September 11, 2008

Seven years ago today I witnessed the aftermath of the planes' impact on the Twin Towers from the street below my former home in Greenwich Village. I had taken the Towers for granted, I saw them each morning as I left my house, yet I rarely turned to notice them, except for those special occasions like visits to Windows on the World for brunch, or nights dancing on the top floor with the dazzling view below. Once the towers fell, each morning I would turn to look acknowledging for a second the lives lost and the work going on there. Until January of 2002, the smell was overpowering in my apartment, so I never forgot Ground Zero was there, and there were flyers posted all over my neighborhood that remained for weeks and months. One night, leaving a friend's in NoHo, I turned the wrong corner, and realized that the towers had been my landmark, now I was momentarily lost. Tonight, from my new home, I see where the towers would have been.