Always Remember

I've spent this past week with my sister on a little road trip/visit. 

I head home early tomorrow morning, but have had a wonderful time visiting her Brooklyn neighborhood, getting plenty of subway experience, my first rainy Manhattan day with a broken umbrella, fabulous restaurants and a visit the the World Trade Center Memorial Site.

The Freedom Tower is really coming along!  It's the first thing you see when you approach the site, obviously because of it's size.  I really didn't know what to expect to see or to feel when visiting.  I guess what struck me first is how very small the area is in which the two towers stood.  The other is how very peaceful the whole experience felt.  You come through all the hectic pace of Manhattan to this place where things are much slower, softer.  We spent time walking around the fountain surrounded by the names of the victims, engraved in the border.

So many names.  Seeing them in person was different than just hearing the names read.

We took our time, walking the perimeter, reading the names, and then, you come upon a name you know.

You touch the letters, and remember the last time you saw them.  My last memory was seeing him playing with his children and mine in a field during my sister's wedding reception.

There are thousands of similar stories like that all over this border.  Thanks to the Memorial Site, we will never forget.