10 years later

10 years ago was September 10th,  and I can't really tell you what I did that day.    But 10 years and 1 day ago was the most beautiful September day imaginable.   I enjoyed it for about 2 hours before everything went to hell.   But we've been down that road before and in the past 10 years I've answered the "where were you" about eleventy billion times.

Sometimes I wonder what the weather was like in other parts of the country.   The sky over Saint A's was that same crystal clear blue without a cloud in the sky that was over New York City.  That in itself was a bit strange, as Manchester, New Hampshire and New York City are over 5 hours apart.  The weather is very rarely exactly the same.    I wonder if it was a dreary drizzly yucky day anywhere.

Some day I am going to have to explain the whole thing to Baby Girl.   How do you explain 9-11 to someone who didn't live through it?  The same way I learned about tragedies I didn't through, I guess.   I wish there was some way to teach how it felt to watch the twin towers fall to the ground on live TV.    Though I hope she doesn't have the same thought process that went through my mind at about 10:30 after the second tower fell

"uumm.... they were both AMERICAN airlnes?    But... Dad flies American Air.    And he leaves on Tuesday morning for california ALL THE TIME.    Was he going to California this week?  HOLYFRIGGRNCHRISTWASMYDADONTHATPLANE?  No...  he flies to northern California up near Cupertino,  weren't these planes headed to LAX?  He doesn't fly there, does he? FVCKFVCKFVCK"

Then I raced back to my dorm room, to find messages from my aunt who apparently just had a similar thought process that I did.    And later finally reaching my mother and confirming that no,  he did NOT fly out to California that morning, and even if he did he wouldn't have been on those flights,  that wasn't his normal route.

Thank god.  

My fears could have been put to rest much easier in today's world than a decade ago.   A few simple texts or emails from my phone would have gotten me there much quicker.   But that was then and this is now.

I really really really want to go the 9-11 Memorial at Ground Zero.   The museum is slated to be opened on 9/11/12 and I would love to go down next fall and see it.   Baby Girl will still be young enough that I don't have to explain it to her,  and I'd like to not have to explain every little thing we see.   I went to Ground Zero two years after 9/11 and even two years later there was still dust covering everything in the area,  they were still just two huge holes in the ground and the clean up effort was still going on (though winding down), the building in the area were all still closed,  and there were still broken windows and glass everywhere.  I went back a year later and it was starting to be transformed from a disaster site to a weird gaping hole in the middle of a huge city.   I haven't been back since 2005 and I'm dying to see it now.   I want to see the new 1WTC, though I don't think that is scheduled to be finished until after 2012. 

I don't know if it is still there,  but I saw the huge antenna that was on top of the North Tower at the Newseum in 2009.   GO TO THE NEWSEUM.   I cannot say it enough times.   The next time you are in D.C.  go there.  Spend lots of time there.  I can't recommend enough times to enough people.    Even if the antenna isn't there anymore, it's still worth it.   And if it is there,  even better!!  (GO.TO.THE.NEWSEUM.)

Okay, now in addition to going to NYC next fall to the see the 9/11 museum,  I must also return to D.C and go to the Newseum again.   I'll get back to you on how I plan for paying for all this...