Remembering

Okay, well after Ben's post I was feeling like Mesh had been left out so I started to write a post about Mesh but it turned into a 9/11 post instead. I almost didn't want to post on this date-the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but I decided to because I know it is always important to remember those we lost, those that continue to fight for our freedoms, and how our country came together after that day.

Flash back 10 years and Mesh and I were both fresh out of college and new to NYC. Okay, so I did live in Hoboken, NJ-but it's just a path (subway) ride away, more affordable for a recent college grad, and the home state of my bestie and roomie-Janine. Ramesh had just started med school at NYU and was living at 30th and 1st in the medical center dorms. That morning, 10 years ago today, I was in the city walking from Mesh's to the gym in the morning and a delivery truck driver looked at me and said "Hey lady-a plane just hit one of the towers." I remember thinking-it must have been a terrible accident of a little 4 passenger plane and said a quick prayer. So I proceeded down the street and then about 30 police cars and ambulances were rushing down 2nd Avenue-going up on the sidewalks even. I still wasn't fully aware of the gravity of the events. I got to the gym and was doing the elliptical and turned on the news coverage and at the same moment I looked up and to the left in the sky and saw smoke. Billowing smoke. I froze, cried, and ran back to Mesh's. I spent the next several hours alternating between watching the news coverage and running outside. I also was trying to contact family in and out of the city and checking my email for messages from Janine. She worked right next to the towers and we got one last email from her saying she loved us and then nothing for hours-which seemed like days. Finally-that night I heard from her-she was safe and at her parents house. We were lucky.

The thing I remember most is the photographs. That night pictures of missing loved ones began to be posted on the walls of buildings all over NYC. They grew and grew and took over the ads and walls everywhere. The faces of people that had been lost. Some reunited with their loved ones I'm sure, but most did not.

On that day, my new city that was originally a little cold and scary to a girl from Gig Harbor-became my home. People looked at each other in the eyes on the street, helped each other carry things home, gave glances of "we are New Yorkers and we will never forget". I am proud to say that I was a New Yorker (I did actually live in the city for 2 years after my 2 years in Hoboken so I can claim it!) and although I may not seem like a typical New Yorker-part of me always will be a New Yorker. I spent my early 20's there and that city was my home.

Ramesh and I will always remember. We will always be thankful for our time in NYC and we will always be thankful for the many freedoms our children will enjoy.

And now so Mesh doesn't feel left out after all:

9/8 - Here I am with my hot date on the way out to my birthday dinner. Yay 33!

9/10: On our way to our friend's wedding at Alderbrook on Hood Canal. As we were leaving, Riley said "Are you guys getting married at the wedding?" Too cute! My dear Riley-I totally would marry your dad all over again and every day I am thankful that I married him.