9/11

I’m sure that every 9/11 for the past twelve years is painful to all Americans, but for some reason, this one is getting to me a little bit more than usual. It’s probably because I’m so emotional this summer over what I’ve been going through with my numb hands, or maybe it’s because 2013 will be the last year of my bicoastal-ness, so I’m more attached to New York than ever. No matter what the reason, I feel that all of us in this country should take time to remember the horror that befell usas a nation a dozen years ago.

I don’t really have much more to say on this subject; I just felt the need to mark the day. And I would feel frivolous to be writing about any other topic today. But I do have three especially strong remembrances of 9/11/01, and thank God, one of them is a happy one.

The saddest one is that a good friend of mine, Debralee Scott, lost her policeman fiancé that day, and the weeks and months of looking for him were overwhelmingly painful. Even sadder is that just three and a half years later, she herself died of a broken heart. The loss of a funny, intelligent, full-of-life pal has been hard to come to grips with.

The aspect that has stayed with me most since that terrible time in this country’s history is the horrific smell that permeated the area for so long after the tragedy. I was in that neighborhood less than two months after the twin towers were taken down, and let me tell you, I will remember that odor as long as I live. As much as I hated seeing and feeling all that, it’s a good thing to remember when assessing how the United States should go forward in regard to the rest of the world.

I want to leave you with the one very happy situation that happened that morning. Mr. X woke me up after the first plane hit to let me know what was going on. The second he told me that it was the World Trade Center that was involved, my heart stopped because one of my best friends, Carol Rampino, worked there. I immediately said I had to try to call her, but he told me that no one could get through to anybody there. The gravity of the situation began to dawn on me as I kept dialing, and, as everyone else who had a loved one in that area, I began to panic. Finally, by some miracle, I got through to her office voicemail, and this is the message I heard: “You have reached Carol Rampino. I’ll be out of the office on September 11. If you need assistance, please call…” I almost passed-out from relief. An early morning doctor’s appointment that day, that she had been upset about waiting so long for, had saved her life! I still get chills when I think of it.

So, back to present day. I feel there’s no need for any of us to pass on whatever our planned activities for today are. That’s how we really celebrate life; in the simplicity of our day-to-day lives. But I hope we all take at least a few minutes to reflect on just how lucky we are to live in this country. And if we were affected on a personal level by the 9/11 of twelve years ago, to honor those memories.

And then tomorrow we can get back to more shallow endeavors. At least you can all count on the fact that that’s what I’ll be doing!