Never Forget

Eleven years ago today, the world as we knew it changed.
To those who lost family and friends, please know your loved ones will never be forgotten.  

Flight 587, My Memories

Today is the 10th anniversary of the second deadliest U.S. aviation disaster, the crash of Flight 587 in Belle Harbor, NY.
I will never forget that day, just two months after 9/11, I heard a horrible noise, my house shook and the electricity went out.  My mind raced wondering what had happened -- could a power cable have exploded?  A few minutes later, my father called me from Florida, he had seen on the local news that a plane crashed a short distance from my home!  Not really comprehending the magnitude of what he was saying, I got in my car with my daughter to check on her friend who lived closer to the crash site and we could not get near it.  I turned on the radio thinking I would hear that a propeller plane had gone down, only to learn that it was an American Airlines Airbus.  My daughter and I parked the car and walked to the scene in this very small close knit community we live in.  For hours, we did not know the fate of her friend or his family, we only knew that everyone on the plane had perished and that more than likely so did people on the ground.  We watched the scene in total disbelief -- it looked like a scene from a disaster movie, this could not be happening!
But it was happening, five people on the ground died as well.  My daughter's friend and his family were safe.  Every year since, there is a ceremony here to remember the victims.  A permanent memorial has been erected and homes that were destroyed have been rebuilt.
I will never forget that day and send my deepest condolences out to the surviving family members and friends of those who were lost on this tragic day.

New York, New York Ten Years Later

In honor of the victims and the families of 9-11, "New York, New York" by the very talented singer, songwriter, author, Ed Rambeau.

My Memories of 9/11

Ten years ago today, my kids had been dropped off at school.  It was a beautiful, sunny late summer day.  I sat with a cup of coffee and turned on the TV.  My phone rang, it was my girlfriend on her way into NYC for her weekly "day in the market", always a Tuesday -- the day she would go to the garment district to purchase new items for her family's store.  I muted the TV so I could keep her company as she drove and then it happened, the first news interruption showing that something was terribly wrong at the World Trade Center.  The images on the TV were horrific.  Never imagining terrorism, I told her to take a different route into the city as she was driving towards the tunnel that lets out right near the WTC.  I thought she would hit a backlog of traffic and wanted to help her avoid it.  Then, after turning up the sound and seeing more images, I told her to turn around and go home!

I live in a borough of New York, on a peninsula where generations of firefighters also live.  The view leaving my neighborhood every day was of the NYC skyline and the majestic Twin Towers.  Who knew as I watched these horrifying news clips that the view would be forever altered, that life in NYC would forever be changed.  The smoke and ash rose and the winds brought it over the area where I live, an eerie silence with it.  Our little neighborhood lost 59 people on 9-11. 

My children were released from school early on that Tuesday and we sat glued to the TV.  It has been ten years, my kids are adults and the memories are as vivid today as when I first saw the Twin Towers hit and ultimately fall.  I hope no one ever forgets that day or the victims.  My heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones.  I cannot offer enough thanks to the men and women who every day defend the US against terrorism so that this will never happen again.  We as a country must NEVER FORGET.

Please feel free to comment and share your memories......................

 

Below, views from my neighborhood of lower Manhattan before and after 9-11-01.

 

 

                                              
                                                

 

JACK The CAT MISSING AT JFK AIRPORT UPDATE

As of Tuesday, September 6th, I am sad to report that Jack is still missing.  I read the updates and apparently there is a search going on at Kennedy airport tonight.  Losing a pet is a horrible pain to endure and I hope that someone finds Jack and reunites him with his owner.  This is a sad story, and again, I have to say shame on the airlines for not having a secure system for people who travel with pets and cannot take them into the cabin with them.  It is not pleasant for the owner or the pet.  I traveled with my pets many years ago and would never do it again.  When I did this, it was way before 9/11 and the security measures that are taken now.  I was able to stay with my pets until they were boarded and it was still a stressful experience.  I can only imagine what the boarding process is like now since security is so much tighter all over the US.  Please, anyone living or working in and around the Kennedy Airport area, take a moment and look around -- maybe someone will get lucky and spot Jack.

NOT ALL HEROES ARE PEOPLE

As New York and the rest of the USA prepares for the tenth anniversary of 9-11, I read this story on FaceBook and thought it important to share.

NOT ALL HEROES ARE PEOPLE ~ ~ ~

James Crane worked on the 101st floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. He is blind so he has a golden retriever named Daisy. After the plane hit 20 stories below, James knew that he was doomed, so he let Daisy go, out of an act of love. She darted away into the darkened hallway. Choking on the fumes of the jet fuel and the smoke James was just waiting to die. About 30 minutes later, Daisy comes back along with James' boss, who Daisy just happened to pick up on floor 112.
On her first run of the building, she leads James, James' boss, and about 300 more people out of the doomed building. But she wasn't through yet, she knew there were others who were trapped. So, highly against James' wishes she ran back in the building.

On her second run, she saved 392 lives. Again she went back in. During this run, the building collapses. James hears about this and falls on his knees into tears. Against all known odds, Daisy makes it out alive, but this time she is carried by a firefighter. "She led us right to the people, before she got injured" the fireman explained.

Her final run saved another 273 lives. She suffered acute smoke inhalation, severe burns on all four paws, and a broken leg, but she saved 967 lives. Daisy is the first civilian Canine to win the Medal of Honor of New York City.