moved to New York (the city) in September 2007. I remember telling my sister I would experience 9/11 in the city that it happened. I don't remember what I did that day, but I remember it being strangely like all the others. I don't know what I was expecting the day to be.

The next year I was working at Tribeca Film Institute. I looked at pictures online from that day seven years before. I had to make a bunch of deliveries that day around the city. I thought it might rain on me. I wrote a post that day, but made no mention of the fact that it was a day to be remembered. I'm pretty sure that night, as with the year before, I watched something on tv about it.

Right now I'm watching 102 Minutes that Changed America. Instead of your usual program on 9/11, this one uses only footage shot from regular people that day. There are no narrators, just the people who were there, in the moment, experiencing the tragedy and commenting on it. It's very real. It's amazing to see a city of millions all experiencing the same thing; a city where people are always in their own world and in a hurry to be on their way all stop and stare at the same thing. The city that never sleeps stopped.

I worked with people who were there on that day. They worked downtown in buildings close by. When they told me their storeis I got goosebumps. Whenever I would walk by Groun Zero I would have to hold back tears the emotions were so strong.

I heart New York and the people who were so heroic that day.