The first and only time I saw the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center was in 1989, when I rode with my parents as they drove to JFK International Airport. Our purpose for the trip was to drop my sister, Sonni, and her husband, Grady off with their three children, Ashley, Justin and Stefan so they could fly to Madrid, Spain. Grady was being deployed there for his duty as an airman in the United States Air Force.
We had never been to New York City and decided a way to kill some time with three little children was take a ferry over to the Statue of Liberty. On that island, there is a beautiful view of the New York skyline. I even snapped a picture of Grady holding Justin with my dad and the skyline behind them.
Since that horrible day in 2001, when those 2,996 people perished because the planes crashed into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, we have been trying to make sense of the senseless. Evil exists in the world. That’s the truth of it.
I think in an effort to mourn their losses and to remember their sacrifice, we as a people, create memorials. My husband, Bobby, and I have had the opportunity to visit all three sites that memorialize those who died on 9/11.
- Flight 93 National Memorial — Here is the site that Flight 93 crashed into a field outside of Shanksville, a small Pennsylvania town. The passengers on this plane had overtaken the hijackers to prevent further casualties on the ground in our nation’s capital. The memorial allows those who go to listen to a progression of the minutes from take-off to crash on their cell phones. You can walk down the paved path to the Wall of Names of those who died to the edge of the crash site. (Only family members of those on the plane can go to the actual impact site.) Along the walk to the crash site, people were leaving mementos. Bobby decided to leave his parachute cord bracelet made for him by Liam Allen. He hooked it with two other similar bracelets that were already there.
- 9/11 Memorial — When Bobby and I were in New York City in July, we went to the One World Observatory. We didn’t go into the 9/11 Museum. We did go to the Memorial . This memorial consists of two waterfalls and reflecting pools with the names of all the victims (2,606) etched in bronze around the pools. There are also 400 trees that surround the area. The design as stated on the 9/11 Memorial website is meant to convey “a spirit of hope and renewal, and creates a contemplative space separate from the usual sights and sounds of a bustling metropolis.”
- 9/11 Pentagon Memorial — Bobby and I were able to visit the Pentagon Memorial on our recent visit to Washington, D.C. We went at night, which I think allows the visitors to take in the full effect of the memorial. There is one bench per victim in the memorial. Their names are etched at the end of the bench. Under each bench is a lighted reflecting pool. There are 184 benches, which include those who were on the plane and those who were in the Pentagon. You can tell which is which, by the way the bench is pointing.
It is difficult to believe that 15 years have passed since that tragic day. While I hate that there even have to be such memorials, I am glad that they exist. It is our way, as a nation, to make sure that those who died that day, will always be remembered and maybe we can get some closure, too.
