20 years ago, today, my husband and I were living in NYC. We were still just dating then. I was working on Wall Street but only three days a week, Wednesday through Friday. On Mondays, I volunteered at a nonprofit by working at their bookstore or thrift store and on Tuesdays I’d volunteer at the New York Society for the Deaf. My husband had just left his job at a different Wall Street firm and was thinking about what he wanted to do next.
So, on this Monday morning, we were both at home, with the TV turned to Good Morning America, as we both worked on our computers. Back then, I had the TV on all the time for background noise.
We saw the first plane hit the first tower and listened to the hosts trying to figure out if it was a mistake. Both of us were incredibly lucky and managed to connect with our parents to let them know we were home and safe. Minutes later, the second plane hit and all the lines went dead.
The hours that followed were ones I will never forget. The smoke I could see from my window, the friend who had run out of the building just before it collapsed and had to take shelter in our home because he couldn’t return to Brooklyn, the people my husband had worked with who were in the buildings and never even had a chance, the restaurant we’d had our most recent holiday party at, now gone.
The days that followed felt surreal, so many threats and nonstop CNN to wrap our heads around the devastation. I still remember those days so acutely.
Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye. I mourn the losses from that terrible day and all the losses accrued as a result in the last twenty years. I know that being alive here and now was a lot of luck on both of our parts and I am so grateful for it.
Yes to remembering.
#yearofyes #karenikayearofyes
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