AN UPDATE ON A 5 YEAR OLD STORY DOCUMENTING A 20 YEAR OLD TERROR

Dedicated to Joe Moore my companion that day, 25 years ago

Five years ago I first admitted that I was a victim of 9-11. I always said I should not use that word because I was alive and lots of people were dead. But 5 years ago I realized the trauma that I lived with was real and those who we lost need to have everyone remember, no matter when that realization came. It suddenly struck me about how important it was that I documented that story, firstly for me and also for anyone else who survived.

I sold my house and moved to an apartment in November 2024 and to my amazement I realized that all the windows in my apartment faced the 9-11 Postcard Memorial remembering Staten Island victims of that fateful day. The memorial frames the new building erected where the Trade Center was.

I am ever grateful that I survived that day; and always sad for those who lost loved ones. The day lives with me but I have moved forward and I am unsure if you lost someone you could move on. I hope so. Loss carries such a burden but my hope is that the weight has become lighter.

What is different is that now I don’t run from the memorials, I don’t run from going downtown, I am stuck, happily, in a place where I can go sit remembering that day but with less grief and terror than previously, and more capacity to pray for those who lost so much.

Here is the link to the original story, which brought me awareness of the day, the terror, the loss and the desire to move forward positively being grateful to be here . . . and I have done that.

Remembering September 11, 2001